Release Notes

Marketing site

• New home page photos.

Marketing site

• Sections now fade in gently as you scroll into them on the homepage, About, Features, How It Works, Privacy & Ownership, and FAQ — sections feel composed rather than dumped onto the page. Skipped entirely if your OS has "reduce motion" enabled
• Smooth in-page scrolling (jumping to anchor links) now respects "reduce motion" — previously it was always smooth, regardless of the OS preference

Library Mode polish

• Recipe cards now lift slightly on hover and on keyboard focus — small visual feedback that the card is interactive, useful for mouse and keyboard users alike
• Recipes in the grid cascade in when the page first loads instead of all appearing at once. Capped so cards 11+ on long lists don't queue forever — they appear together after a half-second

Modal entrances

• All dialogs — feedback, login, signup, filter, icon picker, add photo, add meal, share, and the iOS install hint — now fade and slide in gently when opened, instead of snapping into place
• Keyboard focus moves to the dialog after the entrance animation completes (was previously racing the animation by 250ms) so the dialog feels settled when the screen reader announces it
• Onboarding wizard step transitions also use the shared entrance pattern, replacing a slightly off easing curve from earlier in the project

Accessibility — toast notifications

• Toast notifications now announce reliably through a persistent screen-reader region instead of mounting a fresh live region per toast — Safari VoiceOver in particular sometimes missed the previous announcements
• Error toasts now announce assertively (interrupting current speech) while status and info toasts stay polite, so a failed save or network error doesn't get queued behind less important messages

Accessibility — Cooking Mode

• Tapping the recipe area to pause or resume the read-aloud now announces "Paused" or "Resumed" through the screen reader — previously only the voice-command path announced
• "Resumed" string added to all 9 languages (German, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish)

Shopping list

• Move items between lists. Detailed view items now have a "⋮" menu with Edit and Move to other list. Pick a destination from your other lists and the item moves over. Built for the "I wanted to buy it at Store A but they didn't have it" workflow
• Autocomplete now suggests anything you've added before, not just things you've checked off. Previously you had to have purchased an item before it showed up as a suggestion. Now anything on any of your lists surfaces while you type
• Bug fix: Deleting a shopping list now shows the actual list name in the confirmation dialog instead of the literal text "{{name}}"
• Four new shopping list strings translated into all 9 supported languages

Every motion change above respects your OS-level "reduce motion" preference — animations are skipped entirely and content renders in its final state.

Auth pages

• Login page background switched from cream to white so the inner sign-in card no longer reads as cream-on-cream
• Login and Register headlines + eyebrows now route through the translation system — the "Welcome back." headline, "Sign In" eyebrow, "New here? / Make an account" prompt, "Make an account" eyebrow, and "Get started for free." headline are now translated in all 9 supported languages

Marketing site

• Header icons (theme toggle, search, close) now match the React app's ink color in light mode instead of saffron, so they read as interactive controls rather than decorative accents

Accessibility improvements

• Sitewide screen reader sweep: hero headlines, decorative numbers, separators, and italic emphasis now read cleanly instead of as fragmented chunks
• Section headings are now keyboard-tabbable so users can step between sections without Tab-spamming through every list item
• In-page anchor links (FAQ sidebar, Features jump-list, Guides section nav) now move keyboard focus to the target section, so the next Tab continues into the section's content
• Skip-to-main-content link now actually moves focus into the page (was scrolling but leaving focus on the nav bar)
• Small body and chrome text — feature descriptions, FAQ answers, sidebar nav, eyebrows, photo captions — bumped to readable sizes with stronger contrast (snapped to existing design tokens for future flexibility)

Performance

• App entry chunk shrunk from 632 KB to 195 KB (a 70% reduction). Sentry's error-tracking SDK + session replay no longer block first paint — they now load on browser idle after the app is interactive
• Marketing screenshots now use a single light-or-dark variant per visit instead of downloading both. About 84 KB saved on every page that has a product screenshot
• Marketing site ships only the Latin font subsets (English-only site) instead of all subsets — 32 fewer woff2 files in the build
• Meal planner re-renders no longer re-allocate the week-dates array; recipe list sort no longer re-reads localStorage for every comparison
• Phosphor icon import switched to a deep import path so the bundle no longer pulls the full icon set for one icon

