2 hours ago, palo said:@Jon S
The app is nice but unnecessary - my APO works perfectly using the controls on the bar - I got it based on its hardware capabilities not its software
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I can agree that without an app, it's at a minimum a steam oven. 
But major conveniences (some which you'd get in any oven!), are tied in the app. I constantly have to work around things I used to not have to worry about. It's one thing not having it to begin with, and another knowing what you've lost. 
A few examples off the top of my head (the most familiar):
- Not being able to turn off the fan (or even adjust the speed) so that it doesn't wear (squeaking fans seem to become an issue with these APOs).
- Having the way to use the oven light be a 3-5 sec moment after I toggle pausing/stopping my cook (which can reset my timer)
-
Not able to "program" phases controlled by temp readings or time settings.
-
"Downloading" a preset cooking program as a template from their official recipe list
- Then there's the timer not starting until the preheat is done, when in the app you can start the timer immediately
This "precision oven" I "own" doesn't feel like mine when I can't "precisely" control it (use it to its fullest like I used to).
I'd love to have more control over how I cook, that's why I bought it.
My personal take: It's like buying a high performance vehicle for that sake, getting to use it on the race track for a few weekends as intended, then overnight, not because of how you drove it or where you parked it, it gets stuck in first gear. Why? Because someone else thought it'd be a good idea to give it an automatic software update that you couldn't prevent even if you wanted to, so that's your reality now. (And you don't even know what that update was for, so it might have been unnecessary for your needs).
