We've become accustomed to paying for subscriptions for the best streaming services and cell phone plans, but sous vide machines?
Yep, that's right. Anova, which makes some of the best sous vide machines, announced that it would start charging a subscription to use its app to control its sous vide machines — which means you'll be taking a bath along with your meat.
Fortunately, there is a way to get around the subscription.
Anova announced today (August 15) in an email that, effective August 21, users will have to pay a monthly fee of $1.99 or an annual fee of $9.99 in order to access the following functions of its app:
- Anova Sous Vide Guides: Learn the basics with guides created by our experts. Choose your preferred level of doneness and press start to get cooking.
- Manual Control: Customize cook settings like time and temperature.
- Cook Notifications: Remote updates on your cook status.
- Recipe Discovery: Find recipes from award-winning chefs, #anovafoodnerds, and more.
- Recipe Saving: Bookmark your favorites and share your recipes with friends directly on the app.
In the email, cofounder and CEO Stephen Svajian writes: "As our community has grown, so have the demands on our resources. Our community has literally cooked 100s of millions of times with our app. Unfortunately, each connected cook costs us money. So, to continue delivering the exceptional service and innovative recipes you’ve come to expect, we’re introducing a small subscription fee for our app. The new Anova Sous Vide Subscription will allow us to maintain and enhance the app, ensuring it remains a valuable resource for all of our users."
However, there's a caveat: If you buy an Anova sous vide machine prior to August 21 and are an existing user of the app, you'll be grandfathered forever, and won't have to pay for a subscription. So if you were ever thinking of buying a sous vide machine, now's the time.
Earlier this month, the company also announced that some of its older sous vide machines would lose app support on September 28, 2025. While you'll still be able to use the sous vide machines, you'll no longer be able to use them with the app, which means you won't be able to control them remotely or monitor their status on your smartphone.
Affected models include the original Anova Precision Cooker and the Precision Cooker 2.0. Impacted model numbers (located on the back of your device; below the power cord) include:
- US, Canada, Japan & Taiwan
- PCB-120US-K1 or A2.2-120V-US
- PCW-120US-K1 or A3.2-120V-US
- Anova PC
- Anova PC 2.0
- A2 or A3
- International / Rest of World
- PCB-220UK-K1 or A2.2-220V-UK
- PCW-220UK-K1 or A3.2-220V-UK
- PCB-220EU-K1 or A2.2-220V-EU
- PCW-220EU-K1 or A3.2-220V-EU
- PCB-220AU-K1 or A2.2-220V-AU
- PCW-220AU-K1 or A3.2-220V-AU
As someone who's used an Anova sous vide for nearly a decade — and whose original sous vide machine is still humming along nicely — I'm a bit bummed that not only will it stop working with the app next year, but that any new customers will be charged a fee if they want to enjoy it as I do.
I get that the company needs to make money, but with something as commoditized as a kitchen appliance, such a move could force consumers to look elsewhere.
