# Carbs & Cals: Diet & Diabetes — Food Tracker & Calorie Counter > Visual food tracker and calorie counter for diet and diabetes management. (iPhone/iPad app by Chello Publishing.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/carbs-and-cals-diet-and-diabetes/id388459613 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [Chello Publishing](https://appshunter.io/developer/388459616) - Category: Health & Fitness, Medical - Price: Free with in-app purchases - Rating: 3.60/5 from 55 App Store ratings · 161 written reviews indexed - Age rating: 4+ - Requires: iOS 15.0 · 106 MB - Languages: American English - Released: 2010-08-30 - Data updated: 2026-08-27 - Monetization: freemium - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/carbs-and-cals-diet-and-diabetes/id388459613/reviews.md ## What is Carbs & Cals? The award-winning, UK-based Carbs & Cals app makes tracking your food, nutrition and weight simple, visual and smart. Use the new Unified Food Scanner to snap a barcode, food label, or even the food on your plate. Our AI-enhanced system instantly identifies food and extracts nutritional data for fast, accurate logging. Search over 272,000 UK food & drink photos and compare up to 6 portion sizes for easy, visual carb and calorie counting. Log meals in seconds and track your calories, carbs, protein, fibre, fat, saturated fat, salt, sugar, 5-a-day and alcohol. Now with built-in weight tracking, you can monitor your progress over time, log weight changes, and stay motivated as you work towards your goals. Combine your food diary and weight tracker to clearly see how your eating habits impact your results. Create a personalised diet plan for weight loss, diabetes management, or keto and low-carb living. Add notes for glucose, insulin and weight, set nutrition goals, and share reports with your healthcare team for better support and accountability. Developed by NHS dietitians, Carbs & Cals is trusted across the UK for accurate, practical guidance. Get a smarter calorie counter, weight tracker and food tracker in one app. KEY FEATURES: - Unified Food Scanner: Scan barcodes, food labels or your plate for instant nutrition info. - Track your weight and monitor progress alongside your food diary. - Search 272,000+ UK foods & drinks from brands and restaurants. - Compare 6 portion sizes for visual carb and calorie counting. - Track calories, carbs, protein, fibre, fat, saturated fat, salt, sugar, 5-a-day and alcohol. - Food diary + weight tracker for complete health tracking. - Unlimited custom foods and meals. - Set goals for weight loss, diabetes, keto or low-carb diets. - Share reports with your healthcare team. - Designed by NHS dietitians and trusted by professionals. RECOMMENDED BY NHS DIETITIANS AND HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS - Developed by Chris Cheyette BSc (Hons) MSc RD, Senior Diabetes Specialist Dietitian with 20 years of experience working in the NHS. - Recommended across the UK by NHS dietitians and healthcare providers. - Reviewed and approved by independent health app specialist Orcha Health. - The Carbs & Cals books are supported by Diabetes UK. PRICING - The free STARTER plan gives you access to our basic database and limited features. - The UNLIMITED plan gives you access to the full UK database and all features. Choose from £6.99 per month, or £35.99 per year (less than £3 per month!). Try out the Carbs & Cals app on the UNLIMITED plan for FREE with our 14 day free trial. No commitment. FOR TECHNICAL SUPPORT, QUESTIONS & SUGGESTIONS: Please email support@carbsandcals.helpscoutapp.com *Remember to consult with a doctor or other medical professional before making significant changes to your diet ## Key features - Unified Food Scanner for instant nutrition info - Visual food and drink database with portion comparison - Track carbs, calories, protein, fat, fibre, and more - Unlimited custom food and meal logging - Personalized diet plans for various lifestyles - Share health reports with healthcare teams ## Pricing and in-app purchases Base price: Free. **Subscriptions** | Subscription | Price | Period | | --- | --- | --- | | Unlimited - Yearly | $40.99 | per year | | Unlimited - Monthly | $7.99 | per month | | Unlimited - Yearly (legacy) | $40.99 | per year | | Unlimited - Monthly (legacy) | $7.99 | per month | | Unlimited - Yearly | $39.99 | per year | | Unlimited - Yearly | $39.99 | per year | ## What do users think of Carbs & Cals? Overall sentiment: mixed **Pros** - 👍 Easy-to-use interface for carb counting - 📸 Visual portion size references help with accuracy - 🔍 Barcode scanning functionality - 💾 Ability to create and save custom meals - 🏥 Highly recommended by NHS and healthcare professionals - 📱 Works across multiple devices with subscription sharing - ⚡ Quick carb calculations without manual math - 🍽️ Extensive restaurant menu database - 🎯 Helpful for diabetes management and weight loss - 💬 Responsive customer support team **Cons** - 💰 Expensive subscription model (£20-£36+ annually) - 🔒 Paywall locks most features behind premium subscription - 📉 Limited food database compared to competitors - 🌍 Poor international food coverage (especially ethnic cuisines) - 🇬🇧 Limited UK/British branded foods despite being UK-developed - 🚫 Changed from one-time purchase to subscription model - 😤 Removed features from previously purchased versions - ⚙️ Inconsistent barcode scanning accuracy - 📊 Lacks sodium and sugar tracking options - 🔄 No family sharing despite claims of support **Commonly reported bugs** - App crashes when scanning barcodes - Blank white screen on launch (Legacy Version issue) - Payment/subscription not reflecting after purchase - Card authentication screen disappears when returning from banking app - Password reset not working - Meal dates not updating correctly - Custom food names with apostrophes display as blank - App crashes with circumflex characters in food names - Nutritional targets reset to defaults randomly - Cannot change body measurements from metric to imperial - Exercise duration and time selection not working - App crashes when deleting meals - Food database images showing question marks instead of photos - Slow app performance and loading times - Data loss after app updates **Most requested features** - Photo-based carb estimation for meals - Multiple item selection from recent foods list - Pin/favorite custom weights for quick access - Support for rarer diabetes types (MODY, etc.) - Sodium tracker in nutritional information - Parent-child account syncing for young diabetics - Ability to manually enter carb values - Widget support for quick access - Dark mode option - Integration with fitness/exercise tracking apps - Ability to add notes to diary entries - Weekly/monthly carb tracking graphs - More detailed restaurant menu information with photos - Metric to imperial measurement conversion - Ability to scan barcodes directly into custom foods - Better search filtering options - More comprehensive vegetarian/vegan options ## Recent user reviews (10 of 161) All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/carbs-and-cals-diet-and-diabetes/id388459613/reviews.md ### 4/5 — Useful but… *2026-07-29, version 5.55.0* My surgery recommended the Carbs & Cals book to help me balance my food intake. (I am pre diabetic but very keen to avoid becoming diabetic if I can.) However, I much prefer to work digitally so decided to try this app. There is much to like about it. I find logging food easy but am sceptical about how accurate some calculations are. It vastly underestimates the amount of fruit and veg I eat. It can’t cope with part portions apparently which is ridiculous. Are the other food categories accurate? Without some extensive maths work I don’t know. The most frustrating aspect is that it will not synchronise across my iPad and iPhone. Bearing in mind this is a paid for app I find this unacceptable. I don’t recall any of my other many apps having this problem and most of those are free. Looking at other reviews I discover that this app has been available for many years so this should have been sorted long ago. The developer told me that logs can be backed up and then transferred to another device but who wants to do this on a daily basis? I will reluctantly pay for the app for a year and see how my blood sugar goes. If I find it helps me to get my HbA1c down I will decide whether or not to keep paying for it. So much to like but let down by a couple of questionable features. Update: I have discovered that if I tap on a food type button (eg sat fat) it brings up the foods in my diary for that day that have sat fat in them and tells me how much in each food. That is a mistake useful feature that I think I will make full use of. ### 4/5 — Useful but… *2026-07-19, version 5.55.0* My surgery recommended the Carbs & Cals book to help me balance my food intake. (I am pre diabetic but very keen to avoid becoming diabetic if I can.) However, I much prefer to work digitally so decided to try this app. There is much to like about it. I find logging food easy but am sceptical about how accurate some calculations are. It vastly underestimates the amount of fruit and veg I eat. It can’t cope with part portions apparently which is ridiculous. Are the other food categories accurate? Without some extensive maths work I don’t know. The most frustrating aspect is that it will not synchronise across my iPad and iPhone. Bearing in mind this is a paid for app I find this unacceptable. I don’t recall any of my other many apps having this problem and most of those are free. Looking at other reviews I discover that this app has been available for many years