Press Kit — Kitchen Substitute
Exact-ratio ingredient substitutions for iPhone. $0.99 once, offline, no ads, no account, no analytics.
Facts
| App | Kitchen Substitute (iOS, iPhone) |
| Developer | Norman Zeng — solo indie |
| Price | $0.99 one-time · no subscription · no ads · no IAP |
| Category | Food & Drink |
| Released | 2026-10-03 (v1.0.0) |
| Requires | iOS 16 or later |
| Content | 155 ingredients / 363 substitutes (360 of 363 include full ratio breakdowns with US & metric amounts; other options give recipe or safety guidance instead of a direct numeric swap); updates ship as ed25519-signed content packs |
| Privacy | No account, no analytics, no tracking, no ads — fully offline; the App Store listing never knew who you are |
| App Store | https://apps.apple.com/app/id6815952974 |
| Contact | aechopp@gmail.com · promo codes available on request (gifted codes are disclosed per FTC guidance) |
Story angles
1. The abandoned category
The main paid kitchen-substitutions app on the App Store was last updated in November 2019, rates 3.4★ from 29 ratings — and still charts in paid Food & Drink (verified 2026-09-26, US store). People pay for crashes mid-recipe because the moment it serves — you're out of buttermilk with a cake half-mixed — is frequent and desperate. Kitchen Substitute is the modern rebuild.
2. Content is the product
The content bar: US and metric amounts for numeric swaps ("1 cup milk + 1 tbsp lemon juice, rest 10 min" — not "add to taste"), a function note, trade-offs, and a warning when a swap breaks baking chemistry. 360 of 363 substitutes include a full ratio breakdown; other options give recipe or safety guidance instead of a direct numeric swap. The same dataset powers free web pages for every ingredient.
3. Privacy as architecture
No analytics SDK exists in the binary. Updates arrive as signed content packs over one narrow channel — atomic swap, tamper/rollback rejected and tested — so the app improves without ever learning who you are.
Assets
- App icon (1024×1024 PNG)
- Screenshot — home · search · buttermilk entry · baking-safety warning · about (1290×2796)
- App preview video (25 s)
- The web guide (all 155 ingredients, free)
Boilerplate
Short: Kitchen Substitute is an offline iPhone app that answers "I'm out of X — what do I use, and how much?" in two taps, with exact ratios in US and metric. $0.99 once; no ads, no account, no tracking.
Long: Kitchen Substitute (iOS, $0.99) gives home cooks ingredient substitutions with exact amounts — 155 ingredients and 363 substitutes, ranked by what's already in the pantry, each with a function note, trade-offs, and baking-safety flags. Diet filters cover vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free and nut-free needs. The app is fully offline with no ads, accounts, or analytics; content updates arrive as cryptographically signed packs. Built by solo developer Norman Zeng.