MyFitnessPal: Calorie Counter Ratings and Reviews

App Review

A great service providing a platform for success on a human health quest. The My Fitness Pal application allows anyone to compile a detailed log of nutritional and fitness info into an easy to use, easy to interpret, easy to afford (free), and simple to navigate system. The breakdown of information into multiple charts and graphs is a phenomenal resource. The flexibility of being able to modify multiple facets of your goals such as macro nutrients, weight loss/gain per week, etc. is extremely intuitive and suitable for a wide range of fitness/nutritional goals. Nearly anyone can master this application within a reasonable timeframe of consistent effort and in turn become the master of their fitness/health destiny. My Fitness Pal has provided a great service and allowed for anyone with the desire to do so to achieve the best version of themselves possible. Also, after a long endeavor spanning months or years and reviewing your data in retrospect allows for a particular cognizance for what worked well and what did not. This, in turn, provides a chance to hone an adequate regimen into the ultimate program fine tuned to your personal goals. My Fitness pal provides an amenity that fosters a healthier and happier human race to those who utilize it. This application has earned a large following of motivated individuals for these reasons and stood the test of time. Go forth and conquer your goals with profound efficiency.
-Klahr

Great app but could use more user control of selecting or defining serving sizes

I really like this app. I use it for calorie counting. It links to Garmin Connect for integrating exercise calories into the overall balance for the day. You can scan barcodes for food items for easier logging. You can select items from your history of previous entries (great for frequently eaten foods). You can text search for foods, which accesses an enormous list of prior entries that I assume have been entered or scanned by other users. So why only four stars? My only peeve with the program is that it doesn’t seem to let users edit the serving size for many items, beyond being able to select from a too often extremely limited and sometimes arbitrary mix of imperial/metric/liquid/solid measures. The options presented vary widely from item to item, with little apparent logic. The best solution I have is to try to find items that use 1g as a serving size and then list the number of grams for that day’s serving as the number of servings for that entry. Since I’m using a food scale, that works for me. Seems a better solution would be to allow users to edit any food item to select from a full complement of serving sizes (or to just directly enter the desired serving size using the keyboard). Or just provide 1g as a choice in all cases (or at least all solid cases). In any case, I love and recommend the app, with the measurement detail being my only pet peeve.

Developer Response ,

Thank you for providing this feedback. We will definitely share this with our team and we appreciate your help as we continue to improve our program!

Gross Pictures with Ads but extensive database

I’ve been using this app for years. There are so many ads now which I understand. But some of them pop up on your feed right when you open the app and there are some really gross images. A lot of times I am eating when I enter my calories and the images for the weird ads are so gross it makes me stop eating and lose my appetite. There was one that came up for weeks that showed someone getting ear wax removed. Now I logged in and it shows a close up of someone removing some type of gross substance from the back of their throat. Why would you have these kinds of ads show up on the home page of a food log app?

Also, if you sync with Fitbit it enters your workouts automatically but it also tracks your steps and gives you a calorie adjustment for that as well, which Is like double tracking. If you go for a run for example, it will sync the workout from fitbit and give you the calories for that, and then also add in your steps from the run and give you more calories which I don’t think is accurate.

Other than that, no other food app compares as far as the extensive food database and the ease of being able to enter recipes, meals, etc. I also love the social functionality where friends can comment on your status. Of course they have to scroll through all the ads in the feed to find your updates, and overlook the gross images of earwax and other things.

Developer Response ,

Hi there! Our apologies for any problems you are having. For additional support please visit: https://myfitnesspal.zendesk.com/hc/en-us or send us an email to support@myfitnesspal.com.

Love it! Have some suggestions:

I really love this app! It has helped me in so many ways and for several years! It has amazing features and is always getting better. I love the HUGE food dictionary it has, the macronutrient breakdowns, and the exercises! I figured this would be a good place for some ideas I've brainstormed for future updates... 1) Having foods color-coded or labeled with a little icon that categorized the type of food it is (veggie, fruit, grain, dairy, protein) and then you can more easily visualize how many servings of each type of food category you’re eating! Like for example, if you log 2 cups of spinach, you would get 2 green leaf symbols to show that you ate 2 servings of veggies! 2) this is not necessary, but could be a fun change for those long-term MFP users: allowing us to change the color of our diary. Right now, the default is blue. What if we had the option to change that?! It would spice it up a bit, especially if you’ve been using it for years! Again, the app is amazing but if they're looking for different things to change it up, there's my two cents! 3) Being able to check a bubble that indicates if you stopped eating at enough and ate when hungry to help with intuitive eating. This view could also have an option to hide calories and macros.