Internationalization

• 44 missing translation keys backfilled across all 8 non-English locales (Spanish, French, German, Dutch, Swedish, Italian, Portuguese, Polish) — primarily Shopping List and Dashboard strings that had been showing English fallbacks
• Polish plural forms completed — "X days/hours/minutes ago" now use the correct one/few/many/other forms instead of falling back to English
• Login page eyebrow and "make an account" prompt are now translated; previously the first screen non-English users saw was partially in English
• Hardcoded English aria-labels on shopping list, recipe preview, cooking mode, and filter controls now route through the translation system, so screen readers in other languages get localized announcements

Recipe icons & cover image

• New library of 40 hand-drawn food icons (up from 17) — pizza, burger, taco, sushi, kebab, pie, cookie, ice cream, and more — used as recipe-card placeholders when a recipe has no cover photo
• Smarter automatic icon detection — multi-word and pluralized categories (Chocolate Chip Cookies, BBQ Pulled Pork, Spaghetti and Meatballs) now resolve to the right icon, and dish forms (stew, salad, pasta) take priority over ingredients
• New icon picker on the recipe edit form — click the icon thumbnail to open a modal grid of all 40 icons, organized by mains / sides / desserts / drinks. Pick one to override the auto-detected choice, or revert to auto-detect
• "Featured" image is now an explicit choice — the star button on each image declares which one is the cover. Images that aren't featured become gallery references and the placeholder icon takes the cover slot
• Recipe detail page now shows all non-featured images in the "Additional Images" gallery, regardless of how many there are — single un-featured images no longer disappear

Mobile & PWA polish

• iOS PWA: top nav now respects the dynamic island / status bar — the saffron header no longer overlaps the system clock and signal indicators
• Bottom navigation labels shortened to fit on one line in every supported language: Dashboard, Recipes, Add, Meals, Lists. Reordered with Add in the visual center
• Dashboard hero on mobile: stats now stack below the action buttons rather than crowding them off-screen
• Dashboard week grid on mobile: shows today + the next two days at a readable size with featured-meal photos, instead of cramming a full seven days into a phone width
• Dashboard cards now use a warmer cream background that stands out from the page in both light and dark modes
• Shopping list page: list-actions sidebar collapses into a triple-dot menu in the toolbar on mobile, freeing the screen for items
• Fixed shopping-list right-side overflow on iOS — content no longer extends under the rounded corner / notch

Performance

• Recipe images now request properly-sized thumbnails from Cloudinary instead of pulling the full upload into every recipe card — about 75% less image bandwidth on a 30-recipe library load
• Marketing site: deleted ~1 MB of unused image assets, right-sized the wordmark PNGs (4800px → 640px), preconnected to analytics, preloaded the two hero fonts, and added responsive hero images. Lighthouse Performance: 93 → 95

Branding & visuals

• Browser tab favicon redesigned as a saffron-filled circle with the white stamp logo — visible against both light and dark browser tabs
• iOS home-screen and Android PWA icon: white stamp on saffron background, no longer the old black-and-white version
• Schick Creative footer attribution logo replaced with crisp 48×48 versions for both light and dark modes
• Shared-recipe link previews now fall back to the brand stamp when a recipe has no featured photo, instead of showing a broken image preview

Other

• Meal Planner: renamed the fourth meal slot from "Snack" to "Other" — a catch-all for anything you'd cook outside of breakfast / lunch / dinner
• Translated "Filter" on the My Recipes page across all 9 supported languages
• Cross-domain login detection — when you're signed in to the app, the marketing site now recognizes that and shows a "My recipes" link in the header instead of "Log in"
• Numerous backend stability fixes: guest-recipe migration after registration, magic-link email logo, image deletion no longer leaves stale references, and the recipe edit form now persists icon choices correctly

