Last updated: October 2026
Makmak is built to collect as little as possible. By default, your recipes are extracted and stored on your device, and synced only through your own iCloud account. There are no Makmak accounts and no login.
Makmak Pro adds optional cloud features that run through Makmak's backend and Google's Gemini API: cloud import (links and media that on-device extraction can't handle — TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, saved cooking videos and PDFs, and "Cook this dish" photos) and AI cooking help (Ask Makmak, and rewriting or editing a recipe, such as "Make it primal"). These are off until you turn them on (Settings → Makmak Cloud). When you use them, only the specific link, media, or recipe text you choose is sent, processed only to return a result to you, and not stored: the backend keeps no copy, and any uploaded media is deleted after processing. AI-generated or AI-edited recipes are shown to you for review before anything is saved, and imported recipes link back to their original source. If you never enable these features, nothing about your recipes leaves your device except through your own iCloud.
Two features let you publish content, and only these store anything on Makmak's backend, and only when you explicitly choose to publish:
You can pick a chef name so your shared recipes and cook notes carry a name and you can build a page in Gather. A chef name is not an account. There is no email, password, phone number, or sign-in. When you pick a name, the backend creates a random ID and a random secret; the secret stays in your phone's Keychain and is the only thing that ties your phone to that name. We store the name, the ID, the recipes and cook notes you share under it, which recipes you marked "I cooked this," and badges you earn. None of that is linked to your real identity, and we cannot find out who you are from it.
You can skip picking a name and share anonymously instead; then nothing links your phone to what you shared, which also means we cannot tell you when it is approved. You can rename at any time. To remove a chef name and everything shared under it, contact us below with the name.
After marking a recipe cooked you can add a one-line note (for example, "used thighs, took 40 minutes"). Notes are screened automatically before they appear and can be reported by anyone; one report hides a note until a person reviews it. Notes are not private messages and there are no replies.
Cook and view counts shown in Gather and on shared pages are anonymous aggregates. You can report any published recipe or note from within the app, hide everything from a given chef on your own device, and we can remove any published item or chef. Our community rules say what is and is not allowed.
Makmak Pro is an auto-renewing subscription handled entirely by Apple. Makmak receives only an Apple-signed receipt confirming that your subscription is active — we never see your payment details, and there is no separate Makmak account tied to your purchase.
Makmak's network requests are: fetching the recipe page or image you explicitly choose to import; optional public metadata lookups; Apple services (iCloud sync and the App Store); only if you enable cloud features, sending the item or recipe text you're importing or editing to Makmak Cloud and Gemini as described above; and, only when you choose to, submitting a recipe to Gather or publishing a share link. Makmak does not crawl the web or bypass paywalls.
You can export your entire library to a portable JSON file at any time, and you can erase all Makmak data from your device (and your iCloud) from Settings.
Questions? Reach out at jasonepage@gmail.com.