Developer Response ,

Thank you for taking a minute to share your great suggestions with us! We will definitely consider adding these for a future update.

No longer a good app

Several years ago, this app was the best out there when it came to tracking calories, nutrition and exercise data. If you wanted to lose, maintain or gain weight, you could find a good way to make the app work for you. The UI was fairly intuitive. There was a good ‘free’ service (‘free’ still cost your personal data of course), and an expensive but tolerable expanded service for those that needed to track more details or had some alternative dietary plans.

Over the past year plus, unfortunately, the company continues to make terrible decisions. The UI was dramatically changed, and it became far more difficult to do the most basic tasks (for most people this was logging food, water, exercise and weight). Bugs have become the norm. Features have been reduced or eliminated, especially from the ‘free’ plan. In short, the value plummeted, yet the price did not.

Now, after years of using this app, I and many others are moving on. There are better apps out there that make it easy to log calories in and out. There are still apps out there that let all users log food by scanning barcodes. There are apps out there that offer more premium options for a much better price. Like many companies out there. MFP became so focused on raising the price and forcing users into subscriptions, they forgot that if they don’t provide value, they’re just going to lose market share. Hopefully they’ll change things around and we will see more value in the future.

Developer Response ,

We are truly sorry for any issues you are having with the app. If you could please visit: https://myfitnesspal.zendesk.com/hc/ or send an email to support@myfitnesspal.com for further help. If need be, you can always access the program via our main site at www.myfitnesspal.com.

Difficult to navigate

I consider myself very tech savvy and the user interface for this app is very confusing for me. My husband who also uses it is totally lost and I have to enter his data for him. What is confusing is searching for foods. Depending on which page you are on, the “scan barcode “ may be in a different place. When creating a meal or recipe, no confirmation a food was added and return back to add in the next food. Multi add should have the ability to scan too. It is also not intuitive to find your recent foods. When you put in a recipe, in order to actually cook the item, you have to edit the recipe to see the amount of ingredients to create it. The other disappointment is sharing meals, recipes, and foods with friends you have added. The ability to favorite individual items should be there that is used weekly or monthly, instead of having to scan the item again as the recent foods is not listed alphabetically. The developers suggested I create a Meal for each of my grocery items to find. I’ve done that, but again, my husband doesn’t have access to that, so if he eats something I bought, but I didn’t, he has to scan it too. This is not usable for couples or families that eat similar items but not the same. I’ve already paid for my premium. I’m not going to continue with my husband’s. $79 is way too expensive for the minimal features provided. Also, it doesn’t sync correctly with my Apple health and watch data. I’m constantly having to edit it.

Developer Response ,

Thank you for providing this feedback. We will definitely share this with our team and we appreciate your help as we continue to improve our program. Can you please reach out to us here https://myfitnesspal.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new or directly at support@myfitnesspal.com for further help? Thank you.

Disliked UI immediately

Years ago, I used this app to drop some pounds and really liked its features. I’m at a point where I need to reassess my diet and thought this would be a good option to return to, but the moment I opened the app after re-downloading, I just felt like it wasn’t for me. Calorie counting apps are a dime a dozen now, and a lot of them have worked hard on providing an interface that’s both efficient (because who wants to work around a clunky app when it already takes lots of time out of your busy day to record meals?) and visually pleasing (weight and dieting can be an unpleasant subject, right?).

MyFitnessPal was clunky from the moment it requested my vitals (difficult to scroll and go to the next input field), to the tutorial, to the constant pop ups demanding I consider upgrading to premium. I’ve barely used the app yet, why not leave me alone and try again when I’ve actually had time to experience it? There is no focus on calorie information on the home page, instead dedicating screen space to blog posts etc. that I don’t have the time or desire to read anyway. It’s difficult to find the wearable device/app integration options. The camera scanner is much slower than other apps I’ve used with the same technology. Overall there is no sleek design or cute graphics that would make the this app unique or pleasant to use regularly. I was just disappointed in how far this app has fallen behind, and you probably will feel the same.

