Last week, we released a new version of BigOven for iPad!  Like our other mobile apps, BigOven for iPad is free, and you can optionally get a lot more features with BigOven Pro membership.

New Features

• Use RecipeScan™ to post and organize recipes easily – just take a photo of a written recipe, click upload, and let BigOven do the work!   It’s a magically simple way to organize your family’s heirloom recipes, or capture recipes over at a friend’s house. 

  See the simple steps below – just snap a photo from your iPad 2 (or choose an existing one from your iPad), and upload.  That’s it.  Yes, that’s it.  You’ll get an email from us when the process is completed for you, and then it’s searchable and fully mobile on your iPad.  Learn more about RecipeScan and give it a try today!

• Your first 3 RecipeScans are free to try.  (Beyond that, they’re anywhere from $0.59-$0.99 per credit, depending upon how many you buy.)   We are currently running a special offer where if you sign up for BigOven Pro membership (just $15.99/year), we’ll give you 25 RecipeScan credits free.    (But, fair warning — this offer will not be around forever!)
• Submit photo of a dish you’ve made right from the iPad – if you’re an iPad 2 owner, you can use the iPad 2’s onboard camera to snap a photo of a dish you’ve just made and upload it to BigOven!  After a quick review and approval by our editors here (we review all photos submitted to BigOven), it’ll then be associated with the recipe. 

  This works just like in the new versions of our free iPhone and Windows Phone apps.  If you’re using an iPad first-generation without a camera, you can still submit photos from your on-board photo library.  Who knows, maybe you’re the next winner of our Monthly Food Photo Contest!

• Category filtering for Favorites, Try Soons, Recipes I’ve Posted.  Are you looking for a favorite dessert of yours?  Simply click “Favorites”, then “Desserts”.  Instead of seeing a large list of all your Favorites, Try Soons, Recipes you’ve Posted… now, it’s filtered nicely for you by category.

  

• Random Recipe – Need a little inspiration?  By popular demand, we’ve added this right on the main menu!

Some Existing Features You Might Not Have Discovered

Sure, you know that with BigOven for iPad, you can easily search 170,000+ recipes, including the ones you post on BigOven.com.  You know that BigOven’s one of the most popular cooking apps on the iPad and was there on Day 1 in the App Store when the iPad launched.  You probably know you can fire it up to use up leftovers by entering a few ingredients from your fridge or pantry. 

But did you know, you also can:

• View your recipes offline, without wifi or 3G.  Just be sure to view the recipe details beforehand, and BigOven for iPad is smart enough to store them locally for you.
• View your grocery list offline (BigOven Pro membership required) in a similar way
• Mark Favorites and Try Soons and view them on the web.  Or vice-versa.  (As of a few months ago, we made a change so that your Try Soon list never expires.)
• Search by username via “keyword” search:  Want to quickly find chicken recipes that you posted?  Just tap on the magnifying glass, then “by keyword”.  Type “<your-user-name-here> chicken” without the quotation marks to search by username, e.g., stevemur chicken   Voila!
• Recipes I’ve Posted – easily see the recipes you’ve posted on BigOven.  If you’ve posted or RecipeScanned one recently, be sure to drag down on the list.  Speaking of which,
• Refresh any list (e.g., recipes you’ve posted) by dragging all the way down on the list.
• Organize private recipes – if you’re a BigOven Pro member, you can organize recipes that only you can see
• When you “Prepare” a recipe (in the recipe view), not only will it move to a more condensed view to give you more at a glance, but after about 30 seconds, the recipe will be automatically logged to your “Recipes I’ve Made” list, which is accessible on the iPad, our website (see the dropdown menu near your profile when logged in – choose “Recipes I’ve Made”), and the other mobile apps.
• In landscape view, you can swipe to the left (start right, swipe leftward, like turning the page of a book) to go through the recipe list entries, one by one
• BigOven Pro members get a sorted grocery list by aisle – no more backtracking through the store
• You can email your grocery list – why not let someone else do the shopping?  Or, of course, you can also email it to yourself if you’re shopping.
• Your grocery list is always available at www.bigoven.com/grocery from any web browser
• Your grocery list syncs
  with iPhone, Windows Phone and Android applications, as well as BigOven.com
• Switch a recipe to metric or display as-originally-posted easily from the upper right hand corner menu
• Have BigOven for Windows, our optional desktop recipe software?  Just post a recipe (using the Post button on the toolbar), wait a few moments, then refresh your “Recipes I’ve Posted” list on the iPad and you’ll see it there.
• Have Facebook friends who like to cook?  Suggest a few of your favorites from within the BigOven app – simply visit the recipe you’d like, and tap on the upper right corner “Action” menu.  You’ll see options to Share on Facebook, Share by Email, and Share on Twitter
• With a little help from Safari, you can post recipes right from your iPad.  Simply bookmark www.bigoven.com/recipe/post in Safari.  (We realize this isn’t ideal, because it’s not in the app itself, but it’s a pretty great workaround and works well.)
• In the grocery list view, tapping and holding on a recipe takes* you to the recipe details for that recipe.  (*NOTE:  There is a known bug in 2.3.0 — unfortunately, the 2.3.0 release has a bug that causes the app to crash when you do this.  Don’t worry, this crashing is harmless.  But we mention it here to assure you we’ve noticed it, we’ve fixed it, and we’ve submitted an update, 2.3.1.  It should be approved by Apple in the next few weeks.)

Like the app? Have suggestions?  We’d love to hear from you.

• Like the app?  We’d LOVE a review in the iTunes store.  Remember, more positive reviews means more users, which means more recipes, photos, and recipe reviews for you.  See the link below.
• Are there improvements we can make to make it the ultimate cooking tool for you?  Do you have a suggestion for a future release?  We’re constantly at work on BigOven.  Jot us a note.  We promise, we’re listening.
• Be sure to join the BigOven Facebook group on Facebook to hear firsthand all the latest updates and tips.

Don’t have BigOven for the iPad yet?  What are you waiting for… it’s free!  Install it today, and consider trying BigOven Pro free for 30 days to enable grocery list and nutrition features, and remove all advertising anywhere you log in.