Calorie Tracker + Counter vs Plateful

A calorie counter that's actually free. No subscription, no paywall, no account — just a fast, private calorie tracker that takes seconds to use. Most calorie tracking apps put barcode scanning, macros, or AI behind a monthly fee. This one doesn't. Every tracking feature below is free. AI CALORIE TRACKER Point your camera at your plate. The AI identifies the foods, estimates portions, and fills in calories, protein, carbs, and fat. Every result is clearly labeled an estimate and fully editable before you log it — you stay in control of the numbers. You get free AI scans every single day. A FREE CALORIE COUNTER APP THAT LOGS IN SECONDS • Search 260+ built-in foods with typo-tolerant search • Scan any barcode — powered by the Open Food Facts database • Scan a nutrition label with your camera to create a custom food • Build multi-ingredient meals and save them for one-tap logging • Copy yesterday, quick-add calories, favorites and recents TRACK WORKOUTS TOO Log a run, a walk, or a lifting session in two taps and see the calories you burned. Not sure what something burned? Describe it in your own words and AI estimates it for you. Burned calories can add back to your daily budget — or not, if you'd rather keep a fixed target. Your choice, in Settings. SEE YOUR DAY AT A GLANCE A clean dashboard shows calories left, protein, carbs, and fat with progress rings, plus a week strip so you can spot trends instantly. YOUR GOALS, COMPUTED PROPERLY Onboarding uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation — the same formula dietitians use — to set a realistic daily calorie and macro plan. You choose the pace, from gradual to aggressive, and see the date each one actually lands on. Sensible limits are built in: the app won't push you past a safe rate of loss or below a safe minimum of calories, no matter what you pick. APPLE HEALTH, DONE RIGHT Optionally connect Apple Health to see your steps, workouts, active calories, and distance next to your nutrition — and sync your weight. Read-only, never uploaded anywhere, and the app works fully without it. TRACK MORE THAN FOOD • Water tracker with a daily goal • Weight log with trend chart and goal line • Progress charts: calories, activity, streaks • Streak protection — one gentle nudge before a streak breaks • Daily notes, calendar history, CSV export • Home Screen widgets PRIVATE BY DESIGN Everything you log stays on your device. No account. If you use AI Photo Scan, the photo is analyzed and discarded — never stored, never used to train anything, never linked to you. A couple of small banner ads keep the app free; they are never targeted using your data, and nothing about your food, weight, or Apple Health data is ever sent to an advertiser. WHY IT'S FREE Free calorie counter apps usually aren't — they're trials. This one is supported by two small banner ads and nothing else. No subscription prompt, no locked features, no "upgrade to see your macros." Download the calorie tracker free, keep your data on your device, and cancel nothing — because there's nothing to cancel. Free Calorie Counter is not a medical device and does not provide medical advice. Nutrition values and AI estimates are approximate — always verify against packaging when accuracy matters.

On an iPhone running iOS 27 with Apple Intelligence, Plateful estimates your meals on the device itself. The photograph is read where it was taken and is never uploaded. Food logging asks for something unusually personal: what you eat, when, how much, and a picture of it, every day for months. Plateful is built so that record has nowhere to go. HOW A MEAL IS ESTIMATED, AND WHAT EACH PATH SENDS 1. On your iPhone. On iOS 27 with Apple Intelligence, photos, typed meals, and spoken meals are read by the model already on your phone. Nothing is uploaded. No account, no monthly limit, no network needed. 2. Apple's Private Cloud Compute, at your tap. One tap on the confirm card sends a hard-to-call meal to Apple's Private Cloud Compute for a second opinion from a larger model. It runs on Apple's hardware-attested servers, Apple retains nothing, the request is not readable by Apple, and it never passes through Plateful's servers. It needs no account, and it happens only when you press the button. 3. Claude, if you switch it on. Cloud estimation is how an iPhone without Apple Intelligence gets an AI estimate, and Pro subscribers can choose it deliberately for a harder meal. Before anything is sent, the photo is downscaled and stripped of location and camera metadata on the device. Plateful's server hands the meal to the model and keeps nothing: no image storage, no image column, no log of it. Your meals are not used to train models. The switch starts off, and Settings turns it back off. WHAT NEVER LEAVES THE PHONE, IN ANY MODE Your corrections to an estimate. Everything read from Apple Health: weight, workouts, active energy. Your weigh-ins. Your goals. None of it syncs, none of it is sent, and none of it reaches an estimation request. Plateful carries no advertising, no third-party analytics, and no tracking across apps or websites. WHERE THE NUMBERS COME FROM Privacy is worth little if the figures are guesses. The model reads what is on the plate and judges how much there is. The numbers come from a database of roughly 12,900 foods built from USDA FoodData Central, bundled in the app and needing no network. Every saved meal records the reference it was priced from. WHAT YOU NEED On-device photo, text, and voice estimation requires iOS 27 and an iPhone with Apple Intelligence turned on. On iOS 26 with Apple Intelligence, text and voice run on the device and photos are not estimated. On iOS 18 and later without Apple Intelligence, the food database, barcodes, label reading, widgets, Apple Health, and sync all work, and cloud estimation is available. INCLUDED, AT NO COST - Photo, text and voice logging, on device where supported - Barcode scanning and nutrition label reading - A bundled database of roughly 12,900 sourced foods - Calories, protein, carbs, fat, fibre and sodium on every meal - Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets, with one-tap relogging - Apple Health for weight, workouts and active energy - A daily meal quality score, with its reasons - Meal reminders that learn when you actually eat - Progress charts, a weight log, and sync across your devices PLATEFUL PRO - A larger monthly allowance for cloud estimation - Claude as your estimator, for plates you want a stronger read on - Insights: per-meal breakdowns, swaps and weekly patterns - Adaptive calorie targets from your own weight trend - PDF progress reports you can print or send Nothing that was free before Pro moved behind it. Plateful Pro is an auto-renewable subscription, monthly or annual, with a 7-day free trial. Payment is charged to your Apple Account when you confirm the purchase. It renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and you can manage or cancel it in your Apple Account settings. Terms of Use: https://platefulhq.com/terms/ Privacy Policy: https://platefulhq.com/privacy/