Developer Response ,

Thank you for providing this feedback. We will definitely share this with our team and we appreciate your help as we continue to improve our program!

Great App for someone with a disability

I have Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy, and I am a recent heart transplant patient. I lost about 30 pounds before my transplant because I knew it would be a hard transition and it is important to give yourself and those helping you the best edge you possibly can. It’s also important to really educate yourself on nutrition and your body, I studied nutrition on my own did all the exercises I could, learned my body type and how I metabolize food. I also consult with my doctors and get blood work done so I know how to best tweak my diet to maximize my diet and health. Get some it’s always wise to consult with your doctors and even get a basic basic metabolic panel done to check your blood work.

I recently gained a few pounds back from being on high doses of prednisone and others that made me super hangry like that already food loving person I am. As knowledgeable I am about nutrition I’m not a machine and this app keeps me accountable and allows me to make the most of my health habits. The key is to have a healthy balance and not obsess over losing weight and constantly over analyzing everything. It also helps me remember to hydrate. Don’t go crazy extreme, pace yourself and allow yourself to have many of the things you crave don’t over indulge make healthier versions of what you crave and eat smaller portions of the things you really want.

Features Not Worth The Extra Money

——1) The app works well enough until you’re forced to update, and only Heaven knows what will happen then (today it’s the recipe builder domain error … AGAIN). I’m not paying for features I neither want nor need just to use the barcode scanner. I found it useful but not that useful. Further, although I like the app, it hasn’t bought my loyalty. I will happily return to the FitBit app to continue my tracking should additional features suddenly end up behind an overpriced paywall. ——2) It’s an okay app, but not exceptional enough to fork out an ongoing fee. If they want to encourage premium membership, make it worth it. That includes accurate food entries. Too many, including those accessed by barcode, are wrong or outdated. They can’t be trusted. Better syncing with the various trackers and their apps. Although syncing has been more reliable with my Apple Watch than FitBit, it still has its idiosyncrasies. ——3) Entering recipes. Do you have any idea how infuriating it is to enter a recipe by hand, not once, but five times only to have it populate an “NSURLErrorDomain error 500” on the last step when one tries to save? I assure you, it IS infuriating and it happens every few uses. Oh, and my entered Foods and Recipes disappear from the app. I know I entered them, but they’re nowhere to be found for selection. I can’t even search them on the MyFitnessPal website. I’m not paying extra for something that hasn’t proven itself entirely reliable.

Developer Response ,

We do understand your frustration on this decision, and we do want to thank you for your feedback. We have passed this along to the team to further review. If we can help with the recipes issue, please email us at support@myfitnesspal.com

Love this app but...

I have been using this App for years. I took an 8 month break and picked it up today. Just found out that you can no longer scan barcodes without buying the premium. I was able to scan barcodes for years. It just feels like a ripoff. I’m not buying your premium even if the entire app is no longer free. I will just go use 1st Phorm’s app. One thing that I learned after studying a lot about nutrition is that your caloric intake should not be below your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate). At least not for an extended period of time. And yet, years ago in the beginning of my weight loss journey the calories goals had me at 1100 calories and I found out my BMR was closer to 1400. This had a profound effect on my mental health and weight loss. I had chronic fatigue and anxiety. It was awful. There was no warning about consuming lower calorie and being in starvation. There was no place I could add a BMR so the app would take that into account. I really hope you guys can refine that more because you would be able to teach people about BMR and good nutrition. You would be able to make sure people are not starving themselves and putting a wrench in their weight loss journey. You would be able to help people not feel awful and have more energy. You would help people not have their mental health suffer due to starvation. Please fix this and give back my barcode scan and I will change my rating to 5-stars!

Developer Response ,

Our apologies for any problems you are having. Please reach out to us here https://myfitnesspal.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new or directly at support@myfitnesspal.com for further help. Thank you.