Comparison

MacroFactor vs Arrow

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

MacroFactor

This app uses a dynamic algorithm to adapt your calorie and macro targets based on your metabolism and progress. It offers tools for quick food logging, a verified database, and personalized coaching to help you achieve sustainable diet goals without stress or rigidity.

Highlights
  • Dynamic metabolism adaptation
  • Personalized macro and calorie targets
  • Verified food database
  • Barcode scanner
  • Weekly coaching check-ins
  • Micronutrient tracking
  • Weight trend insights
Features
Read full description

MacroFactor combines innovative coaching algorithms with proven nutrition and behavioral science to help you reach your diet goals and achieve empowering, sustainable results. MacroFactor uses a dynamic algorithm to adapt to changes in your metabolism and personalize your macro plan to keep you on track. Download to start your 7-day trial of this premium, ad-free macro tracker app. DIET SMARTER Using a best-in-class expenditure estimate, MacroFactor’s nutrition coach algorithm adapts to changes in your metabolism so you never plateau. • The unique energy expenditure calculation detects changes in your metabolism • Smart algorithms personalize your calorie and macro intake targets, just like a nutrition coach would • Weekly check-ins keep you on track toward your goals The result? You better understand your body’s needs and can successfully reach and sustain your goals without stress. THE BEST MACRO TRACKER TOOLS • The fastest macro tracker on the market with tools like barcode scan and custom foods • Verified food database, so you can trust the accuracy of the foods you log • Custom macro programs and weekly check-ins based on your goals and preferences • Detailed breakdowns of micronutrients, macros, and more • Period tracker, habit tracker, unique data insights and visualization, integrations, dark mode, and more AN EMPOWERING, SUSTAINABLE APPROACH MacroFactor’s robust nutrition coach algorithm will make appropriate adjustments to your calorie and macro targets based on what you log, regardless of how close you came to hitting your targets from the previous week. The algorithms don’t function any worse if you deviate from your macro targets. This means that unlike other nutrition coach apps, you don’t have to eat like a robot or perfectly adhere to your macro targets in order to get your weekly coaching check-in and an appropriate calorie adjustment. You’ll never see warnings, red numbers, or shaming when you go over your calorie or macro targets, unlike in other macro tracker apps. Instead, MacroFactor’s macro tracker and nutrition coach aim to empower you with the guidance and tools you need to reach your goals without stress or rigidity. A CLOSER LOOK AT FEATURES & BENEFITS Nutrition coach • Get a science-backed macro plan designed for your goals and preferences • Set a goal to lose, maintain, or gain weight • Smart nutrition coach AI makes weekly changes to your macro plan to keep you on track Macro tracker • Large verified food database, so you can trust that calorie and macro information is accurate • Barcode scanner • Food tracker for both macros and micronutrients • Features like copy/paste, custom foods, and smart history make food tracking quick and easy • Timeline-style food log doesn’t lock you in to a certain number of meals • Metric and imperial options • Custom foods and recipes Health insights tracker • Best-in-class expenditure estimate • Unique Weight Trend insight that cuts through the noise of daily fluctuations • Habit tracker • Period tracker NOTICES Contains information from Open Food Facts, which is made available here under the Open Database License (ODbL). Open Food Facts: https://openfoodfacts.org/ ODbL: https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/1-0/ SUBSCRIPTION PRICING & TERMS MacroFactor is a premium app that offers three auto-renewing subscription options: $11.99 / month $47.99 / half year $71.99 / year (equal to $5.99 a month) MacroFactor has a free trial, but does not offer a free subscription tier. These prices are for US customers. Pricing in other countries may vary. Payment will be charged to your Apple account at confirmation of purchase. Your subscription to MacroFactor will automatically renew, unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the current period ends. You can cancel or manage your subscription from your Apple account settings. Terms & Conditions: https://terms.macrofactorapp.com/ Privacy Policy: https://privacy.macrofactorapp.com/

About

Arrow

This app gamifies your fitness journey, transforming workouts into a fun, competitive experience with friends. Track progress with a detailed log, earn rewards, and connect with a global community for motivation and support.

