If you’re striving to be more health-conscious or manage your weight better, tracking your daily calorie intake can be helpful. Thankfully, rather than using old-school methods, food diary apps can make it easy to track what you eat. Whether you’re an iPhone or Android user, here is our collection of the best food diary apps for your phone.
Good to know: you might also want to check the best Android apps for finding a great new place to eat.
1. Best for Habit Tracking – MyFitnessPal
Price: Free with premium options
MyFitnessPal is one of the most popular and well-known fitness apps for your mobile phone. It’s a comprehensive solution with many features that are available for free, although you will need to create an account before you can access any of them.
MyFitnessPal automatically sets a daily calorie target for you based on your personal information, including current and desired weight. Users can then input their daily meals, with the ability to search through millions of different types of foodstuffs. The app also has a fun Meal Scan feature which allows you to use your phone’s camera to identify everything in your meal. It’s a faster way to track your calories, but you’ll need to be a premium user to unlock it. Alternatively, you can use the bar scanner for packaged goods to speed things up.
The app also doubles as a step counter and exercise tracker. It also offers access to various plans and a database of healthy recipes to support your efforts to improve your lifestyle. It even lets you set goals such as eating more fruit or more vegetables. At a specific hour, you’ll receive notifications to make sure you don’t forget to add broccoli to your plate.
Tip: looking to invest in a fitness band? Check our buying guide to see our recommendations.
2. Best Looking Interface – Lifesum
Price: Free with premium options
Lifesum is an app that boasts a really stylish interface, which in my case helps to keep me motivated to return day after day.
Based on your stated goal, the app will generate a daily caloric goal for you. It has subcategories for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, or Snacks which you need to populate every day with your meals. The thing I like the most is that the app issues recommendations such as how many calories should be in a specific meal. Also based on your input, you’ll learn how much carbs, protein, or fat you’ve ingested.
In addition, I love that the app lets you track your water intake as well. If you’ve also started doing physical exercises, Lifesum allows you to add them to your diary. For users who need more, the app offers a premium version that unlocks access to various programs and recipes.
3. Best for Tracking Fiber Intake – Cronometer
Price: Free with premium options
Cronometer is a food diary app that also offers personalized suggestions for meals so you can more easily reach your daily nutrition targets. While this particular feature is paid, you can, however, use the diary component mostly for free.
You can easily add your meals under the different categories by searching the app’s extensive food database. You can also scan items directly from the app. A key highlight of this app is the option to input biometric data. For instance, if you take your blood pressure, you can add this information to the app. Also, I found it handy, that you can add also add notes to your meals.
Moreover, the app generates user-friendly reports of your weekly progress, helping you easily evaluate if you’ve achieved specific targets. For instance, the free version lets you track your daily fiber intake, which is vital for maintaining gut health – a feature I’m glad to see included.
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4. Best for Logging Meals Quickly – MyNetDiary
Price: Free with premium features
MyNetDiary is a food diary app that has all the features you could possibly ever want. Naturally, it lets you log your meals, but it also tracks your nutrients & water intake as well as steps taken.
The best part about MyNetDiary is that you can easily add meals to the app by scanning your plates using the phone’s camera. The feature is called AI Meal Scan and it’s available to use for free, unlike similar features on other apps. It works incredibly smooth and the app adds something that wasn’t actually on your plate, you can easily delete it afterward.
For those with a premium subscription, MyNetDiary also offers access to a library of meal plans and recipes. An Advice section offers tips on weight loss, nutrition, and other health-specific topics. Uniquely, the app also includes a Community section where you can share your success stories with other users. You can like, comment, or message each other just as you would on Facebook or Instagram.
5. Best for Setting Challenges – Yazio
Price: Free with premium options
If you’re looking for a plan tailored to your unique needs, Yazio might be a great choice. Your journey with the app starts with a comprehensive questionnaire designed to get to know you and keep you motivated. It’s a bit tedious if I’m honest, but if you don’t mind answering a lot of questions then it shouldn’t be a big problem.
For those who thrive on Duolingo’s streak-keeping system, you might appreciate that Yazio uses a similar method to keep you on track. You can input your meals by adding food items manually or scanning barcodes. In addition, Yazio also allows you to log body measurements, as well as health metrics such as blood glucose. There’s the option to sync it with your health app and keep an eye on how much water you drink.
I enjoyed using the Challenge feature in Yazio. The app tracks how long you can go without engaging in a certain bad habit. For me, it was staying away from chips. Instead, when I craved something yummy to eat, I checked the Recipes section for healthier alternatives.
6. Best Minimalist Approach – Calory
Price: Free with premium options
If you’re looking for something more simple to kick-start your calorie-counting journey, then you should try Calory. This app takes a minimalistic approach at keeping track of your calories by boasting a simple and clean interface that doesn’t overwhelm you with countless features.
Based on your data, the app will generate a calorie goal for you. Once that’s set, you can start logging your meals. The app’s food database is linked to the US Department of Agriculture database, so locating your foodstuffs is pretty easy. If you like to take pictures of your meal, you can do that too.
In the paid version, the app also includes macro tracking and the ability to set daily goals. In addition, you can also opt for vice & text meal logging.
If you’re serious about pursuing a healthier path in life, but still can’t find the time to go to the gym, check out our list of best fitness apps that can help you get started at home. You can also elevate your healthy cooking skills with one of these apps.
Image credit: Unsplash All screenshots by Alexandra Arici