so this should have been sorted long ago. The developer told me that logs can be backed up and then transferred to another device but who wants to do this on a daily basis? I will reluctantly pay for the app for a year and see how my blood sugar goes. If I find it helps me to get my HbA1c down I will decide whether or not to keep paying for it. So much to like but let down by a couple of questionable features. ### 2/5 — Adware that you pay for 😏 *2026-07-05, version 5.54.1* Very easy to consider that the poor functioning of this app is malicious and targets those struggling with any form of diabetes. The search function is diabolical. It pushes restaurants when logging a meal. Searching for the simplest of items is not a viable option. Obviously when I eat a tortilla at home, I *must* mean the restaurant! I am writing this as I purchased a very popular brand of supplement/meal replacement (powder to mix at home) and after a wild goose chase I scanned the barcode. The app knew the item, but was not in the database. Where's the line to be drawn? This has been an ongoing issue. I applied for a refund and the app's customer service said I must contact Apple. Apple rejected my request and ignored me for months so that they could tell me their internal policy (2 month period) has passed. I am doubtful this policy is in line with UK consumer law. By definition - a racket. ### 1/5 — Unusable *2026-04-09, version 5.50.0* I bought this app years ago for a one off payment. Instead of the free version that didn’t have as much. But now my version doesn’t have and Cals in it and they want me to pay a monthly subscription to upgrade which I can’t afford. Surely they can’t change the old version to exclude Cals. It’s still called carbs and CALS ! I think it’s really disgusting. ### 1/5 — Don’t buy it! *2026-02-26, version 5.44.0* I got it when calculating the carbs was for free in all the available food. Then I committed the mistake of updating the app and the geniuses locked many food items. They are requesting to sign into a monthly payment subscription for something I was using before. It’s disgraceful!!!!! Totally disappointed with it! ### 2/5 — Ok but needs work *2026-01-09, version 5.41.0* I have just cancelled my free trial and deleted the app. My previous app nutracheck had a massively wider database of foods whereas this one misses loads. Sure I could scan the label and then I have faff around checking what’s been scanned in compared to what the label says. There are als no widgets. One product barcode I scanned today was identified as the wrong product. ### 4/5 — Add Photo-based carb estimation *2026-01-03, version 5.41.0* Carbs & Cals is a great app for carb counting, but it would be even better if there were an option to add a photograph to estimate carbs. Being able to upload or take a photo of a meal could help users judge portion sizes more accurately, especially for homemade meals or when eating out. A photo-based carb estimate feature would reduce guesswork, save time, and make tracking more realistic in everyday situations where exact measurements aren’t available. It could be a really valuable addition for users who rely on visual guidance to manage their carb intake more confidently. ### 2/5 — Not very good *2025-12-26, version 5.39.3* I’d like the app better if I didn’t have to pay for basically any ethnic food so it’s basically useless to me. I’m sure it even charges for simple toast which makes it worse ### 5/5 — Very useful and can be shared across devices *2025-12-10, version 5.39.3* Very useful app. Sharing the app subscription works a little differently but you can share with three devices. Support for the app was superb though! ### 3/5 — Great app for carb counting - extortion for the “custom weight” calculator *2025-09-27, version 5.38.5* The free version is brilliant, shows how many carbs for a wide range of food products Although, super extortionate, to force a payment plan, just to include the “custom weight” option Kinda seems like the paid version is being targeted towards people who have difficulty with arithmetic (The “custom weight” feature is literally just a quick calculation) ## Frequently asked questions about Carbs & Cals ### What does the Carbs & Cals app do? This app simplifies food tracking with a visual approach. It uses an AI-enhanced scanner to identify food from barcodes, labels, or photos, extracting nutritional data for quick logging. You can track various nutrients, create custom meals, and set personalized diet plans. ### What are the key features of the app? Key features include a Unified Food Scanner for instant nutrition analysis, a large database of UK food and drink photos with portion size comparisons, comprehensive nutrient tracking (carbs, calories, protein, fat, fibre, 5-a-day, alcohol), unlimited custom food