Highlights
  • Gamified workout experience
  • Weightlifting routine planner
  • Progress tracking and logging
  • Social fitness network
  • Earn trophies and EXP
  • Workout social feed
Features
Read full description

Arrow is the #1 workout and nutrition tracker built for changing your body. Log your lifts, meals, and weight in one app, get calorie and macro targets that adapt to your real results, and see whether training and diet are actually adding up, whether you're cutting, bulking, or just looking to maintain. TRAINING AND NUTRITION IN ONE LOOP Changing your body is one problem, not two. Your lifts create the stimulus, your food decides what your body does with it, and your weight trend tells you whether the plan is working. Most apps track one piece. Arrow connects all three. • Adaptive TDEE: Arrow estimates your real daily energy expenditure from your weigh-ins and food log, not just a formula, and keeps your calorie and macro targets adjusted as your body responds • Scale Weight vs. Trend Weight: every weigh-in is plotted against a rolling trend, so you can tell a water swing from true gain or loss before you change your plan • Oil detection: if a scanned meal was likely cooked in oil, Arrow asks before you log, so hidden calories don't slip past your numbers • Arrow Score: one number built from Strength (PRs and volume), Nutrition (calories, macros, weigh-ins), and Consistency (workouts and meal logs), weighted for your goal. A cut and a bulk are scored differently. • Estimated daily deficit or surplus and a four-week projection • Arrow Coach flags when a sudden scale jump or drop is likely water, not fat NUTRITION TRACKING THAT'S FAST AND HONEST • Smart Scan: photograph your plate and get the foods, calories, and macros • Describe a meal in plain words or by voice, scan a barcode, or look it up in the database • Heads Up before you log a scanned meal, and a meal score when you do • Edit any target yourself. Arrow never locks you into its numbers. • Recent foods, saved meals, custom foods, and copy-a-previous-day for meals you eat on repeat • Optional meal and post-workout reminders WORKOUT TRACKER BUILT FOR THE GYM • Log sets, reps, and weight in a few taps, no clutter mid-set • Plan your own routines or generate one from your goal, equipment, days, and session length • Flip any exercise card to see your history and personal records • Rest timer, dropsets, cardio and activity tracking • Custom exercises, swap exercises mid-workout, reorder on the fly • Lock Screen Live Activity and Dynamic Island keep your workout in view • Close the app mid-session and resume where you left off ARROW COACH Coach reads training and nutrition together: a recap of your week after workouts and on your Stats screen, a Heads Up on meals before you log them, and a call-out when a weight swing is likely water. Every note ends with what to do next. PROGRESS YOU CAN SEE • Muscle diagram shows which muscles you hit this week and how hard • Volume, PR, and lift progress over time • Week Overview calendar for training and nutrition days • Apple Health steps on your Profile and in Performance • Arrow Wrapped: your year in review TRAIN WITH FRIENDS • See your friends' workouts (and their meals, if they share them) in your feed • Share workout cards to Instagram Stories OPTIONAL GAMIFICATION Want extra motivation? Turn on levels, streak multipliers, and trophies. SUBSCRIPTION Access to Arrow requires a subscription. Payment is charged to your Apple ID account at confirmation of purchase. Your subscription renews automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel anytime in your Apple ID account settings. Powered by fatsecret Platform API. Terms of Use: https://arrowfitnessapp.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://arrowfitnessapp.com/privacy Questions? support@arrowfitnessapp.com

Screenshots

MacroFactor4 screens
Arrow4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is chart position: MacroFactor at #10 against Arrow's unranked. MacroFactor also leads on update cadence (every 8 days vs every 2 weeks) and device support (4 vs 2). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. MacroFactor sells 11 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and Arrow sells 17 in-app purchases, starting at $4.39 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for MacroFactor against 4.8 for Arrow. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 23K and 9K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 71% of MacroFactor's written reviews are positive against 78% of Arrow's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

MacroFactor ships an update every 8 days, Arrow every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 30, 2026 and September 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 8 level
MacroFactor versus Arrow: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMacroFactorArrow
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (23K ratings)4.8 (9K ratings)
Positive reviews70.7% of reviews78.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings23K — better9K
Update frequencyEvery 8 days — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#10 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.615.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size238 MB127 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperStronger By Science Technologies LLCLevelUp App Studios LLC

