Joule: Sous Vide by ChefSteps

Name: Joule: Sous Vide by ChefSteps
Rating: 2.6 (732 reviews)
Author: ChefSteps Inc.

Food & Drink

Free

732 Ratings
Ages

4+
Years
Category

Food & Drink
Developer

ChefSteps Inc.
Language

EN
English
Size

40.9
MB

Get access to the best sous vide recipes and control Joule, the world’s smallest, most powerful sous vide tool, with the Joule App. From raw to ready, the app coaches you through the whole process, so cooking sous vide is simple. Just pick what you want to cook, and we’ll walk you through the rest. The Joule App includes groundbreaking features like Visual Doneness, precise temperature control from anywhere, and a robust collection of recipes and cooking guides created by the ChefSteps team. Joule and its app were built and designed from scratch to work together, and we’re just as dedicated to the quality of our products as we are to the food we make with them. You can read more about Joule and the Joule App in publications like CNET, Wired, Lifehacker, Food & Wine, and Network World. HOW DOES THE JOULE APP WORK? You tell us what you’re cooking, we tell you when it’s ready. Making a two-inch steak? Great. Just tap the Start button, and Joule will set a timer for perfect doneness. Get notified when your steak is ready—and we’ll also tell you how much longer it can stay in the water without overcooking. WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THE JOULE APP? • Exclusive access to our cooking guides: The app comes with step-by-step guides for everything from perfect fried chicken, to succulent salmon, to the best steak you’ve ever had in your life, helping you unlock the power of sous vide. What’s even better? We’ll keep adding new guides (and updating old ones) all the time. • Visual Doneness: Choose exactly how you want your food to look when it’s done, then press go, and Joule does the rest. No more filtering through online forums to get the information you need. Visual Doneness takes the guesswork out of sous vide. • Step-by-step instructions, so you can learn as you go: Every cooking guide comes loaded with quick videos that’ll teach you new techniques and help you get the best results. • Notifications that let you know when your water is hot and your food is done, no matter where you are. Not ready to eat? We’ll tell you how much longer your food can stay in without overcooking. • Bluetooth and Wifi control, so you can cook from anywhere. WHAT IS SOUS VIDE COOKING AND HOW DOES IT WORK? Chefs have been cooking sous vide for decades to get perfect proteins and amazing new textures. But, it’s not fancy or complicated—Joule heats water to a very specific temperature, so you can cook food gently, with super-human precision. The water never gets hotter than you want the food to be, so it won’t overcook. HOW DO I GET JOULE? Visit chefsteps.com/joule to learn more. CAN I STILL USE THE JOULE APP IF I HAVE ANOTHER SOUS VIDE TOOL, LIKE NOMIKU, SANSAIRE, OR ANOVA? Absolutely! You can still use our sous vide guides and Visual Doneness in the Joule App to figure out your favorite times and temperatures, then manually set your other tool and make amazing meals at home. LEGALESE: Terms of Use and Sale - https://www.chefsteps.com/terms Limited Warranty - https://www.chefsteps.com/joule/warranty EULA - https://www.chefsteps.com/eula Privacy Policy - https://www.chefsteps.com/privacy By downloading, installing or using the Joule app, you agree to the End User License Agreement. Currently, this app is only available in English.

Ratings & Reviews

2.6

out of 5

732 Ratings

A few issues.
01/10/2019

Larsbullock
When you set the timer on most smartphones, the time end alert keeps sounding until the user acknowledges - the way it should be. With the Joule, however, the timer’s audio alert lasts only a few seconds. If an airplane flies by, or if you turn on the blender or use a vacuum cleaner momentarily, the alert gets missed. I do realize that sous-vide cooking in general is more about temperature than time but there are applications when time is crucial, for instance, ChefSteps 75 degree eggs - which is what I just happen to use the Joule mostly for. I’ve ruined many eggs by depending on Joule’s timer and now use my iPhone’s timer instead. On the other hand, suppose you stop the device manually after cooking because you don’t want to touch your phone with wet hands. The next time you turn it on and set a temperature, you must acknowledge that the water level is too low (from the previous session), turn it off from the app, then restart from the app. A big hassle. Also, many of the time/temp recommendations provided by the app are wrong. If you research the internet for time /temp recommendations, you’d be better off choosing the recommendations from other sources.

