Seeds: Plant-based recipes 4+

Such a well thought out app

This is a great app, the way it works is great and the recipes look and taste divine!

Pretty - Unimpressive - Requires SUBSCRIPTION

TLDR:

Sleek looking, but overall unimpressive and awkward. Only 67 recipes. Requires a subscription.

FULL UPDATED REVIEW:

This app is mostly an instagram-style scroll page of only 67 recipes (with subpages of details) and a rather basic search function. Plus a hard to exit information dynamic 'book' about the benefits of the plant based diet. Overall, the interface is very pretty in a very modern style, with gorgeous photos. However, despite being sleek it is actually not perfectly intuitive and not all functions are explained or easy to find. I love a strong minimalistic design, but I also want to find things easily and quickly. I do not want to click/swipe things multiple times when it could be as easy to design access to them with one tap only and with better visual cues.

The half hidden search function (swipe down to see it) is lacklustre and not super useful. It is combined with a simple list of the names of the favourites. There is no better way to access and see all the favourites at a glance. To add a favourite - press the main image of the meal (sometimes there is a plus sign to indicate this hidden function - but not on all the dishes), then tap on the heart. This way to mark favourites is not immediately obvious, and is definitely an over complication for no good reason. A clear icon next to the recipe name would be much better. Or one under the main image, together with the details of the cooking time and the author. You will not see if something is already marked as a favourite at a glance. This app really needs a quick button to access all the favourites as its own feed or something alike - with images for quick reference. Perhaps the learning link can be moved elsewhere and replaced for a favourites link, or both can exist side by side as icons. Although i wish i could just remove the learning page altogether. It's too easy to press in error, hard to exit, and adds no value after the first read.

With some tweaking the design can be nearly perfect, if you don't mind the scrolling style of browsing.

The app does have controls for changing the measurement systems and calculating amounts for multiple portions, which is absolutely a must for any cooking app. Additional smart features may be useful to some cooks. No customisation options for dietary restrictions are inconvenient, but typical.

Only 67 recipes in total, 7 of which are not immediately noticeable (they are accessed by scrolling sideways on some recipes - very awkward) and many are half hidden behind the $9.99/yr paywall. The subscription did not show up clearly when i downloaded the app originally, but appears to be visible now on my other devices. I wish there was an option for a one-time purchase instead.

The recipes themselves do look nice and tasty. Which is great. If you don't mind the low selection or happened to like most of them - you will likely be happy with them. Otherwise you will want another app/source, limiting the usefulness of this app, especially as a subscription.

CONCLUSION:

The idea behind this app is brilliant, but the execution favours dynamic looks over functionally and could be annoying to many users. The low number of recipes makes is quite useless for me personally. The subscription only model kill it completely for me. I do appreciate what the app tries to do, so I might try it again in the future if more recipes are added and my other concerns are addressed. But not as a subscription. However, it might be right for you.

-----

UPDATE FOR DEVELOPERS:

Thank you for your response. It is good of you to follow up.

I have originally tried the app on my older iphone and there was no 'in-apps purchases' line near the 'get' button. I have just looked at it again on a different device and see that line now. I'm not sure what went wrong originally as I specifically avoid subscription based apps and prefer to buy them outright. (Although i understand that, at times, subscription is the only reasonable model for the developers. This is simply a personal choice.) And since your mention of this factor is buried deep at the bottom of the description and is not visible easily in the app itself - I clearly missed it. As such, I have changed my rating and review to reflect this information. Thank you for pointing this out.

Do you have any plans of offering a one time purchase option for your app as an alternative? At a high enough price to make it reasonable for you, of course. I'd rather spend more money and get a good app with 200-300 recipes right away.

As for the 67 recipes, if the 7 of them are half hidden - they will be missed by others as well. And thus be of little use. I urge you to fix this design flaw and make your design clearer, or include a better tutorial to all the functions. I do appreciate your focus on quality over quantity. However I find such a low number of recipes not useful for me. With only 67 recipes added in a full year, I fear it will take you another few years before I personally could find it better than just browsing ideas online or using other apps. Even if I love 20 of your meals (and keeping the dietary restrictions in mind this might be unrealistic), I would need another source to complement the app for variety. Having multiple apps for the same purpose gets cumbersome. Clearly I'm simply not your target audience, and a person happy to eat the same few things over and over again would be more pleased with your selection.

Again, thank you for the response. I will keep an eye out to see if you improve your navigation (I am especially hoping for a separate easy to read page of favourites), and reach a more useful number of recipes. If you do that and add a one-time purchase option to unlock all, I'm sure I'll be happy to get it again. Thank you for promoting ethical food consumption! And best of luck.

Developer Response ,

Thanks for the review — we actually currently have 67 recipes in Seeds at the time of this review (note that some sections scroll sideways), and we’re adding more every month. Seeds is about quality over quantity, so we take the time to carefully craft each recipe specifically for the app to provide a unique experience.

We’re also fairly upfront about subscriptions. Every recipe that requires a subscription is marked with a special icon, and you won’t be able to start cooking any subscription-only recipes until you’re subscribed (you can take a look at the ingredients and first couple of steps). You can also try out a subscription free for 7 days.

We’re always making improvements and adding new recipes, so feel free to take a look again any time!