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 nutrition app personalizes calorie and macro targets using adaptive algorithms and behavioral science. It offers advanced food logging, detailed breakdowns, and weight trend analysis to help users achieve sustainable diet goals.

Highlights
  • Adaptive nutrition coach
  • Best-in-class expenditure estimate (TDEE)
  • Fastest macro tracker
  • Verified food database
  • Weight Trend visualization
  • Flexible plan modes
  • AI photo food logging
Features
Read full description

MacroFactor is a macro tracker, calorie counter, and nutrition coach app that helps you reach your diet goals to lose weight, gain muscle, or maintain with empowering, sustainable results, by combining innovative coaching algorithms with proven nutrition and behavioral science. KEY CAPABILITIES • Adaptive nutrition coach: smart algorithms personalize your calorie and macro intake targets, just like a nutrition coach would, and weekly check-ins keep you on track • Best-in-class expenditure estimate (TDEE): calculates how many calories you actually burn from your own logs and weight data, so your plan fits your body instead of a generic formula • Fastest macro tracker on the market: log food by AI photo, meal description, speech-to-text, barcode scanner, or nutrition label scanner, so logging takes seconds • Verified food database: more than 1.36 million entries, so you can trust the calorie and macro information of the food you log • Food and meal tracker: covers macros and micronutrients with detailed breakdowns for every meal and day, so you see exactly what you eat • Weight Trend: cuts through the noise of daily weight fluctuations, so you see your real progress • Flexible plans: choose Coached, Collaborative, or Manual mode with balanced, low-carb, keto, or carb-focused diets and different macros on different days, so your plan fits your health and fitness goal • Extra tools in one app: period tracker, habit tracker, data insights and visualization, integrations, and dark mode. HOW IT WORKS 1. Set your goal (lose, maintain, or gain) and choose your rate of weight change to set your calorie deficit or surplus. 2. Log your meals in the food log and weigh in with the weight tracker as usual. 3. Each week, MacroFactor compares your calorie and macro intake with your weight trend to calculate your true energy expenditure (TDEE) and detect changes in your metabolism. 4. It then adjusts your calorie, protein, and macro targets for the week ahead, so your diet plan keeps working and you avoid a plateau. FAQ • How does MacroFactor set my calorie target? It estimates your energy expenditure from your food logs and weight trend, then adjusts your targets at each weekly check-in. • What if I go over my targets or skip logging? Nothing breaks. The algorithm is adherence neutral, so your check-in and calorie adjustment still work, with no warnings or red numbers. • Can I set my own macros instead of following the coach? Yes. Choose Manual mode, and set different macros for different days. • How can I log food quickly? Snap a photo with AI food logging, describe your meal, speak it, or scan a barcode or nutrition label. 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 macro tracker 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/ MacroFactor is a macro counter, calorie tracker, and AI food tracker with a nutrition coach that adapts your calorie and macro targets every week, helping you lose weight, maintain, or build muscle without stress.

About

Arrow

This app helps you track workouts and nutrition to achieve your body composition goals. It offers adaptive calorie and macro targets based on your progress, smart meal scanning, and detailed workout logging with performance insights.

Highlights
  • Adaptive calorie and macro targets
  • Smart meal scanning and logging
  • Detailed workout tracking
  • Progress visualization
  • Workout and nutrition integration
  • Arrow Score for overall progress
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 nutrition API (www.fatsecret.com) Barcode data also from Open Food Facts (openfoodfacts.org), licensed under ODbL. 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 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 10 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and Arrow sells 10 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 — 24K and 9.4K 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 9 days, Arrow every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on November 9, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences · 9 level
MacroFactor versus Arrow: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMacroFactorArrow
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (24K ratings) — better4.8 (9.4K ratings)
Positive reviews70.6% of reviews77.8% of reviews — better
Number of ratings24K — better9.4K
Update frequencyEvery 9 days — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
Best chart rank#10 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.615.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size247 MB127 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperStronger By Science Technologies LLCLevelUp App Studios LLC

Customer experience

MacroFactor

All ratings23,836 ratings
Positive96.2%
Neutral1.3%
Negative2.5%
Written reviews1,594 reviews
Positive70.6%
Neutral9.5%
Negative19.9%

Arrow

All ratings9,338 ratings
Positive95.4%
Neutral2.5%
Negative2.1%
Written reviews752 reviews
Positive77.8%
Neutral7.0%
Negative15.2%

User reviews

MacroFactor

From 24K 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 9.4K 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

10 purchases

MacroFactor

Subscriptions10
  • Monthly Subscription14 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$11.991 Month
  • Monthly Subscription$11.991 Month
Show 7 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$71.991 Year
  • Annual Subscription14 Days trial$71.991 Year
  • Annual Subscription Bundle$89.991 Year
10 purchases

Arrow

Subscriptions10
  • Gold Access7 Days trial$4.391 Month
  • Gold Access1 Month trial$4.391 Month
  • Gold Access$5.991 Month
Show 7 more
  • Diamond Access$12.991 Month
  • Secret Discount (Gold Access)$17.491 Year
  • Gold Access7 Days trial$29.991 Year
  • Diamond Access7 Days trial$34.991 Year
  • Gold Access7 Days trial$34.991 Year
  • Diamond Access7 Days trial$59.991 Year
  • Diamond Access7 Days trial$79.991 Year

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 is rated higher. MacroFactor averages 4.8 out of 5 from 24K ratings, while Arrow averages 4.8 from 9.4K ratings.
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 9 days, and Arrow every 2 weeks. Most recently, MacroFactor was updated on November 9, 2026 and Arrow on November 9, 2026.

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