MEATER: Collaborated with Apple's Watch Lab to Redefine Hands-Free Cooking
Led the design of MEATER’s app, in partnership with Apple's Watch Lab, driving a 300% increase in user traffic and securing strategic collaboration with Apple.
Highlighted on Apple Watch Series 8 website: Showcasing the MEATER Apple Watch app on the Series 8 product page, emphasising its app design and user experience.
Consumer Electronics
2021-2022
Lead UX Designer
Context
In 2016, MEATER launched via Kickstarter, raising over $1 million to bring its wireless smart thermometer to market. By 2021, I led the design of the Apple Watch app, which became one of the product’s most impactful features. This project drove a 300% increase in user traffic and significantly expanded MEATER’s market reach. My collaboration with Apple resulted in the app being featured on Apple’s WatchOS and Developer sites, boosting visibility. With a community of 51,000 users, I used direct feedback to shape the app’s design and functionality, contributing to MEATER’s 40.3% annual sales growth, from $85.6 million to $120.1 million.
Results
The Apple Watch app delivered significant results:
300% increase in user traffic: A major boost in user activity across platforms.
25% of MEATER users on Apple Watch: An adoption rate well above the global average for Apple Watch users.
Collaboration with Apple: Featured on Apple’s WatchOS and Developer sites, boosting visibility and contributing to a 40.3% increase in annual sales.
20%
Increase in user traffic
25%
of users on Apple Watch
40.3%
Annual sales growth
Three-Tap Cooking Setup for Effortless Meals: Hands-free cooking made simple, with a three-tap start for real kitchen scenarios where hands are often occupied or messy.
Challenges
Designing for the Apple Watch introduced several key challenges:
Limited screen real estate: The small display required a minimalist design, showing only essential data like internal temperature and cooking time.
Battery life: The app had to run efficiently in the background to preserve battery life while still delivering critical notifications.
Critical notifications: Users needed timely alerts for rare but important events, such as the MEATER charger overheating, to ensure safety.
User journey: We aimed to simplify the cooking setup so users could begin cooking in just three taps.
My Role
As lead UX designer at MEATER, I led the research and design of the Apple Watch app, working closely with the principal developer and product manager. Together, we collaborated with Apple to boost visibility through features on their WatchOS and Developer sites. Additionally, I developed a design system that improved consistency and efficiency across platforms, benefiting the Apple Watch project.
User Journey and Feedback Analysis: Leveraging user feedback to enhance the cooking journey and refine the MEATER Apple Watch experience.
The Team
1 UX designer (me)
1 principal developer
1 product manager
Roadmap
Our roadmap was focused on delivering:
Hands-free monitoring: Allowing users to receive live cooking updates directly on their Apple Watch, eliminating the need to constantly check their phones.
Real-time alerts: Sending crucial notifications when the internal temperature reached key points or when safety issues like overheating occurred.
Three-tap cooking setup: Streamlining the user journey to just three taps, making the cooking process intuitive and efficient.
Deprioritised Cooking Flows: Screens of the cooking flows that were planned initially—pair probe with watch and start without probe—eventually removed from the MVP.
Process
I led all research efforts for the Apple Watch app, leveraging MEATER’s 51,000+ user community to gather real-time feedback. We conducted interviews and field tests in the MEATER kitchen and users’ homes, observing how people interacted with the app while cooking. One user remarked, “I love how I can now focus on my guests without constantly checking my phone.” This feedback helped us map out the entire cooking journey, identifying key pain points and opportunities for improvement.
Collaborating with Apple
Through close collaboration with Apple, we refined the design to ensure it adhered to their standards while maximising the Apple Watch’s capabilities. Their feedback was instrumental in optimising both the design and overall user experience.
Designing for a Small Screen
The Apple Watch’s 148px screen posed unique design challenges. The display was small, yet the essential data—such as internal temperature and cook time—needed to be easily visible at a glance, even in direct sunlight. We adopted a minimalist approach, displaying only critical information in large, readable fonts, adhering to Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines.
Improving the Cooking Setup
One of the key insights from our research was users’ desire for a quick and efficient cooking setup. To meet this need, we adjusted the process, allowing users to select their meat cut, doneness, and start cooking in just a few taps. This approach followed the Jobs to Be Done framework, ensuring simplicity while maintaining usability.
“I love how I can now focus on my guests without constantly checking my phone.”
MEATER user
Online feedback
Wireframe for Apple Watch App: Initial design concepts showcasing the core functionalities and user flow for the MEATER Apple Watch app.
Key Features
Hands-free monitoring: Users could monitor cooking progress directly from their wrist, receiving real-time updates on internal temperature and cook time. This feature enhanced the social cooking experience, allowing users to focus on other tasks or interact with guests without constantly checking their phone.
Real-time alerts: The app provided timely notifications for critical events, such as when the internal temperature reached target levels or if the MEATER charger overheated. One user shared, “MEATER alerted me to abnormal high heat—my grill was moments away from causing a fire. This app saved my backyard!” These notifications offered peace of mind and increased safety.
Cooking setup with minimal taps: We simplified the cooking setup to a few taps, allowing users to easily select their meat cut, doneness, and start cooking. This efficiency was based on Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines and our user research, which showed that over 90% of users preferred MEATER’s preset temperatures.
Personalised experience: The app adapted over time to prioritise commonly used meat cuts at the top of the selection screen, reducing navigation time and improving user satisfaction. This feature mirrored the level of personalisation found in Apple’s Fitness app, delivering a tailored user experience.
Commonly Used Meat Cuts for Quick Selection: An extended view of commonly used meat cuts, displayed for easier access.
Results
The launch of the MEATER Apple Watch app had lasting impacts on both the product and the business:
Increased monthly active users (MAUs): The app’s user-friendly design led to a boost in MAUs and a notable improvement in user retention.
Reduced design and development time: The app benefited from a unified design system, enhancing collaboration and ensuring consistency across platforms.
300% increase in user traffic: This significant rise in traffic further solidified the app’s importance to MEATER’s ecosystem.
40.3% annual sales growth: The app contributed to a substantial increase in MEATER’s overall revenue, with sales growing from $85.6 million to $120.1 million following the app’s release.
Cooking Alerts for Real-Time Guidance: A series of alert screens providing step-by-step cooking guidance, from timing reminders to safety alerts for overheating.
Learning
The development of the Apple Watch app revealed several key insights:
User-centric design is essential: By involving users throughout the process, we identified critical pain points and areas for improvement, allowing us to create a product that truly addressed their needs.
Simplicity drives user engagement: The focus on quick interactions, such as the simplified cooking setup, improved the overall user experience and increased adoption.
Collaboration enhances outcomes: Working closely with Apple ensured that our design maximised the potential of their hardware while adhering to their standards, leading to greater visibility and performance optimisation.
Critical safety features are valued: Users responded positively to features that prioritised safety, such as the real-time alerts for overheating, adding trust and reinforcing the product’s reliability.
Showcased on Apple WatchOS 9 Developer website: The MEATER Apple Watch app featured as an example of excellence in innovation and user convenience.
Conclusion
The MEATER Apple Watch app delivered on a key community request for hands-free, social cooking. By combining in-depth user research, iterative testing, and close collaboration with Apple, we successfully created an app that increased user traffic by 300% and contributed to MEATER’s 40.3% annual sales growth.
The project demonstrated MEATER’s ability to innovate while maintaining a user-centric focus, enhancing both the cooking experience and user safety. This achievement also strengthened MEATER’s partnership with Apple, further showcasing our capability to leverage industry collaborations for impactful results.
