Comparison

Calonic vs Pulse

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

Head to head
About

Calonic

Features
Read full description

Calonic is the calorie counter that feels like a chat. Type or snap what you eat. The AI recognizes the meal and instantly gives you calories, protein, carbs, fat and many more nutrients. No database search, no weighing. HOW CALONIC WORKS - Chat instead of search: type "muesli with banana" or take a photo of your plate. One tap and the meal is in your diary. - Your day at a glance: calories, macros, sugar, fiber, sodium, caffeine, water, alcohol and even the COโ‚‚ footprint of your meals. - Stay on track: every day with an entry counts towards your streak. One joker per week saves a forgotten day, and milestones celebrate your progress. - Your priorities: you decide which values matter to you. Your #1 is shown large in the diary, even if it is not calories. - Report: your calorie mix with sugar and saturated fat, weight and nutrients over time by week, month and year. Export your data as a CSV file. - Your personal daily target: calculated with the Mifflin-St Jeor formula and the recommendations of the WHO and the German Nutrition Society (DGE). Every value is transparent and adjustable. - Your goal, your pace: lose weight, maintain, gain weight or build muscle, as fast as suits you. - Weight at a glance: chart, progress towards your target weight, weekly trend and BMI. - Favorites: save meals you eat often and log them again with one tap. - Intermittent fasting: set your eating window and Calonic reminds you when it starts and ends. - Apple Health: meals and weight are synced automatically if you like. CALONIC PREMIUM Calonic Premium is available as a monthly or yearly subscription. New subscribers get a free trial week. The subscription renews automatically unless it is canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can cancel at any time in your Apple account settings. Nutrition values are AI estimates. Calonic does not replace medical or dietary advice. Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy: https://calonic.com/data-privacy

About

Pulse

Read full description

Your pulse, your day, your journal. Pulse is intentionally kept lean: no subscription, no cluttered interface โ€” just you, a moment, and an honest read on how you're actually doing. Free and open source. HOW IT WORKS โ€ข Capture moments: a short thought, a rating from โˆ’2 (bad) to +2 (good), optional tags and location. Done in seconds. โ€ข Reflect on your day: one sentence of forecast in the morning, the summary in the evening โ€” with your own metrics like sleep, deep work, exercise, or family time. Stoic reflection questions get you started. โ€ข Discover patterns: daily, weekly, and monthly views show you what lifts you up โ€” and what doesn't. Filter by a single tag to look at one area of your life on its own. Good days have reasons. โ€ข AI coach: on request, Apple Intelligence analyzes your entries and surfaces insights about your patterns โ€” running entirely on your device, no cloud. โ€ข Apple Health: if you like, your moods appear as State of Mind and the time you spend reflecting as Mindful Minutes in the Health app. YOUR DATA STAYS YOURS Everything lives on your iPhone or iPad and in your private iCloud. Pulse only writes to Apple Health what you turn on โ€” and never reads from it. Lock Pulse with Face ID, Touch ID or your device passcode if you like. No tracking, no ads, no accounts. The full source code is public on GitHub. Export to JSON anytime. WHO IS PULSE FOR? For everyone who has failed at classic journaling: no long entries, no pressure, no streak guilt. A micro-journal that fits your life โ€” not the other way around. Questions or ideas? Pulse is actively developed โ€” your feedback shapes the roadmap.

Screenshots

Calonic4 screens
Pulse4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Pulse at none against Calonic's 2. Pulse also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs every 11 days). Calonic's advantage is iOS requirement (15.1 vs 26.6). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

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

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Calonic sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Pulse asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Calonic ships an update every 11 days, Pulse every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences ยท 3 level
Calonic versus Pulse: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCalonicPulse
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 11 daysEvery 5 days โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo โ€” better
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.1 โ€” better26.6
Further details โ€” not scored
Size45 MB22 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperCertyfact UG (haftungsbeschrankt)Marcus Dr. Raitner

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Calonic

Subscriptions2
  • Classic monthly7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Classic Yearly7 Days trial$49.991 Year
None

Pulse

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Calonic free?
Calonic is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Pulse free?
Pulse is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Calonic or Pulse have ads?
Neither Calonic nor Pulse shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Calonic or Pulse?
Calonic ships an update every 11 days, and Pulse every 5 days. Most recently, Calonic was updated on October 27, 2026 and Pulse on October 28, 2026.

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