A method for controlling wood-pellet grill (115, 202, 302) using a software application on a mobile device (101, 203, 303, 601), the wood-pellet grill comprising at least one hardware controller and a hopper for loading combustible pellets into a combustion area of the wood-pellet grill (115, 202, 302), the method comprising: receiving an indication from one or more remote computing systems (113, 201) that the wood-pellet grill (115. 202, 302) is attempting to establish direct network communication with one or more remote computing systems (113, 201); receiving a first user input in the software application (106, 101) of the mobile device (101, 203, 303, 601), the first user input indicating that the wood-pellet grill (115, 202, 302) is permitted to establish direct network communication with one or more remote computing systems ( 113, 201); and receiving an indication from the one or more remote computing systems (113, 201) indicating that the wood- pellet grill (115, 202, 302) is in direct network communication with the one or more remote computing systems (113, 201); providing a notification in the software application (106, 101) of the mobile device (101, 203, 303, 601) indicating that the wood-pellet grill is available to receive instructions; receiving a second user input -in the software application (106, 101) of the mobile device (101, 203, 303, 601), the second user input indicating that one or more specified functions are to be performed by the wood-pellet grill (115, 202, 302): generating one or more control instructions configured to control the wood-pellet grill (115, 202, 302) based on the functions specified in the received second user input; and transmitting the generated control instructions to one or more remote computing systems (113, 201) to be relayed to the wood-pellet grill via the Internet. receiving an indication from one or more remote computing systems (113, 201) that the wood-pellet grill (115. 202, 302) is attempting to establish direct network communication with one or more remote computing systems (113, 201); receiving a first user input in the software application (106, 101) of the mobile device (101, 203, 303, 601), the first user input indicating that the wood-pellet grill (115, 202, 302) is permitted to establish direct network communication with one or more remote computing systems ( 113, 201); and receiving an indication from the one or more remote computing systems (113, 201) indicating that the wood- pellet grill (115, 202, 302) is in direct network communication with the one or more remote computing systems (113, 201); providing a notification in the software application (106, 101) of the mobile device (101, 203, 303, 601) indicating that the wood-pellet grill is available to receive instructions; receiving a second user input -in the software application (106, 101) of the mobile device (101, 203, 303, 601), the second user input indicating that one or more specified functions are to be performed by the wood-pellet grill (115, 202, 302): generating one or more control instructions configured to control the wood-pellet grill (115, 202, 302) based on the functions specified in the received second user input; and transmitting the generated control instructions to one or more remote computing systems (113, 201) to be relayed to the wood-pellet grill via the Internet. generating one or more control instructions configured to control the wood-pellet grill (115, 202, 302) based on the functions specified in the received second user input; and transmitting the generated control instructions to one or more remote computing systems (113, 201) to be relayed to the wood-pellet grill via the Internet.