Customer experience

MacroFactor

All ratings22,548 ratings
Positive96.3%
Neutral1.2%
Negative2.5%
Written reviews1,561 reviews
Positive70.7%
Neutral9.5%
Negative19.7%

Arrow

All ratings9,035 ratings
Positive95.5%
Neutral2.4%
Negative2.1%
Written reviews743 reviews
Positive78.1%
Neutral7.1%
Negative14.8%

User reviews

MacroFactor

From 23K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Easy to use
  • 🔍 Detailed analytics and data
  • 🤖 Intelligent algorithm adjustments
  • 👍 Flexible and customizable
  • 💯 Comprehensive food database

Room to improve

  • 🔍 Limited food database for some regions
  • 🤔 Steep learning curve for some users
  • 💰 Subscription-based model
  • 🤖 Occasional inaccuracies in AI-generated entries
  • 🔀 Convoluted navigation in some areas

Arrow

From 9K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Helpful for tracking workouts
  • 🏆 Motivating with trophies and leveling system
  • 🙌 Great for competing with friends
  • 💪 Tracks muscle groups and progress
  • 📊 Provides detailed workout data and statistics

Room to improve

  • 🐛 App crashes when switching between tabs or accessing friends tab
  • 🔍 Missing some common exercises
  • 🔧 Can't edit previous workouts or change exercise order
  • 🕰️ Rest timer is a premium feature
  • 🤔 Trophies/achievements may be unrealistic for women

Bugs and requests

MacroFactor

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Disappearing food entries
  • Inconsistent syncing with Apple Health

Requested features

5 requests
  • Apple Watch integration
  • Micronutrient tracking
  • Ability to edit database entries
  • Improved barcode scanning for international users
  • Customizable dashboard and widgets

Arrow

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Assisted pull-ups incorrectly adding weight instead of subtracting
  • Muscle distribution not accurately tracking
  • Workout data not always logging correctly

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add ability to edit previous workouts
  • Allow reordering of exercises in a workout
  • Implement a rest timer
  • Add more workout options, especially for cardio
  • Provide different tiers/achievements for men and women

In-app purchases

11 purchases

MacroFactor

Subscriptions11
  • Monthly Subscription14 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$11.991 Month
  • Monthly Subscription$11.991 Month
Show 8 more
  • Monthly Subscription14 Days trial$11.991 Month
  • Semiannual Subscription7 Days trial$47.996 Months
  • Semiannual Subscription14 Days trial$47.996 Months
  • Annual Subscription14 Days trial$59.991 Year
  • Annual Subscription7 Days trial$59.991 Year
  • Annual Subscription7 Days trial$71.991 Year
  • Annual Subscription14 Days trial$71.991 Year
  • Annual Subscription Bundle$89.991 Year
17 purchases

Arrow

Subscriptions16
  • Gold Access7 Days trial$4.391 Month
  • Gold Access1 Month trial$4.391 Month
  • Gold Access$5.991 Month
Show 13 more
  • Gold Access7 Days trial$5.991 Month
  • Diamond Access$12.991 Month
  • Secret Discount (Gold Access)$17.491 Year
  • Gold Access7 Days trial$29.991 Year
  • Gold Access1 Month trial$29.991 Year
  • Diamond Access7 Days trial$34.991 Year
  • Gold Access1 Month trial$34.991 Year
  • Gold Access7 Days trial$34.991 Year
  • Gold Access1 Month trial$44.991 Year
  • Gold Access7 Days trial$44.991 Year
  • Diamond Access7 Days trial$59.991 Year
  • Diamond Access1 Month trial$79.991 Year
  • Diamond Access7 Days trial$79.991 Year
One-time1
  • Gold Access$74.99

Questions

Is MacroFactor free?
MacroFactor is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Arrow free?
Arrow is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, MacroFactor or Arrow?
MacroFactor and Arrow are both rated 4.8 out of 5 on the App Store, from 23K and 9K ratings respectively.
Do MacroFactor or Arrow have ads?
Neither MacroFactor nor Arrow shows ads.
Which is updated more often, MacroFactor or Arrow?
MacroFactor ships an update every 8 days, and Arrow every 2 weeks. Most recently, MacroFactor was updated on September 30, 2026 and Arrow on September 29, 2026.

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