Reviving Food Saver: from old codebase to useful daily companion
How I am rebuilding a legacy iOS app into a modern, practical tool for reducing household food waste.
“Great products are often not brand new ideas. They are old ideas rebuilt with better care.”
Why rebuild Food Saver now
Food Saver started years ago and solved a practical problem, but the old foundation was limiting every improvement. I decided to rebuild it from zero to make daily usage faster, clearer, and more reliable.
The goal is simple: help people reduce waste with a tool they can use in seconds, not minutes. If adding and tracking products is heavy, users stop using the app. So speed and clarity became the first product requirements.
Core product flow
The product flow is intentionally compact: add an item, set an expiration date, optionally choose a place, and let reminders work in the background. iCloud keeps data aligned across devices.
Reminders are integrated with Apple Reminders and can be triggered by time and location. This gives users notifications exactly when they can act, for example while entering a supermarket.
What changed in this release
The new version introduces barcode plus date scanning, faster batch capture for pantry workflows, stronger sync behavior, and export/import for backup or migration between devices.
The redesign also improved status readability with clear freshness states and configurable expiring-soon windows, so users can adapt the app to their household habits.
Important migration note
Because this is a full rebuild, old Food Saver data is not read automatically.
If you still have a legacy CSV backup, you can import it from Settings (Import legacy CSV). Otherwise, you need to recreate pantry and product lists.