M vs Meridian
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
M
Easily track your calorie and macronutrient intake with daily menus from University of Michigan dining halls. Achieve your health and fitness goals with detailed nutrition information and custom calorie targets. Menus are automatically updated daily.
- Calorie and macro tracking
- Daily U-M dining hall menus
- Detailed nutrition information
- Custom calorie goals
- Historical data reflection
- Automatic menu updates
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Track calories & macros intake with daily menus from each University of Michigan dining hall! - Faster, easier, and more accurate than using outside apps - Helps you achieve your health and fitness goals - Menus automatically updated daily using U-M dining API - Reflect on your previously tracked data - Detailed nutrition information for each item - Custom calorie goals You must connect to U-M WiFi to access up-to-date menus. M-Cals is not an official U-M application and is not affiliated with U-M in any way. Disclaimer: The calorie and nutrition information provided by this app is intended for general information purposes only, and is not intended for use in managing medical conditions or making health decisions.
Meridian
This app helps you manage screen time by requiring push-ups to unlock restricted applications. It uses on-device pose detection to count reps, ensuring your data stays private and on your phone. You can set custom limits and compete with friends on streaks and reps.
- App locking based on daily limits
- Push-up counting via camera
- On-device pose detection
- Privacy-focused data handling
- Screen time breakdown by hour
- Friend comparison for streaks and reps
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Meridian locks the apps you choose when you pass the daily limit you set. To unlock them, you do push-ups. The camera counts them on your phone. HOW IT WORKS Pick the apps. Set a limit. Choose your set. When you reach the limit, those apps stop opening. Meridian tells you what you owe. Complete the set and your time resets. Reps are counted by on-device pose detection. Video is analysed frame by frame and discarded. It is never recorded, never stored, never transmitted. YOUR SCREEN TIME STAYS ON YOUR PHONE Meridian uses Apple's Screen Time framework, which keeps per-app usage inside the system sandbox on your device. Your screen time is never uploaded. There is no analytics SDK in the app. You can also see where the day went. A breakdown by hour, drawn on your device from data that never leaves it. YOU SET THE LIMITS This is not parental control. There is no second account, no remote management, and no way to configure another person's device. You choose the apps, the limit, and the exercise. RISE WITH FRIENDS Add friends by handle and compare two numbers: Peaks, your streak of days completed, and Moves, the reps you have done today. No feed, no comments, no public profile. Friends see your numbers only after you both accept. An account is optional. The core loop works signed out, permanently. Sign in with Apple is the only sign-in method, and deleting your account removes your data and revokes the token.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Meridian at 5.0 against M's 4.0. M's advantage is ratings volume (6 vs 1). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Meridian holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: M has 6 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
| Parameter | M | Meridian |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.0 (6 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 66.7% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 6 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 weeks | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.5 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 9 MB | 26 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Grant Patterson | Ohm Kumblekere |
In-app purchases
M
No in-app purchases
Meridian
No in-app purchases
