Lark Health +4

I do like the Lark. It is easy to put in food. You are not able to manually put in weight though except the first time setting up the app. Like everyone else, once I completed the survey as was accepted, the app would not work. There was a lag and I had to call my insurance company, who could not help at all. I sent an email to Lark. It took a couple days to get a response, but it finally got worked out. I still have not received my scale, but it says they are on the way. I have not heard from my coach either. Maybe I am doing something wrong or maybe the scales have to come first. I do like that it marks food with badges, but I have not figured out how to find the best foods for some of the badges. I’ve been using it a week now because of the lag time, so I have a lot to learn and will get it figured out. I did lose 3 lbs just changing my eating habits and moving more the first week. I would like to track my water intake though. There is not a place for that. Overall it is a good app and I think it will help me become healthier and more motivated to eat right and move more.

First off, when I first downloaded the app I thought that the coach would be an actual person, and was a little disappointed that it’s an automated bot. However, I do like that it’s more personalized than other basic apps and actually takes into account my habits and averages so it doesn’t feel like I’m following a super basic pattern or plan. I don’t like how basic some of the features are, especially the food tracking. The input is very basic, which means there’s a LOT of room for error as far as ingredients and calories go. I know the point of the app is to not focus specifically on calorie counting, but when you’re actually trying to lose weight it’s vital that you track them to an extent, and it’s just not possible to do that with the current interface. I find myself doing the bare minimum food tracking with Lark, then going to another free fitness app to actually track my food and calories. Lastly, I think the “mindful check-ins” could be improved GREATLY by just including more options for answers rather than just good, ok, or not good. The options are way too vague to actually log and track my mood and to try to make improvements.

If you’re looking to make changes by developing habits without tracking a ton of details or stats, this app is perfect. But if you’re trying to seriously follow a goal or lose a good amount of weight, you’re better off with a different app.

I think almost every feature of the LarkApp is great, and I’ve been using it daily for about six weeks. The only thing I would change is the nutrition information data. There is some assumed knowledge of ingredients and caloric content of common foods, but I would love for lark to except information from Lose It! about nutritional intake each day. Lose It! is extremely specific, and contains an almost endless catalog of barcodes and nutritional information from restaurants, not to mention the ability to create your own recipes with individual ingredients. Lark would not have to build a database anything like this, if it would only accept meal information that was already logged for that day in the Lose It! app.
I realize that might make it more difficult for lark to track servings of particular types of food, like unsaturated fat and fruits and vegetables, but I can’t see that it would be too terribly hard to figure out, as Lose It! is already also tracking those things to build a person’s daily nutrients profile.
I also know I’m not the first lark user to make this exact request. For those of us who track our food diligently as part of our health journey, Lose It! is hands-down the best for this function. Incorporating that information into lark would be extremely helpful for success in the lark app, as well.