Design

• Complete visual redesign — new saffron brand color, cream-and-white surfaces, editorial serif typography, and sharp corners throughout the app
• New Sharp Cooking stamp logo and wordmark in the app header, replacing the Jolly Roger
• Dashboard, recipe list, recipe detail, shopping list, and meal planner all updated with the new visual system
• Registration and login pages redesigned with a centered card layout and warm background

Dark Mode

• Dark mode is now available on both the app and the marketing website — follows your system preference automatically, with a manual toggle in the header
• Both light and dark modes meet WCAG AA contrast requirements throughout
• Dark mode persists across sessions via localStorage

Navigation

• App header redesigned with saffron logo pill, active page underline, and full language names in the language switcher
• Removed the redundant language switcher from the registration page

Shopping List

• Checked items now sort by most recently checked, so the things you just bought float to the top
• Checking items off now works offline — the app queues the change and syncs when you reconnect

Accessibility

• Primary buttons now meet WCAG AA color contrast (4.8:1 ratio)
• 29 missing translation keys restored across all 9 supported languages

Dashboard

• Redesigned dashboard with consistent card layout, shadows, and spacing across all sections
• Dashboard is now accessible from the main navigation on desktop and mobile
• Dashboard text is now fully translated across all nine supported languages

Improvements

• Recipe detail page: improved mobile layout — better margins, step indentation, and source line formatting on small screens
• Sort preference now persists across sessions — the app remembers how you last sorted your recipes

Bug Fixes

• Fixed shopping list consolidation incorrectly merging items that were already checked off
• Fixed shopping list items failing to update when optional fields were cleared

Under the Hood

• Cooking Mode temporarily hidden while being reworked
• Upgraded to Node.js 22 LTS
• API rate limiting applied to all routes
• Various stability and reliability fixes

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where adding a previously purchased item to a shopping list would silently fail — items like "yogurt" that were already checked off now add as fresh entries
• Fixed offline access — recipes now load correctly without an internet connection after downloading
• Fixed VoiceOver not announcing search result counts when filtering recipes

Under the Hood

• Security hardening across all API endpoints
• Sessions can now be revoked from all devices simultaneously
• Improved app stability and performance

New Languages

• The app is now available in Italian, Portuguese, and Polish
• All UI text, accessibility labels, and error messages are fully translated

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a unit conversion bug where "liters" and "litres" were not correctly converted to imperial — 5 liters now correctly converts to about 5 quarts instead of a fraction of a teaspoon

Paprika Import

• Import your entire Paprika recipe library in one step
• Two export options: binary .paprikarecipes (works on iPhone, no photos) or HTML export zipped (includes photos, Mac/Windows)
• Photos are uploaded to your library automatically in the background after import

Bulk Import

• New Bulk Import wizard step consolidates CSV/Excel, Google Sheets, Excel Online, and Paprika under one entry point
• Google Sheets and Excel Online share links are now supported directly — no manual export required

Shopping Lists

• Active shopping lists and unpurchased items are never automatically deleted
• Data retention now applies only to archived lists and purchased items
• Frequently purchased items now update immediately after checking off an item

Account Settings

• Clarified data retention descriptions — recipes and future meal plans are never deleted

Design

• Replaced all hardcoded font sizes and weights with design tokens
• Normalized recipe time display in grid cards
• Increased spacing after recipe title on detail page
• Lightened nav links and fixed instructions text size
• Matched dropdown trigger style to nav links
• Fixed staging PWA manifest theme color and app name

Privacy

• Anonymized analytics and cost tracking data by removing user identifiers
• Removed device and location data from ad impression tracking
• Stripped user agent from feedback submissions
• EXIF metadata automatically stripped from all uploaded images
• Automated weekly cleanup of expired tokens and sessions

Communities

• Improved error messages when creating communities (shows actual issue instead of generic error)
• Household option grayed out if you already have one
• Contextual button labels: "Create Household", "Create Group", or "Plan Event"
• Improved community type selector layout and date picker styling

