Brewer's Friend User Reviews

Name: Brewer's Friend
Rating: 4.1 (11 reviews)

Brewer's Friend

🔧 Utilities

🍔 Food & Drink

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Why would you use this instead of BeerSmith3 ?

I used to use the old version for several years until this version was released. I stupidly upgraded it and now I cannot access my old recipes. This version limits you to 4 recipes before you have to pay for the upgrade. I then tried BeerSmith 3 which was a revelation. BeerSmith shows what limited functionality Brewers Friend has and I thank my lucky stars that I made the switch.

Staghill Brewery

4 months ago

App doesn’t sync with website

Used the website for a while and even had a subscription. Liked to be able to go into the app and quickly update the brew session status (e.g. primary -> secondary) but the recipes fail to sync with the app which makes you unable to open the brew session with the error “Error At Getting Remote Recipe”. Ended up cancelling subscription to try out other options.

bpgrif

7 months ago

Response from developer

Sorry about that sync issue. We've since fixed that bug in a newer version. If you're open to giving it another try, the latest update should resolve the problem. Let us know at https://www.brewersfriend.com/feedback-welcome if you run into anything else.

Best of all the brewing apps

I’ve been using Brewers Friend for over 5 years now and choose to subscribe as it’s so good being part of the community and you get a lot for your money for a very cheap yearly subscription. But you can also use it free. Especially good for beginners and old school home brewers.
The customer service is also outstanding, Lorena was very patient with me when I was being a bit of a pain to be honest. I hadn’t realised they had brought out a new, updated version of the app and I don’t like change. The newer version is actually miles better and faster to use. The service response by Lorena was also extremely fast, especially as I was being quite offhand! Give that individual a pay rise, kept me a loyal customer and user.
The website is also amazing, with a whole host of content.
Good stuff

Fitz Plastik

a year ago

Needs a more user-friendly brewday experience

I have used this app - or, rather, attempted to use- 4 times in a row, and each time I could not find a way to start the timer. The last time, I just used BeerSmith or Grainfather because they were more straightforward.

Also, the water tool is not user-friendly and, again, I turned to BeerSmith.

However, it still gets 4 stars because the Calculators are unparalleled.

merlinusm

a year ago

Response from developer

MERLINUSM, thank you very much for taking the time to review the app. We are working with Apple to get our newest update ready to launch. Timers are one of the features set to receive improvements in the next update. Please keep an eye out for the next version and let us know if it improves your experience. The water tool is also being reviewed and we look forward to announcing updates there soon. Good luck on your brewing! Cheers.

Ok. Needs Better Integration

I downloaded and subscribed on a whim to learn a few recipes. I should have played with it for free longer. I regret spending the annual expense on an app that lacks usability on mobile. There are great features for adding ingredients and process but it is underwhelming in application due to poor software design. Making a recipe public and sharing from the app is like pulling teeth. In addition, everything is clustered into tiny boxes and drop downs. Be careful where you touch or you might change an ingredient accidentally and it won’t default back to what you had even though you didn’t select a new ingredient from the drop down. The list is long.

Noob_Sauce

a year ago

Response from developer

Noob_Sauce, thank you very much for taking the time to review the app. We value your input and will be adding it to our list of places to make improvements in future updates. Specifically, your experience with the sharing of recipes is something that we will take a look at to see how that can be improved. Our user interface is also constantly undergoing incremental improvements. We hope that you watch out for future updates and continue to provide us with feedback for how we can make the app better. Cheers!

Very Useful App

This app is very user friendly and is a must on brew day. I like the simplicity of the water calculator versus bru’n water. I also like the inventory function. It helps me when I’m at the home brew shop so I don’t purchase hops or grains that I already have on hand.

If your a beginner brewer or advanced I recommend trying this app!

Seanyt (TBC)

2 years ago

Response from developer

Seanyt, thank you very much for taking the time to review the app. We're glad to hear that you are enjoying it. Best of luck with your brewing. Cheers!

Fantasic!

I just started using the new app and love it. There are so many new areas to tune your recipies.

sinterlog1

2 years ago

Response from developer

SINTERLOG1, thank you very much for taking the time to review the app. We have even more features on deck for the next release. Hope to have those out soon. Best of luck on your brewing! Cheers.

Does what you’d expect

Already had an account. Easy to log in. Basically a more accessible version of the website. This is welcome particularly for the calculators.

Able Swain

2 years ago

Totally useless

Tried to register, entered details and password twice but it just keeps saying that there was an error. Could not use the app.

Capt' 00:00

2 years ago

Long appreciated update

Wow…the old app screamed iOS4. After years, here’s a update! Yay! Looks clean. Loads fast. A few layout issues where text fields overlap in portrait mode. But hey - if they keep fixing things it will get better! Hope they don’t go into cold storage with this new app.

ayman

2 years ago

Response from developer

AYMAN, thank you very much for taking the time to review the app. We have released a new version recently that addresses several layout issues and other tweaks to line the app and web experience up. We hope that you've gotten the update and are seeing the improvements. There are more updates to come. Cheers!

Unreliable.

I write a recipe and then edit something, press save and it saved. The next day the recipe has changed back by its self.. has done this several times to multiple recipes and it is not user error.

J Boers

5 years ago

Did you even test it?

I love Brewer's Friend, but the new app is so glitchy that is is unusable. There are no timers anymore, or they don't work. I had to exit the app in the middle of brewday, and the brew session I had started is completely missing. I deleted the app thinking there was a problem with install, and now nothing is available. No recipes, brew sessions, or anything else. I can view all of my info from my laptop, but this app is currently useless.

Bryan.George

5 years ago

Works Well

I’ve installed on my iPhone and iPad and it is working well on both devices.

The only thing that I’ve missed from the website is the scaling tool. It’s possible that I’ve just missed where it is in the app and for the odd time I need it, jumping onto the website and scaling there has worked well and the recipe refreshes in the app.

Pretty good replacement for the old app and it look much more modern too.

nauseousclown

5 years ago

Doesn’t work

The new app doesn’t work. Old app is great don’t get new app. If they take the old app away I’ll have to find another app to use.

Bauer's bc

5 years ago

Fermentables issue

Issue with fermentables menu instantly crashing.

mostbitter

5 years ago

Glitchy and unreliable

Items added to inventory don’t appear right away which is confusing. The app frequently closes recipes for no reason losing unsaved data. It gets stuck in a loop pestering you for a premium upgrade that won’t go away. When adding ingredients to a recipe, the ingredient screen will disappear mid-addition without saving. Overall a buggy, frustrating, and unusable experience. The legacy app is far more usable and reliable.

TheDaveTheDave