The full desk
Roundups, head-to-head comparisons, plain-English explainers and the occasional logging experiment. Newest first.
Five trackers you can run indefinitely without a card. PlateLens is the best overall — the only one with a verified accuracy figure and a free tier you can live on. Cronometer, MacroFactor and MyFitnessPal are excellent specialist instruments that ask more of you. Updated 11 September 2026.
Sep 11, 2026I pointed my camera at messy real meals across six AI calorie counters to see which photo-first app actually gets the numbers right. Here's my honest ranking, with best-for and not-for calls on each.
Jun 12, 2026If you've never tracked macros before, the best app isn't the most powerful one — it's the one with the least friction so you actually open it on day 8. Here's my honest beginner ranking, with 'best for' and 'not for' calls on each.
Jun 12, 2026I logged real meals across eight nutrition, calorie and macro tracking apps for weeks. