In a move that signals its intent to expand beyond traditional news and entertainment, Apple has unveiled Apple News+ Food, a new feature set to launch with iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 in April 2025. This addition to the Apple News+ subscription service promises to bring “tens of thousands of recipes” alongside curated food-related content, positioning Apple as a direct competitor to standalone recipe apps and websites. With a beautifully designed interface, a focus on premium content from top food publishers, and seamless integration into the Apple ecosystem, Apple News+ Food could redefine how users discover, save, and cook recipes. But what does this mean for the crowded recipe app market, and how will Apple’s approach stand out in a space already brimming with options?
A New Frontier for Apple News+
Apple News+ has long been a somewhat underappreciated gem in Apple’s subscription lineup. Launched in 2019, it offers access to hundreds of magazines and newspapers for a monthly fee of $12.99 in the U.S., competing with services like The New York Times and niche digital publications. While it has steadily gained features—like puzzles and audio stories—it’s never quite achieved the mainstream traction of Apple Music or Apple TV+. Apple News+ Food, however, could be the catalyst that broadens its appeal, tapping into the universal interest in food and cooking.
The new Food section, available exclusively to Apple News+ subscribers, will feature a Recipe Catalog with recipes from some of the world’s most respected culinary publishers, including Allrecipes, Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, Good Food, and Serious Eats. Beyond recipes, users will find stories about restaurants, healthy eating tips, kitchen essentials, and more—all curated by Apple News editors. For non-subscribers, a limited selection of recipes and articles will be available, serving as a teaser to entice them into the full experience.
Apple’s timing couldn’t be better. As of February 25, 2025, the digital food content space is thriving, with home cooking remaining a popular pastime post-pandemic. Recipe apps like Yummly, Paprika, and NYT Cooking have cultivated loyal followings, while countless food blogs and social media creators flood the internet with culinary inspiration. Yet, many of these platforms come with drawbacks: cluttered interfaces, intrusive ads, or lengthy personal anecdotes that bury the actual recipe. Apple News+ Food aims to cut through this noise with a streamlined, ad-free experience designed to get users straight to the good stuff.
The Recipe Catalog: A Game-Changer for Home Cooks
At the heart of Apple News+ Food is its Recipe Catalog, a searchable database of tens of thousands of recipes updated daily. Users can browse by category—think “Weeknight Dinners” or “Vegetarian Classics”—or filter based on criteria like cook time, difficulty, or dietary preferences. Each recipe is presented in a clean, visually appealing format, with ingredients and directions clearly separated for easy reference. A standout feature is the “cook mode,” which displays step-by-step instructions in full-screen view, keeping the screen awake and brightly lit so users can follow along hands-free.
This isn’t just a cosmetic upgrade. The cook mode echoes the way Apple Music displays synced lyrics, suggesting a thoughtful approach to usability. Imagine propping your iPhone or iPad on the counter, glancing at the screen from across the kitchen, and ticking off steps without fumbling to unlock your device or scroll through a cluttered webpage. For anyone who’s ever tried to cook from a recipe website—only to lose their place amid pop-up ads or a rambling backstory about the author’s childhood—this could be a revelation.
Apple has also baked in practical features like the ability to save favorite recipes for offline access. Whether you’re meal prepping at home or cooking in a cabin with spotty Wi-Fi, your go-to dishes are always at your fingertips. This offline functionality aligns with Apple’s ecosystem strengths, where seamless integration across devices is a hallmark. Open a recipe on your iPhone, save it, and pull it up later on your iPad—or perhaps, in the future, a rumored “HomePad” smart display tailored for kitchen use.
Taking on the Recipe App Giants
The recipe app market is no small fry. Apps like Paprika, which lets users import recipes from anywhere on the web and organize them into meal plans, have earned rave reviews for their versatility. Yummly offers personalized recipe suggestions based on dietary needs, while NYT Cooking combines premium recipes with instructional videos and a robust community. Then there’s the free-for-all of the internet, where sites like Allrecipes and Epicurious—both partners in Apple News+ Food—thrive despite their ad-heavy designs.
Apple’s entry into this space isn’t about reinventing the wheel but refining it. Unlike standalone apps that scrape content from across the web (sometimes questionably), Apple News+ Food leans exclusively on its publishing partners. This curated approach sacrifices breadth for quality, ensuring every recipe comes from a trusted source. It’s a trade-off that might frustrate users who love trawling TikTok or obscure blogs for inspiration, but it aligns with Apple’s brand: polished, premium, and fuss-free.
The competition should take note. NYT Cooking, for instance, has long been a gold standard for recipe apps, blending high-quality recipes with journalism and a subscription model not unlike Apple News+. Yet Apple’s broader reach—spanning over 30 publishers compared to NYT’s single brand—could give it an edge. Meanwhile, free recipe sites might struggle to match the ad-free elegance of Apple’s offering, especially for users already invested in the Apple ecosystem.
That said, Apple News+ Food isn’t without limitations. Its reliance on News+ partners means it won’t pull in viral recipes from social media or niche blogs, a flexibility that apps like Paprika and Pestle excel at. And at $12.99 a month, it’s pricier than many standalone recipe apps, especially for users who don’t care about the broader News+ content.
For context, NYT Cooking costs $5 monthly, while Paprika is a one-time $4.99 purchase. Apple’s betting that the value of its all-in-one subscription—news, puzzles, and now food—will justify the cost.
A Strategic Move in Apple’s Ecosystem Play
Apple News+ Food isn’t just about recipes; it’s a strategic expansion of Apple’s services ecosystem. The company has spent years building a suite of subscriptions—Music, TV+, Fitness+, Arcade—that lock users into its hardware and software. Adding a robust food component to News+ could draw in a new demographic: home cooks, foodies, and health-conscious users who might not otherwise subscribe. It’s a clever upsell, especially since the feature comes at no additional cost to existing News+ users.
There’s also speculation about how this fits into Apple’s hardware roadmap. Rumors of a “HomePad”—a smart display optimized for the kitchen—have circulated since 2022, when Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman suggested Apple was exploring grocery integration with Apple Health. Code in iOS 18.4 betas reveals a “CookingKit” API, hinting at deeper ties to Siri and Spotlight search. Picture this: you ask Siri to find a 30-minute chicken recipe, it pulls one from News+ Food, and your HomePad guides you through the steps with voice and visuals. It’s a vision that could make Amazon’s Echo Show look dated by comparison.
Even without new hardware, Apple News+ Food leverages existing devices brilliantly. The iPad, with its larger screen, is an ideal kitchen companion, while the iPhone’s portability suits quick recipe checks at the grocery store. If Apple brings this feature to macOS (currently unconfirmed), it could become a go-to for recipe browsing on the desktop, further embedding News+ into daily life.
The Broader Implications for Food Media
Apple’s move could ripple through the food media landscape. For publishers like Bon Appétit and Serious Eats, partnering with Apple News+ offers a new revenue stream and exposure to a tech-savvy audience. But it also raises questions about control. By curating content within its walled garden, Apple dictates the user experience, potentially sidelining these publishers’ own apps and websites. It’s a familiar tension—think of how Spotify and Apple Music have reshaped the music industry—but one that food media will need to navigate.
For consumers, the benefits are clear: a clutter-free alternative to the often chaotic world of online recipes. No more scrolling past a blogger’s life story to find the ingredient list. No more dodging pop-ups to see cooking times. Apple’s promise of “tens of thousands of recipes” updated daily ensures variety, while its editorial curation adds a layer of trust that raw internet searches can’t match.
Yet there’s a flip side. The exclusivity of Apple News+ Food—tied to a $12.99 subscription and iOS/iPadOS devices—limits its reach. Android users, budget-conscious cooks, and those who prefer free content might stick with existing options. And while Apple’s design is sleek, it lacks the community features—like user reviews or forums—that make sites like Allrecipes so sticky. It’s a premium product through and through, which won’t appeal to everyone.
The Verdict: A Recipe for Success?
As of February 25, 2025, Apple News+ Food is still in beta, but early impressions are promising. The first iOS 18.4 beta, released in late 2024, showcased the feature’s polish, with testers praising its intuitive layout and cook mode. Posts on X reflect excitement, with users calling it a “game-changer” for foodies and a “smart move” for Apple. Sentiment is trending positive, though some wonder if it can truly compete with the breadth of standalone apps.
For Apple, this is less about dominating the recipe market and more about enriching News+. It’s a value-add that could boost subscriber numbers, especially if paired with future hardware like the HomePad. For users, it’s a compelling reason to give News+ a second look—or to finally ditch those ad-riddled recipe sites. Home cooks frustrated by bloated webpages will find a lot to love, while casual browsers might enjoy the curated stories and tips.
The real test comes in April 2025, when iOS 18.4 rolls out to the public. Will Apple News+ Food carve out a lasting niche, or will it be a fleeting experiment? If Apple plays its cards right—expanding content, refining features, and maybe even integrating with Health or Fitness+ for nutrition tracking—it could become a kitchen staple. For now, it’s a bold step into a crowded space, backed by Apple’s signature flair. Recipe apps, consider yourselves on notice.
