Apple News+ Expands with New Food Section Featuring Thousands of Recipes

Apple is launching Apple News+ Food in April with iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4, offering thousands of recipes, restaurant reviews, and food-related content. The section will feature top publishers like Allrecipes, Bon Appétit, and Serious Eats, with some free content available. Users can search recipes by ingredients, prep time, and cuisine, and use Cook Mode for a hands-free experience. Offline access and ingredient tracking enhance usability. Apple is competing with The New York Times’ successful NYT Cooking subscription. This follows Apple’s expansion of News+ with sports content and games. The move aims to make Apple News+ a more comprehensive lifestyle platform. It also highlights Apple’s growing investment in digital media and subscription services.

CONTENTS:

• A More Interactive Cooking Experience
• Competing with The New York Times’ Successful Recipe Strategy
• Apple’s Growing Investment in Digital Media

Apple News+ Expands with New Food Section Featuring Thousands of Recipes

Apple is broadening its Apple News+ subscription service by introducing a dedicated food section, set to debut with iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 in April. Dubbed Apple News+ Food, this new feature will offer a vast collection of recipes, restaurant reviews, and articles on healthy eating and kitchen essentials.

The section will feature content from leading publishers such as Allrecipes, Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, Good Food, and Serious Eats. While the majority of content will be exclusive to News+ subscribers, select recipes and articles will also be available to free Apple News users.

Designed to enhance the cooking experience, the feature will allow users to search for recipes based on ingredients, preparation time, cuisine type, and more. Users can mark ingredients they already have, save recipes for later, and utilize a dedicated Cook Mode that keeps the recipe full screen and well-lit, preventing the need to unlock the device mid-cooking. Offline access is also available.

Apple’s move mirrors The New York Times’ strategy of integrating its extensive recipe collection within its subscription offerings. While some Times-owned brands like The Wirecutter and The Athletic are part of Apple News+, the newspaper’s core reporting and recipe content remain outside Apple’s ecosystem.

This expansion follows Apple’s previous efforts to enhance News+ by adding a dedicated sports section, a standalone sports app, and puzzle games similar to those in The New York Times’ Games package.

Apple is expanding its Apple News+ subscription service with the launch of a dedicated food section, Apple News+ Food, set to roll out alongside iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 in April. This new addition aims to transform Apple News+ into a more comprehensive lifestyle and publishing platform by offering a rich collection of food-related content, including thousands of recipes, restaurant reviews, healthy eating guides, and kitchen essentials.

The food section will feature exclusive content from top culinary publishers such as Allrecipes, Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, Good Food, and Serious Eats. While much of the content will be reserved for Apple News+ subscribers, select recipes and articles will also be accessible to free Apple News users, ensuring a broad reach for Apple’s latest initiative.

A More Interactive Cooking Experience

Apple News+ Food isn’t just a repository of articles and recipes—it’s designed to enhance the cooking experience with an intuitive and interactive interface. Users can search for recipes based on various factors, including ingredients on hand, preparation time, cuisine type, and difficulty level. This customization aims to make meal planning easier and more convenient.

One of the standout features is Cook Mode, which allows users to follow a recipe in a full-screen, well-lit format, preventing the need to constantly unlock their phone while cooking. Additionally, users can check off ingredients they already have, mark those they need to buy, and save favorite recipes for offline access. These practical tools position Apple News+ Food as a valuable companion for home cooks, whether they are beginners or seasoned chefs.

Competing with The New York Times’ Successful Recipe Strategy

Apple’s latest move draws clear comparisons to The New York Times, which has successfully integrated its vast collection of recipes into its subscription bundle. The Times Cooking section has become a popular feature within the NYT ecosystem, offering thousands of recipes behind a paywall. While some New York Times-owned brands like The Wirecutter and The Athletic are already included in Apple News+, the Times’ core news reporting and recipe database remain independent from Apple’s offerings.

By expanding Apple News+ with food content, Apple is positioning itself as a direct competitor in the digital food publishing space, attracting both casual cooks and food enthusiasts. This addition follows Apple’s previous efforts to enrich its News+ service, including the introduction of a dedicated sports section, a standalone sports app, and interactive puzzles similar to The New York Times’ popular Games package.

Apple’s Growing Investment in Digital Media

The introduction of Apple News+ Food aligns with Apple’s broader strategy of making its subscription services more appealing. By offering an extensive selection of recipes and food content, Apple is betting that users will see added value in their News+ subscription, making it a more compelling alternative to other digital news and lifestyle platforms.

Moreover, this expansion reflects Apple’s increasing investment in digital media and content-driven experiences. Just as Apple Music transformed how users listen to music and Apple TV+ changed how they consume entertainment, Apple News+ Food could potentially reshape how users engage with food content on their devices.

With Apple continuously enhancing its services, it’s clear that Apple News+ is evolving beyond just news—it’s becoming a lifestyle hub. The addition of food content marks another step in Apple’s effort to keep users engaged, whether they’re looking for breaking news, sports updates, interactive puzzles, or now, their next favorite meal.