Nuka Diary

Stop trying to remember whether you stirred it today.

Download on the App Store (free)

A nukadoko (a bed of fermented rice bran for pickling vegetables) needs stirring, and after a few weeks you stop being sure whether you did it. And when something goes wrong — a smell, a white film, too much liquid — it is not obvious what is happening or what to do. Nuka Diary handles those two things. Logging a stir is one tap, and picking the symptoms gives you the cause and the fix. It also tracks nine other ferments: shio koji, shoyu koji, miso, amazake, kimchi, sauerkraut, yogurt, kombucha and umeboshi.

Screens

What it does

• One-tap care log — tap when you stir. It shows when the next one is due and counts the days you have kept it up
• Diagnose by symptom — choose what you notice from smell, moisture, taste and appearance, and get the cause with a numbered set of steps
• Ready-to-eat alerts — guide times for 24 vegetables and other foods, adjusted for the season and where you keep the nukadoko (room temperature, a cool place, or the fridge), with a notification when the pickles are ready. Rate how each batch turned out as you take it out, and the time for that vegetable shifts toward your taste
• Match today's temperature — when turned on, uses today's high and low where you live to adjust pickling times and how often to stir (off by default)
• Trip preparation — choose how long you'll be away and get what to do before you leave and how to bring the nukadoko back when you return. Reminders pause while you're gone
• Widgets — pickling countdowns and when care is due, on the Home Screen and Lock Screen
• Guide — how to start a nukadoko, how much salt to use, how to build umami, and more
• Ten ferment types — not just nukadoko, and anything else can go under "Other"
• Photos and notes — photos stay on the device and are not synced
• iCloud sync — optional, within your own iCloud account

Privacy

Your records are stored on your iPhone (and, if iCloud sync is on, in your own iCloud), and the developer cannot see them. There is no account and no sign-in. Only if you turn on "Match today's temperature" (it is off by default), the app estimates pickling times from the weather and sends coordinates rounded to two decimal places (roughly 1 km) to MET Norway (api.met.no), at most once every three hours. See the privacy policy for details.

Ads

The app is free and shows ads. You can hide them with a weekly subscription from Settings → Remove ads in the app. Cancel any time from the Settings app → [your name] → Subscriptions.

Support

For questions, requests, or bug reports, please open an issue on GitHub Issues. Anyone with a GitHub account can post.