Choose who sees a recipe

A new recipe starts out private, so only you see it, unless you set the default to Public in Settings. Make a recipe public when you want anyone with its link to read it, and to let it show up in Explore, on your profile and in search engines like Google.

Private and Public#

Private is the default until you change it in Settings. You can always see your own recipe. Your household can see it only if you share it with them. Anyone else who opens a link to it gets a request screen instead of the recipe, apart from the cases listed in Who can still see a private recipe. See Requests to see a private recipe.

Public means anyone can read the recipe, signed in or not. The link looks like recipeclip.app/u/yourname/recipe-name. People can read it, but they cannot change it. A signed-in visitor can save their own copy.

Who can still see a private recipe#

You always can. Your household can, when you share the recipe with them, and so can anyone you approve. Three other things can still show a private recipe, or part of it, to people you did not pick:

Three ways a private recipe can be seen

A shared meal plan. Anyone with the plan’s link sees the title, photo and description of your own private recipes in it. See Share your meal plan.
The title and your name. Any share link (/s/), and an old public link (/u/) after you make the recipe private, still shows the recipe’s title and your name to whoever has it, in link previews too. Nothing else shows. Revoke a share link to stop it.
Copies people already saved. While a recipe was public, a signed-in visitor could press Fork & Remix and keep their own copy. That copy stays in their library when you make yours private, and they can make their copy public. Making your recipe private does not touch it.

Collections do not show private recipes to visitors: a Public or Unlisted collection shows only the recipes that are public. A share link stops working when the recipe is deleted for good. Visitors see This recipe has been deleted. See Organize recipes into collections and Delete and restore recipes.

How to tell which one a recipe is

Open More options. The menu says Make private on a public recipe and Make public on a private one. The share icon next to it is labelled Copy public link on a public recipe and Share recipe on a private one.

Make a recipe public#

1
Open the recipe and tap More options
Start from your library: tap Recipes in the bottom bar on a phone, or Recipes at the top on a computer, then open the recipe. More options is the three dots at the right end of the row under Start cooking. On a phone it is the three dots to the right of Add to plan. On a phone the menu opens above the bottom bar, with Make public in it.
You'll see: A menu opens under the three dots.
2
Choose Make public
It sits between Manage access and Edit recipe. The recipe is public as soon as you choose it, and its link is on your clipboard. Paste the link into a message to send it.
You'll see: A message says Recipe is public — link copied, and the menu now says Make private.

If you do not have a username yet, RecipeClip picks one for you the first time you make a recipe public. See Your public profile for how usernames work.

Make a recipe private again#

1
Open More options and choose Make private
The recipe leaves your profile and Explore. The public link stops showing the recipe. Anyone who opens it now sees the request screen. Copies people saved with Fork & Remix while it was public stay theirs, see Who can still see a private recipe.
You'll see: A message says Recipe is private again. The menu goes back to Make public.

Share links you made earlier stay, but they lock

Making a recipe private does not delete the share links you made before. They stay in your list, marked locked, and ask visitors to request access. To remove one for good, see Share a recipe. People you already approved keep their access until you revoke it.

Where public recipes show up#

On your public profile, under Public recipes, once you turn the profile page on. See Your public profile.
In Explore, where anyone can search for it.
In search engines like Google, which can list a public recipe.
At its own link, which you can send to anyone.

Common questions#

Do collections have their own setting?#

Yes. A collection is Private, Unlisted or Public on its own, and new collections start Private. A Public or Unlisted collection shows visitors only the recipes that are public. A private recipe inside it stays hidden. Read Organize recipes into collections.

Can I make every new recipe public automatically?#

Yes. In Settings, the Privacy picker has Private and Public. With Public, every new recipe you save starts public: it has a link anyone can open, is listed on Explore, and can be found through search engines like Google. That covers links, photos, videos, typed recipes, the browser extension and your AI assistants. Copies you fork from other people’s recipes, and AI remixes of your own, always start private. If RecipeClip cannot publish a new recipe, it saves it as private and says Saved as private: we couldn’t publish it. You can make it public from the recipe page. Recipes you saved earlier keep the setting they have. See Settings.

The Privacy setting in Settings: new recipes start as Private or Public, with the Private and Public choices ringed.

Can my household see a private recipe?#

Only after you share it with them. Private does not hide a recipe from the household you chose to share it with. See Share recipes, plans and lists.

Only the person who saved the recipe can change it. A recipe that is read-only on the Free plan, because you are over the recipe limit, also hides it until you are under the limit or on Pro. See Free, Pro and Family.