raygoh 4 hours ago

Hi HN

I built CookPal to solve a small but annoying problem for myself: I kept saving recipes from websites, TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, but never actually used them because they were messy, ad-heavy, and hard to follow while cooking.

CookPal lets you import recipes from:

Any recipe website (URL parsing)

TikTok / Instagram / YouTube links

Photos of recipes or screenshots

Manual text input

It turns them into clean, distraction-free recipe cards with features like Cook Mode, ingredient scaling by servings, and a simple shopping list.

This is an iOS app built with React Native (Expo) + a lightweight backend for parsing. It’s still early, and I’d love any feedback on UX, parsing accuracy, or missing features you’d personally want.

App Store link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cookpal-recipe-organizer/id675...

Happy to answer any questions about the tech or product decisions.

  • raunaqvaisoha 4 hours ago

    I like the idea of saving recipes online. What I wish existed was something which would let me take a photo of a dish I’m eating and tell me how to replicate it at home. There’s been so many times I’ve eaten something at a restaurant or someone’s house and want to make it at home, but it’s inconvenient to ask for the recipe.