One of the things I love most about the Cook’n community is how thoughtful and observant you are.

Recently, Annemarie contacted our support team with this suggestion:

“Suggestion for mobile app. When I do a search of multiple cookbooks the results don't show which cookbook the recipe is from. The PC app does.”

She’s absolutely right...and that’s a great observation.

Knowing which cookbook a recipe comes from would be very helpful, especially when you’re searching across multiple collections. I’ve already shared this idea with the Cook’n Elves so we can talk through what it would look like and whether it makes sense to add it.

💡 Not every good idea becomes a feature—right away

We receive many excellent ideas like this, and we truly appreciate every single one of them. Some suggestions are obvious wins. Others are smart ideas that require a little more thought.

Why? Because there’s always a balance.

On one hand, we want Cook’n to be powerful, flexible, and feature-rich. On the other hand, if we add every bell and whistle—especially to solve very specific or edge-case needs—the app can quickly become cluttered and overwhelming… particularly for new users.

A good example of this balance is something most of us have experienced:

Microsoft Word has many more features than Google Docs. That’s not because Google can’t add more—it’s because they intentionally design Docs to stay lighter, simpler, and easier to use.

🖥️ Desktop and Mobile Are Designed Differently—On Purpose

It’s also important to understand that Cook’n Desktop and Cook’n Mobile are not meant to be identical twins.

Your desktop computer is powerful and offers lots of screen real estate. It’s ideal for organizing large collections, managing categories, and doing deeper work with your recipes. But it’s not very portable.

Your mobile device, on the other hand, goes everywhere with you—the grocery store, the kitchen counter, the farmer’s market—but screen space is limited. Because of that, we’re very intentional about what we include on mobile so it stays fast, uncluttered, and easy to use in the moment.

So while some features exist on the desktop that don’t (and may never) appear on mobile, that’s usually a design choice, not an oversight.

🧡 Fresh eyes, great energy

Since MasterCook users joined the Cook’n family a couple of months ago, we’ve received a wave of new ideas, questions, and suggestions...and we love it!

Fresh eyes notice things longtime users might overlook, and that kind of feedback is incredibly valuable. We carefully read and seriously consider every suggestion that comes in. Over time, many of these ideas do make their way into Cook’n.

That said, we may not implement every idea...or we may not implement it right away. Sometimes it takes time. Sometimes we’re waiting until we can do it right. And sometimes we decide not to add something because it could make Cook’n harder to use overall.

🙌 Please keep the ideas coming

Your feedback helps shape Cook’n more than you might realize. Even when a suggestion isn’t implemented immediately (or at all), it helps guide our thinking and keeps us focused on what matters most to you.

So please...keep sharing your ideas, observations, and “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” moments with us. Together, step by step, we’re going to keep making Cook’n better and better.

And to all of our longtime users and our newest MasterCook friends...thank you for being part of this journey. ❤️

    Dan Oaks
    Founder of DVO Enterprises
    Creator of Cook'n
    Grandfather of 4. Father of 5. Husband of 1.
    Monthly Newsletter Contributor since 2024
    Email the author! dan@dvo.com