logging, and the ability to create diet plans and share reports with healthcare professionals. ### How much does the Carbs & Cals app cost? The app offers a free STARTER plan with basic features and a limited database. For full access to the UK database and all features, there is an UNLIMITED plan available via subscription at £6.99 per month or £35.99 per year. A 14-day free trial of the UNLIMITED plan is also offered. ### Who developed the Carbs & Cals app? The app was developed by NHS dietitians, including Chris Cheyette BSc (Hons) MSc RD, a Senior Diabetes Specialist Dietitian with extensive NHS experience. It is recommended by NHS dietitians and healthcare providers across the UK and reviewed by Orcha Health. ### What kind of diet plans can I create with this app? You can create personalized diet plans for various goals, including weight loss, diabetes management, and keto or low-carb lifestyles. The food diary allows you to log meals, add notes on glucose, insulin, or weight changes, and track your progress towards your health objectives. ## Version history (last 5 releases) ### 5.56.0 — 2026-08-11 This update includes a mix of bug fixes and accessibility improvements. Plan details and technical information seen in the profile menu should now display more reliably, and we've also updated some of our app dependencies. ### 5.55.0 — 2026-07-10 This update includes some important bug fixes and improvements. Recipes have been improved round nutrients more reliably, and salt values should now display to 1 decimal place consistently across the app. We've also fixed a bug that caused some food scans to cause visual issues on the diary screen. ### 5.54.1 — 2026-06-19 In this update, we've reinstated sugar targets, now with an updated default of 90g per day to reflect total sugars shown in our food data. We've also made some improvements to the support section of the app to help us investigate issues. ### 5.53.2 — 2026-05-28 This version includes an important update to our dependencies that was causing visual issues on the search screen and causing the app to crash for some users on the diary screen. ### 5.53.1 — 2026-05-15 This version includes an important update to our dependencies that was causing a small number of users to have visual issues on some of the app screens. ## Apps similar to Carbs & Cals | App | Rating | Price | Category | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Carb Manager: Keto & Macro Log](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/carb-manager-keto-and-macro-log/id410089731) | 4.8 (733,332) | Free | Health & Fitness | | [Keto Diet App － Carb Tracker](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/keto-diet-app-carb-tracker/id1406879426) | 4.7 (82,159) | Free | Health & Fitness | | [Keto Diet App: Keto Manager](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/keto-diet-app-keto-manager/id1475764462) | 4.7 (9,400) | Free | Health & Fitness | | [Lolo: Food & Calorie Tracker](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/lolo-food-and-calorie-tracker/id6448986851) | 4.4 (86) | Free | Health & Fitness | | [AI Calorie Tracker by Yazio](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/ai-calorie-tracker-by-yazio/id946099227) | 4.7 (50,075) | Free | Health & Fitness | | [RP Diet Coach & Planner](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/rp-diet-coach-and-planner/id1330041267) | 4.4 (11,810) | Free | Health & Fitness | ## Related topics [carbs diabetic](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/carbs-diabetic) · [carbs and cal](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/carbs-and-cal) · [1byone relief](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/1byone-relief) · [miracle mile](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/miracle-mile) · [carburetor diabetes manager](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/carburetor-diabetes-manager) · [pacto administradora](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/pacto-administradora) · [point counter diet](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/point-counter-diet) · [nwc network](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/nwc-network) · [free diabetes app diet](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/free-diabetes-app-diet) · [diet plan diabetic](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/diet-plan-diabetic) · [f45 glofox](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/f45-glofox) · [low carb diet assistant](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/low-carb-diet-assistant) · [counting carbs scanner](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/counting-carbs-scanner) · [carbs control](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/carbs-control) --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-27.*