Cooking with Your iPad or iPhone? Follow These 3 Simple Kitchen Tips

Nov 26, 2014 - 13 Comments

Orange iPad stand, seriously it works

Many of us use our iPhones and iPads in the kitchen to assist with recipes or even entertainment while cooking, and they work wonderfully for this purpose. But electronics and turkey gravy don’t mix well, and to have a hassle free experience you’ll want to follow a few simple tips to help prevent frustrations, a mess, or worse. So, keep your iPhone free of pumpkin pie mix, adjust a display setting, protect it from splashes, and work with a disposable stand, and you’ll be good to go.

Cooking with iPhone and iPad tips

1: Keep the Recipe Open & Stop the Screen from Automatically Locking

First, you’ll want to make sure the screen stays on so you don’t have to constantly fiddle with buttons and pass codes while you’re in the middle of reading a recipe. Instead, your iPad or iPhone screen will stay lit up. This is an easy settings adjustment that you can make on any iOS device, but you’ll only want to do this temporarily while you’re working, since it will drain down battery life and also prevent the passcode from turning itself on.

  1. Open the Settings app and go to “General”
  2. Locate “Auto-Lock” and select “Never” to prevent the screen from turning itself off

Stop iPhone screen from turning itself off

Now you can set the iPhone or iPad up, open your favorite recipe or movie, and use it without worrying about the screen going dark.

As mentioned, this should only be temporarily, and you will want to switch this back to a more secure setting once you’re finished up with the kitchen festivities so that your iPhone or iPad will lock itself with a passcode again automatically when left inactive.

2: Use a Zip Lock to Protect from Splashes & Spills

Any generic and clear zip lock bag will protect your iPhone or iPad from splashes, spills, and dirty fingers, which is pretty much essential for the kitchen and when cooking. There’s really nothing to this, just use any zip lock bag that is clear and fits the device you’re using, the touch screen will continue to work when it’s placed inside the bag.

Zip locked iPad in the kitchen is great to protect from spills and splashes

No more worrying about messy fingers or cake mix smudges damaging the iPad or iPhone, as long as you’re not doing anything too crazy and the ziplock is sealed well, you’re good to go, and you can use grubby hands to swipe around on the protected screen as necessary.

We’ve discussed this before for the iPhone and iPad, but it always amazes me how many people are not aware of how effective this is given the simplicity. You’re not going to want to take a zip-locked iPhone scuba diving into the Mac & Cheese dish or anything, but for basic needs, it’s more than sufficient.

3: Set Up a Stand for Easy Reading & Access

Now that you’ve got the screen to stay lit up and the device is protected from basic ingredient exposure, you’ll want to set the iPhone or iPad up so that you can easily read it. Sure you can use a fancy stand, but for a potentially messy environment like the kitchen, it may be better to use one you’re not too concerned about.

Orange iPad stand, seriously it works

There’s plenty of DIY options for a quicky iPhone or iPad stand, ranging from propping an iPad up against an orange or banana (yes seriously, a friend showed this to me and they grip surprisingly well!) to one of my personal favorites, the Do-it-yourself iPad coat hanger stand which works surprisingly well, and since it’s just metal you’re really not going to care if it gets pumpkin pie mix all over it.

Got any other helpful kitchen or cooking related tips for the iPhone or iPad? Let us know in the comments!

.

Related articles:

Posted by: Paul Horowitz in iPad, iPhone, Tips & Tricks

13 Comments

» Comments RSS Feed

  1. Alex Robert says:

    I had a fear of getting my iPad slip multiple times and yes waterproofing was a big issue too.

  2. Allyson Smith says:

    I cannot find autolock in General on my iphone 8 plus.

  3. Gerard jordan says:

    Cannot find auto lock. Using mini iPad 4, software current, ( i0S 10.1.1). Amateur cook requires the page to ‘stay’

  4. James says:

    Is that a kickstand? ;)

  5. Parker says:

    Thank you; I’ll pass these tips on to Cook.

    If only I knew her email.

    Or her name…

  6. Joyce says:

    I have been doing this for some time. I converted my Williams-Sonoma recipe book stand to an iPad stand. It has a protective plastic cover and can be set at different angles. I save my recipes in a Dropbox folder, so that I can add to the digital cookbook from any device and have the recipe ready to go on my iPad when needed.

  7. Larry says:

    I detect a bad incident with Pumpkin Pie Mix in your past!

  8. Steve Jordi says:

    I do cook a lot with my iPad using MacGourmet from Mariner software.
    But the tool that makes the difference in the kitchen is the Belkin Mount Stand that positions your iPad at the right place: in front of your eyes. I never had regrets about bying this stand. Very useful. Not sure they still produce it though
    http://www.belkin.com/us/F5L100/p/P-F5L100/

  9. Wharf Xanadu says:

    Oh and don’t forget the timer. Siri timer. Tell Siri to set a timer for your turkey

  10. Wharf Xanadu says:

    Life proof case works well for kitchen, pool, ocean, lakes. It’s s good case bit expensive though.

    Happy thanksgiving, yum yum

  11. RJ says:

    Here’s a tip for after the cooking is over and everyone is ready to eat:

    – Make EVERYONE turn their iphone on silent, and put them all far away from the dinner table, out of sight and out of reach. No exceptions.

    Enjoy each others company, don’t be staring off into a screen at who knows what.

    I’ve heard of some families implementing that for the entire get-together, and frankly, I’m not opposed to that idea either. We’re all on the verge of being digital addicts these days, have to enforce breaks.

Leave a Reply

 

Shop on Amazon.com and help support OSXDaily!

Subscribe to OSXDaily

Subscribe to RSS Subscribe to Twitter Feed Follow on Facebook Subscribe to eMail Updates

Tips & Tricks

News

iPhone / iPad

Mac

Troubleshooting

Shop on Amazon to help support this site