Recipe Actions

• New "Add Recipe" button in community view for adding existing recipes
• New "Add to..." menu on recipe detail page with options for Shopping List, Meal Plan, Community, and Event
• Consolidated recipe actions into a single dropdown (replaced standalone Shopping List button)
• Improved ingredient list spacing and readability

• Bug Fix: Improved database connection reliability by consolidating to a single shared connection pool
• Bug Fix: Fixed email template heading color to match brand styling
• Website: Added proper 404 page and removed fallback redirect that served the homepage for unknown URLs
• Website: Fixed help page titles displaying "undefined"
• Website: SEO improvements including robots meta tags, trailing slash fixes, and sitemap cleanup

• Communities: Create Households, Groups, and Events to share recipes and plan meals together
• Meal Planning: Plan meals within communities, assign cooks to recipes, and generate per-person shopping lists
• Event Planning: Plan events from groups, with inline editing of meal name, date, and type
• Community Conversion: Admins can convert events to groups and vice versa
• Invitations: Invite anyone by email, even if they don't have an account yet
• i18n: Full community translations across all 6 supported languages
• Bug Fix: Fixed bottom navigation overlapping Cooking Mode controls on mobile

• Cooking Mode: Full-screen, distraction-free recipe execution view with sentence-by-sentence navigation through ingredients, instructions, and notes
• Cooking Mode: Voice commands and text-to-speech read-aloud for hands-free cooking
• Cooking Mode: Tap-to-pause and keyboard shortcuts (P to pause, V for voice, arrow keys to navigate)
• Cooking Mode: Ingredient drawer with checkbox tracking accessible from any phase
• Cooking Mode: Configurable speech speed and voice selection via settings panel
• Accessibility: Full screen reader support, ARIA live regions, keyboard navigation throughout Cooking Mode
• i18n: Cooking Mode fully translated into English, Spanish, French, German, Dutch, and Swedish

• SEO: Restructured Guides page as a topical authority hub with renamed clusters, keyword-rich descriptions, and internal linking
• SEO: Added ItemList structured data to Guides index and fixed FAQPage schema on all guide articles
• SEO: Automated sitemap submission to Google Search Console on every production deploy
• SEO: Fixed robots.txt validation errors
• Navigation: Simplified header to product-focused links (Features, FAQ, Help, About)

• Authentication: Secure cookie-based authentication enables seamless cross-site experience between marketing site and app
• Website: Header automatically displays "My Recipes" for logged-in users
• Recipe Import: Guest sessions now properly migrate to user accounts after registration
• Infrastructure: Production-ready preflight environment for testing before deployment

• Website: New accessibility statement (WCAG 2.2 Level AA compliance)
• Website: Enhanced footer with organized 4-column layout for better discoverability
• Website: Accessibility link added to Legal section
• Website: Footer spacing optimized for improved readability

• Shopping List: Autocomplete dropdown for frequently-used items with keyboard navigation
• Shopping List: Quick-add chips for recent purchases (top 12 items)
• Shopping List: Sort options (Default, Name, Category, Recipe)
• Meal Planner: Add recipe ingredients to shopping list with checkbox selection
• Bug fix: Fixed retention settings endpoint error

• Website: Published G007: The hidden costs of food delivery apps (Food & Home Cooking hub)
• Website: Unhid Food & Home Cooking hub section on Guides page
• SEO: Added FAQ schema (FAQPage) for "People Also Ask" eligibility
• SEO: Created RSS feed at /guides/rss.xml for instant discovery
• SEO: Added sitemap priority differentiation (hub: 0.9, spoke: 0.7)
• SEO: Automated sitemap submission to Google and Bing via Netlify plugin

• Website: Bookshop.org affiliate integration for cookbook recommendations
• Website: New Editorial Policy page with affiliate disclosure
• Website: New Contact page with support categories and response times
• Website: Updated Privacy Policy with comprehensive GDPR/CCPA coverage
• Website: Updated Terms of Service with clear user rights and responsibilities
• Website: Footer navigation updated with Editorial Policy and Contact links

