Comparison

McMullen’s Pubs vs Simmer

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

McMullen’s Pubs

Order food and drinks directly from your table at participating pubs. Browse menus, place your order, and pay your bill seamlessly without leaving your seat, ensuring a safe and convenient pub experience.

Highlights
  • View menus
  • Order food and drinks
  • Pay bill from table
  • Skip bar queue
  • Safe pub experience
Features
Read full description

Avoid the queue at the bar and enjoy your local McMullen pub safely with our order and pay app! Our app allows you to view all of our menus easily, order your food and drink and pay your bill without having to leave the comfort of your seat.

About

Simmer

Features
Read full description

Simmer shows you what the people within 50 miles of you are cooking. Someone three streets away made dinner tonight, photographed it, wrote down how, and posted it for the neighbourhood. A FEED OF REAL KITCHENS Open Simmer and the newest recipes near you are waiting. Filter by cuisine. Each post shows a cover photo or video, the dish, the cook's mascot and roughly how far away they are, prep and cook time, and how many it serves. Tap through for the whole recipe. POST A RECIPE IN MINUTES Cover, dish and cuisine, time and servings, ingredients with quantities, then steps, each with its own photo or clip if you want one. Add a full cook-along video and per-serving nutrition if you know it. REACT, TIP, SHARE Four reactions: Love, Yum, Fire and Wow. One per person per recipe, and you can change your mind. Tip the cook with SPICE: a Pinch, a Dash, a Handful or a Feast. Earn SPICE by finishing goals, keeping your streak, or watching a short ad from your wallet. Tips land on the recipe and go to the person who cooked it. SPICE has no cash value and cannot be withdrawn. Share any recipe to Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X or anywhere else, with the photo attached and a link that opens it in Simmer. YOU ARE A MASCOT, NOT A NAME Design your own cook, from body and colours to hat, apron and utensil, or choose from hundreds of community pixel pets. Your real name never appears in the app. TONIGHT: PLAN THE WEEK, SHOP ONCE Save a recipe and put it on a night. Tonight shows what you are cooking, the rest of the week, and a shopping list written from the plan: the same ingredient from two recipes is one line, with both quantities. Tick it off in the shop, share it, add what the recipes forgot. Your plan is private; the only thing anyone learns is how many cooks nearby are making the same dish tonight. COOK ALONG Open a recipe and cook it one step at a time, in big type, with a timer whenever a step names one. The screen stays awake. Done means your streak moves and your goals catch up. GOALS, NOT CHORES Cook tonight's plan. Three dinners this week. One from a neighbour. The list ticked off. First dinner, five cuisines, seven days running. Every goal is something a home cook does anyway; Simmer keeps the score and pays XP and SPICE when you get there. COOK TO GROW Earn XP for every dinner you cook, every recipe you post and every tip you send. Keep a daily streak. Climb a leaderboard made only of people near you, not strangers on the other side of the world. Your mascot changes as you rise from Sprout to Kitchen Legend, and your page keeps your cookbook: cooked, saved and posted. YOUR LOCATION STAYS YOURS Other people see a neighbourhood and a rough distance, such as "Camden, about 4 miles". Never your coordinates. Not on a map, not in the app, not anywhere. ADS, ONLY IF YOU ASK There are no banners and nothing plays uninvited. Every ad in Simmer is one you choose to watch, for a stated reward: SPICE from your wallet (three a day), SPICE after you post, the SPICE you are short of for a tip, or 30 minutes at the wider radius. CHEF PASS An optional subscription widens your radius from 50 to 150 miles, doubles your XP and keeps the interruptions away. Chef Pass is an auto-renewing subscription, available monthly or annually. The price is shown in the app before you subscribe and is charged to your Apple ID account when you confirm the purchase. Your subscription renews automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage or cancel your subscription in your Apple ID Account Settings at any time after purchase. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://gist.github.com/Chinmay-92/4c36e47b130e27a1332ac7fd3fcde720 Simmer is new, and we would like to hear what you think: cppingale@gmail.com

Screenshots

McMullen’s Pubs4 screens
Simmer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: McMullen’s Pubs at none against Simmer's 6. Simmer's advantage is update cadence (daily vs every 7 months) and device support (3 vs 1). On price and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Simmer sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. McMullen’s Pubs asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

McMullen’s Pubs ships an update every 7 months, Simmer daily. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
McMullen’s Pubs versus Simmer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMcMullen’s PubsSimmer
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (435 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews46.4% of reviews—
Number of ratings435 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 7 monthsDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size33 MB72 MB
Age rating17+12+
DeveloperMCMULLEN'S OF HERTFORD LIMITEDChinmay Pingale

Bugs and requests

McMullen’s Pubs

Reported bugs

10 issues
  • Guest checkout hangs and fails to complete
  • Manual credit card entry throws errors
  • Card scan feature non-functional
  • 2FA verification codes arrive too slowly
  • App only shows drinks menu, not food menu
Show 5 more
  • Menu shows items as unavailable to order
  • App fails to load or responds very slowly
  • WiFi connectivity causes app timeouts
  • Password setup and account creation issues
  • App freezes after requesting code resend

Requested features

10 requests
  • Option to remove ingredients from meals
  • Ability to order glasses of wine (not just bottles)
  • Custom requests/notes field for orders
  • Web-based ordering alternative to app
  • SMS and WhatsApp 2FA options
Show 5 more
  • Support for more payment methods (Amex)
  • Traditional table service option
  • Faster email verification codes for 2FA
  • Remove ice and fruit customization options
  • Better WiFi infrastructure in venues

Simmer

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

McMullen’s Pubs

No in-app purchases

6 purchases

Simmer

Subscriptions2
  • Chef Pass Monthly$1.991 Month
  • Chef Pass Annual$14.991 Year
One-time4
  • 100 SPICE$0.99
  • 550 SPICE$3.99
  • 1200 SPICE$7.99
Show 1 more
  • 3000 SPICE$14.99

Questions

Is McMullen’s Pubs free?
McMullen’s Pubs is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Simmer free?
Simmer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do McMullen’s Pubs or Simmer have ads?
Neither McMullen’s Pubs nor Simmer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, McMullen’s Pubs or Simmer?
McMullen’s Pubs ships an update every 7 months, and Simmer daily. Most recently, McMullen’s Pubs was updated on November 11, 2026 and Simmer on November 6, 2026.

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