Okay
Servings Tracker, no ads
Not impressed
Response from developer
Sorry your faces have been unhappy ones. There are a couple of things you can do in the app to help with this. The ratings can be harsh because they drop you a peg for each food group where your food intake is outside the range. You can go to the Preferences screen and choose an alternate method that uses the average servings over all food groups, which generally provides a more-favorable rating. You may also be using the wrong tracking guide for the number of calories in your diet. You can tap the Change button at the top of the data entry screen to change your tracking guide. The app provides 4 guides that I found in the Dash Diet literature. You can also set up a fully customized tracking guide by going to the Preferences -> Tracking Guides screen and either modifying an existing guide or setting up a new guide, and then selecting that guide with the Change button as above. And if you don't want to see smiley ratings at all, you can change them on the Preferences screen. You can change them to any character or emoji you want. You can make them all the same character, which will tell you that you've recorded meals for a particular day but won't give you a clue about your rating for the day. I hope you'll try some of these suggestions and give the app another try.
Very easy to use
Thanks!!!
Response from developer
The weekly categories are not tracked based on calendar weeks. I felt that using calendar weeks might skew the tracking. For example, a brunch or big meal on a Sunday might make things look bad until you get closer to the end of the week. So the app is currently tracking weekly categories across rolling weeks ending on the date being entered, which I thought might provide a fairer picture. Feel free to send me an email if you'd like to discuss this or offer a different approach.
Fruit
Response from developer
The default tracking guides and food groups are based on sample tracking guides that I found in various publications. But you can add your own tracking guides and food groups, or change the existing ones. I think the app provides some guidance as you get into this process, but here’s how I think it should work: 1. Tap the Preferences button in the upper left corner of the screen (the gear) 2. Tap Tracking Guides 3. Tap the guide to which you want to add “Fruits” 4. Tap a food group that has similar “portion ranges” to what you want to have in “Fruits” 5. Change the name to “Fruits” and then make any other changes you need to configure “Fruits” the way you want it 6. Tap Save. It should ask you whether you want to change the name of your existing food group or create a new one. You want to create a new one. You should see both your original food group and “Fruits” in your list and be able to track your fruits going forward.
Doesn’t work with dark mode
I cannot figure out how to add foods
Response from developer
I'm sorry you are having trouble with the app. Adding food groups isn't as intuitive as I'd like it to be because of the amount of information that might be needed. Go to Preferences and edit your Tracking Guide, and then edit a Food Group that's similar to what you want. Make any changes that are needed, and then touch Save. At that point, you will be asked whether to save over the existing Food Group or add a new one. I hope this helps. And if it helps enough to get you to change your rating, I'd appreciate it.
Great food tracker
Response from developer
I'm glad you're enjoying the app. The app doesn't track blood pressure and waist measurement, but you should be able to add a Food Group for water and then track your water intake as you would any other food group. Adding food groups isn't as intuitive as I'd like it to be because of the amount of information that might be needed. Go to Preferences and edit your Tracking Guide, and then edit a Food Group that's similar to what you want. Make any changes that are needed, and then touch Save. At that point, you will be asked whether to save over the existing Food Group or add a new one. I hope this helps.
Finally found a tracking system that works!
Keeps me on track
Response from developer
The guides provided are based on tracking guides from various Dash Diet articles. The app gives you the ability to choose from several standard tracking guides as well as the ability to add, delete or modify tracking guides, food groups and portion targets. Check under Preferences >> Tracking Guides. In an attempt to save typing, you edit an existing food group, change its name (and anything else that needs to change) and then hit Save. It will ask you whether you want to change the existing food group or create a new one. This should allow you to track anything you want.
Missing options
Developer Thank you for your quick response and explanation as to how to fix the issues.
Response from developer
The guides provided are based on tracking guides from various Dash Diet articles. The app gives you the ability to choose from several standard tracking guides as well as the ability to add, delete or modify tracking guides, food groups and portion allotments. You'll find this in Preferences and it should allow you to track everything you've identified. You'll also find the ability to change the way servings are entered, giving you the option to require a tap on a food group before entering servings. That should help with the unintentional tracking of food while you're trying to scroll. I hope these suggestions help. If they help enough to get you to change your rating, I'd appreciate it.
Useful
I’d love it if I could also keep track of my water intake in this app.
And it would be cool if I could see that I ate a rainbow
Response from developer
Check out Preferences, where you can add, delete or modify tracking guides and food groups. You should be able to add water and anything else you want to track. As for eating rainbows, I guess you could add that as a food group. Or...you could just change your ratings emojis to show a rainbow when you have a really good day.🌈 Hope you continue to enjoy the app!!
Hard to use on phone
Response from developer
The app is designed to mimic a paper form that may be used by Dash Dieters, so I'm kinda stuck with it. The difficulty in scrolling was an issue from day one, but my test team (aka - my wife) got used to it fairly quickly so I stopped worrying about it. It seems that wasn't a good decision. So I've added a preference option to require a tap on a food group to activate its scroll wheels, which should make scrolling easier. I hope you're still using the app despite the scrolling issue and that this change makes it easier to use.
Handy, can customize, no ads!
The calendar will display customizable emojis to show how well you achieved your goals for the day. I found that it will take you down an emoji if you don’t get your minimum servings, so be forewarned.
I love this app because it replaces the pencil and paper method I used in the past, no ads, and it’s straight forward.
The only thing I would like to see is a graph of my weight loss over time, or even the weight difference between two selected dates. The calendar indicates each day with arrows how your weight compares to the previous day, but that’s it.
Response from developer
Thanks for all the stars! Based on your suggestions, I've added an option to display weights on the calendar and a button to take you to a graph of your weights. I hope you're still using the app and that you'll enjoy these improvements. As for the strict rating system, there are options built into the app. You can reduce the low end of the range on food groups where you tend to "under-eat", you can link food groups that provide similar nutritional value so you can eat more of one and less of another without dropping your rating, or you can choose a more forgiving rating method that is based on overall average servings. Whatever you do, I hope you continue to enjoy the app.
