Setting up an OpenAI key

If your phone has Apple Intelligence you do not need any of this; the app reads the page on the device. Apple Intelligence needs an iPhone 15 Pro, an iPhone 16 or later, or an iPad with M1 or later. This guide is for a phone that does not have it.

This is optional. Scanning is free and unlimited either way, and nothing else in the app is affected by whether you do this or not. To check whether your phone needs it, open Settings in the app: if the Apple Intelligence row says Free, on this phone, stop here.

The steps

1. Create an OpenAI account

   Go to platform.openai.com/signup. A ChatGPT login works there too.

2. Add credit

   Open Billing and add a small amount. OpenAI charges only for what you use; there is no monthly fee for the key.

3. Create an API key

   Open API Keys, choose Create new secret key, name it, and copy it. It is shown once.

4. Paste it into Recipe Folio AI

   Open the app, go to Settings, scroll to Advanced, just above About, tap Use your own OpenAI key, and paste the key into the field. Then turn on Use my key to read recipes. On a phone without Apple Intelligence, your key is what reads every recipe.

Where the key lives

On your phone, and only on your phone. Recipe Folio AI keeps it in your iPhone's keychain and sends it to nobody but OpenAI. It never reaches our server: Photo reading, in Plus, is a separate, paid feature that uses our own key, never yours. We cannot see your key, read it or use it. To remove it, clear the field in the app. Deleting the app does not always clear the keychain.

What it costs

You pay OpenAI directly, per recipe, at OpenAI's current rates. The account is yours, the credit is yours and the bill is yours. Recipe Folio AI adds nothing and takes nothing.

If something goes wrong

Still stuck?

Email support@recipefolio.app, or read the rest of the answers on the support page.