• Shopping list: Complete UX overhaul with compact/detailed view toggle
• Shopping list: Click item names to mark as purchased (strikethrough + fade)
• Shopping list: Swipe left to edit items
• Shopping list: Auto-categorization with colored badges (9 categories)
• Recipe list: Pull-to-refresh functionality for mobile/PWA
• Navigation: Added Guides and Updates links to navbar
• Bug fix: Fixed unit converter bug: "e.g." no longer converts to "eNaN oz."
• Bug fix: Fixed ingredient categorization (tea → beverages, broth → pantry)

• Admin: Content admin dashboard for tracking website articles (Guides and Updates)
• Admin: Status and type filtering for article management
• Admin: Real-time article counts and metadata display
• Admin: Preview links to published content

• Website: Launched Guides section with articles on recipe organization, copyright, accessibility, digitization, and privacy
• Website: Launched Updates section with product news and announcements

• Minor formatting and bug fixes for mobile displays

• New feature: Community types with household communities featuring automatic recipe sharing
• New feature: Image rotation tool in recipe editor (rotate photos 90° left/right)
• Design system: Comprehensive update to design tokens for consistent colors, spacing, and typography
• Design system: Updated all buttons, modals, and UI components to use new token system
• Smart Image Extraction: Fixed handling of cropped images (now uploads to Cloudinary immediately)
• Navigation: Streamlined header menu with direct links to My Recipes, Meal planner, Shopping list
• Email templates: Updated branding with Jolly Roger logo and pirate color scheme
• Voice control: Improved modal styling with light background and better readability
• Wizard: Now redirects signed-in users to /addrecipe (avoids redundant onboarding)
• Performance: Added pagination to My Recipes page (36 recipes per page)
• Internationalization: Fixed hard-coded text in RecipeCamera and RecipeReader components
• Backend: Added analytics rollup and cleanup cron jobs for better data management
• Branding: New Sharp Cooking logo and favicon throughout the app
• Bug fix: Service worker no longer intercepts API requests (improves reliability)

• Image improvements: Fixed rotation issues with iPhone photos (EXIF orientation now respected)
• Image improvements: Automatic alt text generation for uploaded recipe images
• Image improvements: Guest user recipes now properly migrate images after account creation
• Accessibility improvements: Enhanced modal focus management for screen readers
• Bug fixes: Resolved translation file JSON syntax errors affecting non-English languages

• Accessibility improvements: Fixed color contrast issues to meet WCAG AA standards
• Accessibility improvements: Added user confirmation feedback for all form submissions
• Accessibility improvements: Enhanced screen reader support with ARIA live regions
• Bug fixes and performance enhancements

• New help section with initial 8 articles
• Bug fixes and security upgrades

Dashboard Improvements

• Redesigned Layout: Removed top stat tiles and integrated key metrics directly into section headers for a cleaner, more focused interface
• Unified Recently Viewed: Updated Recently Viewed section to match Upcoming Meals card style for consistent visual design
• Better Organization: Reorganized dashboard tiles - Shopping Lists and Communities are now side-by-side, as are Registered Devices and Help Us Improve

In-App Feedback System

• Report Bugs: Submit bug reports directly from the app with type-specific forms and automatic URL capture
• Request Features: Share your ideas for new features with detailed descriptions
• General Feedback: Provide suggestions and feedback to help improve Sharp Cooking
• Admin Dashboard: Feedback submissions now appear in the admin dashboard for tracking and prioritization

Meal Planner & Grocery Features

• Upcoming Meals: View your scheduled meals directly on the dashboard
• Active Shopping Lists: Quick access to your grocery lists from the dashboard

Code Quality & Accessibility

• Accessibility Improvements: Enhanced modal dialogs with proper ARIA attributes, keyboard navigation, and focus management
• Rate Limiter Fix: Resolved IPv6 address handling issues that could cause backend crashes
• Database Optimization: Improved analytics tracking and feedback storage

• PWA Fix: Fixed iOS Progressive Web App offline storage to properly download community-shared recipes, not just personal recipes

For complete release history, visit the app.