Frequently asked questions

Yes. Swiping sessions, accounts, cookbooks, meal plans and grocery lists are all free. Reading a recipe from a link or screenshots comes with a weekly allowance per account, because each one costs us something to read. Typing a recipe in yourself is never counted.

Not for swiping sessions. Anyone can host or join one from a browser, with no sign-up and nothing to install. An account is what lets you keep things: cookbooks, a meal plan, grocery lists and your session history.

No. Apps for iOS and Android are in the works, but will never be required. PlateMatch runs in the browser on any modern device. You can add the site to your phone's home screen and it opens like an app.

Up to 20. That is plenty for a dinner party, a family or a group of friends choosing where to eat.

Yes. A solo session works the same way: swipe until something jumps out at you.

A dish or restaurant that every person in the session said yes or love to. Once there is one, everybody finishes the batch they are on and the session ends, showing every match from that batch. If there are several, the one with the most loves is marked, and Help me pick will choose between them. A host with an account can ask for more than one match to plan a few dinners at once.

Because everybody swipes at their own pace. When the first match turns up, one person might have finished the batch while another is only halfway through it. If the session stopped there, the dishes further along might not reach everyone, even if one of them would have been the group's favourite. So everybody finishes the batch they are on, and you choose from every match in it.

You get the next batch of options and keep swiping. If the options run out before you agree, the session ends without a match. Start another with different settings, such as a wider search or a different cookbook.

The host chooses. A session can draw from the cookbooks everybody in it has saved (each person chooses which of their cookbooks to include), or from a recipe search that can be narrowed by diet and by how long you have to cook.

Yes. Choose restaurants in the lobby, then search near where you are or name a city. Everybody swipes the same way.

Yes. Paste the link and PlateMatch will pull the recipe from the page. Most recipe websites and blogs work from the link alone. Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube links typically work, too. Some social media posts put the details only in audio or video, and our access to posts is sometimes restricted. When that happens, you can paste the text or add screenshots.

Yes. Send someone an invite link to your cookbook or grocery list. Everyone on a shared grocery list sees each other's ticks as you shop. Since all cookbook members can add recipes, if you remove someone's access after inviting them, they keep a copy of it as it stood when they were removed.

It sends the ingredients on your grocery list, or from a single recipe, to Instacart, where you choose a store and order. PlateMatch takes part in Instacart's affiliate program; the Terms of Service have the details.

We keep only what the app needs to work, and we never sell it. The Privacy Policy sets out exactly what is stored, who it is shared with and for how long.

Email us at [email protected]. Questions, ideas, a recipe that didn't come through right, and bug reports are all welcome.