Developer Response
Hi Lars, thank you for taking the time to leave a review and we are so sorry to hear that you have had a less than perfect experience with Joule so far. We'd love to help troubleshoot the timer/notification issue. Please reach out to us at customerexperience@chefsteps.com so that we can best assist. Also, if you tap down on the top of Joule for 1 second when you would like to end a cook, the cook will stop in the app and you will not receive the error message in the future! Please let us know if you are already doing this! Thanks again for the feedback here and our apologies again for the frustration you have experienced. We look forward to helping resolve this. The ChefSteps Customer Experience Team
A few issues.
01/10/2019

Larsbullock

When you set the timer on most smartphones, the time end alert keeps sounding until the user acknowledges - the way it should be. With the Joule, however, the timer’s audio alert lasts only a few seconds. If an airplane flies by, or if you turn on the blender or use a vacuum cleaner momentarily, the alert gets missed. I do realize that sous-vide cooking in general is more about temperature than time but there are applications when time is crucial, for instance, ChefSteps 75 degree eggs - which is what I just happen to use the Joule mostly for. I’ve ruined many eggs by depending on Joule’s timer and now use my iPhone’s timer instead. On the other hand, suppose you stop the device manually after cooking because you don’t want to touch your phone with wet hands. The next time you turn it on and set a temperature, you must acknowledge that the water level is too low (from the previous session), turn it off from the app, then restart from the app. A big hassle. Also, many of the time/temp recommendations provided by the app are wrong. If you research the internet for time /temp recommendations, you’d be better off choosing the recommendations from other sources.
Developer Response 01/11/2019
Hi Lars, thank you for taking the time to leave a review and we are so sorry to hear that you have had a less than perfect experience with Joule so far. We'd love to help troubleshoot the timer/notification issue. Please reach out to us at customerexperience@chefsteps.com so that we can best assist. Also, if you tap down on the top of Joule for 1 second when you would like to end a cook, the cook will stop in the app and you will not receive the error message in the future! Please let us know if you are already doing this! Thanks again for the feedback here and our apologies again for the frustration you have experienced. We look forward to helping resolve this. The ChefSteps Customer Experience Team
Love this machine!
06/29/2019

ChefGL
I’m not really sure why so many people have not given this the joule a better rating. I am a Chef in the food industry and I love my joule...or joules! I have 3 of them now and looking at a 4th one. I have tried competitors, but always go back to the joule. I also have had a couple of my kitchen staff buy ones for themselves. They are precise, work awesome and have not had any issues I can’t fix with the simple troubleshooting techniques. I use the recipes as well as the manual cooking option. The updates, I feel, have been great, and the chefsteps crew seems to be continuously trying to improve the whole experience. I love the tech side of the joule(though a manual control, or even better, a control from the cloud on a desktop would be nice), and multiple users being able to control the same joule at once, is awesome! The only reason I don’t give this a 5 star, is because I want and NEED a way to add and save my own “recipes”/cooking data. I cook some of the same things over and over, and I have tweaked the app recipes to what works for me. If chefsteps could have a section that saves personal recipes in the app so that I could quickly go back to them, that would make this machine perfect! Thanks for the awesome joule and keep it up!

Developer Response
Hi ChefGL, thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review here! We are so glad to hear that you have been loving Joule and really appreciate your feedback here! We’re here for you if there is anything we can assist with as you continue to cook with Joule. Please visit support.chefsteps.com with any questions, comments or concerns!Thanks again!The ChefSteps Customer Experience Team
Love this machine!
06/29/2019

ChefGL

I’m not really sure why so many people have not given this the joule a better rating. I am a Chef in the food industry and I love my joule...or joules! I have 3 of them now and looking at a 4th one. I have tried competitors, but always go back to the joule. I also have had a couple of my kitchen staff buy ones for themselves. They are precise, work awesome and have not had any issues I can’t fix with the simple troubleshooting techniques. I use the recipes as well as the manual cooking option. The updates, I feel, have been great, and the chefsteps crew seems to be continuously trying to improve the whole experience. I love the tech side of the joule(though a manual control, or even better, a control from the cloud on a desktop would be nice), and multiple users being able to control the same joule at once, is awesome! The only reason I don’t give this a 5 star, is because I want and NEED a way to add and save my own “recipes”/cooking data. I cook some of the same things over and over, and I have tweaked the app recipes to what works for me. If chefsteps could have a section that saves personal recipes in the app so that I could quickly go back to them, that would make this machine perfect! Thanks for the awesome joule and keep it up!
Developer Response 08/02/2019
Hi ChefGL, thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review here! We are so glad to hear that you have been loving Joule and really appreciate your feedback here! We’re here for you if there is anything we can assist with as you continue to cook with Joule. Please visit support.chefsteps.com with any questions, comments or concerns!Thanks again!The ChefSteps Customer Experience Team
Unnecessarily dumbed down
06/15/2018

Xtopad
Not only is the ersatz ‘chipper’ tone annoying, it gets in the way of efficiently using the device. It would be nice if there were a toggle to turn off the cute. More crucially, there still isn’t implementation of basic functionality that was teased a year ago, eg using the top button to start again the same temp as last used. And obvious capabilities such as a workable log (which would have to allow you to assign titles to your cooks) or a more full featured custom cook creation option would at least partly justify the necessity of using a smart device to operate the sous vide. I have created my own time and temp profiles for everything I cook ... which I have to log separately and track changes for... and share with the 4 other families I have bought sous vide for (not all joules, because my in laws can’t handle a device without built-in controls). You would think the social sharing potential alone would motivate these wannabe hipsters to build in the ability to set custom cooks... but instead they pour development energy into another cutesy notification that makes me never want to tap on the app ever again. Enough with the style over substance.

Developer Response
Hi Xtopad, thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review and share this feedback with us. We really appreciate you letting us know about your experience with Joule so far and truly apologize that it has been less than perfect. We are always working on improving the experience of cooking with Joule and feedback like this is really helpful for us as a team. Please don't hesitate to reach out to us at support.chefsteps.com with any support.chefsteps.com with any further questions, comments or concerns. Thanks again for your feedback! -Megan with ChefSteps Customer Experience
Unnecessarily dumbed down
06/15/2018

Xtopad

Not only is the ersatz ‘chipper’ tone annoying, it gets in the way of efficiently using the device. It would be nice if there were a toggle to turn off the cute. More crucially, there still isn’t implementation of basic functionality that was teased a year ago, eg using the top button to start again the same temp as last used. And obvious capabilities such as a workable log (which would have to allow you to assign titles to your cooks) or a more full featured custom cook creation option would at least partly justify the necessity of using a smart device to operate the sous vide. I have created my own time and temp profiles for everything I cook ... which I have to log separately and track changes for... and share with the 4 other families I have bought sous vide for (not all joules, because my in laws can’t handle a device without built-in controls). You would think the social sharing potential alone would motivate these wannabe hipsters to build in the ability to set custom cooks... but instead they pour development energy into another cutesy notification that makes me never want to tap on the app ever again. Enough with the style over substance.
Developer Response 06/19/2018
Hi Xtopad, thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review and share this feedback with us. We really appreciate you letting us know about your experience with Joule so far and truly apologize that it has been less than perfect. We are always working on improving the experience of cooking with Joule and feedback like this is really helpful for us as a team. Please don't hesitate to reach out to us at support.chefsteps.com with any support.chefsteps.com with any further questions, comments or concerns. Thanks again for your feedback! -Megan with ChefSteps Customer Experience
Device cannot be used
07/10/2022

Fdhiucbpgsagv
I, like others, have found that you need an account. This isn’t so bad at first when you have an account but if for some reason you need a password reset, you cannot use your device. You also need wifi or cellular connection to use the device. Customer support is only available during business hours so no weekend cooking will be supported. Their privacy policy is also quite bad. Breville effectively reserve the right to share what you cook, when and where with their affiliates. On top of that, their cookie management is also quite bad with no options for required, site related and ad related tracking. There is no excuse for not making the app immediately connect to the Joule. Everything else is there for Breville to sell your data. There is no justification other than their sales. If this isn’t fixed immediately, I will seek a refund. Given their support so far, that may require legal channels to resolve. Such a shame. I’m sure this is not what the people at ChefSteps intended and likely Breville have ruined this product which has helped home cooks learn about sous vide techniques.

Developer Response
Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review and we sincerely apologize for your disappointment related to the privacy policy! The data that is collected helps us understand general trends that allow us to make smarter updates to inspire our community to cook more, have more fun cooking, and get killer results. We also collect data about Joule's performance which helps us ensure Joule is running as efficiently as expected, make adjustments as necessary, and plan future improvements. Also, unless you choose to log in to the Joule app using Facebook or connect to Alexa or Messenger, there are no third parties involved. If you have any questions or other concerns please feel free to reach out by submitting a support ticket at support.chefsteps.com. Thanks again.
Device cannot be used
07/10/2022

Fdhiucbpgsagv

I, like others, have found that you need an account. This isn’t so bad at first when you have an account but if for some reason you need a password reset, you cannot use your device. You also need wifi or cellular connection to use the device. Customer support is only available during business hours so no weekend cooking will be supported. Their privacy policy is also quite bad. Breville effectively reserve the right to share what you cook, when and where with their affiliates. On top of that, their cookie management is also quite bad with no options for required, site related and ad related tracking. There is no excuse for not making the app immediately connect to the Joule. Everything else is there for Breville to sell your data. There is no justification other than their sales. If this isn’t fixed immediately, I will seek a refund. Given their support so far, that may require legal channels to resolve. Such a shame. I’m sure this is not what the people at ChefSteps intended and likely Breville have ruined this product which has helped home cooks learn about sous vide techniques.
Developer Response 07/12/2022
Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review and we sincerely apologize for your disappointment related to the privacy policy! The data that is collected helps us understand general trends that allow us to make smarter updates to inspire our community to cook more, have more fun cooking, and get killer results. We also collect data about Joule's performance which helps us ensure Joule is running as efficiently as expected, make adjustments as necessary, and plan future improvements. Also, unless you choose to log in to the Joule app using Facebook or connect to Alexa or Messenger, there are no third parties involved. If you have any questions or other concerns please feel free to reach out by submitting a support ticket at support.chefsteps.com. Thanks again.

The countdown is on: In early 2026 the Joule app will no longer work, whether you’re using the app to operate your Joule or simply searching for inspiration. If you're in the US or Canada you’ll need to switch to Breville+ Cooking today. Find more info and answers to your questions via the link in the app. Support for the Joule Sous Vide will be available in select European countries by March 2026.

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11/19/2025

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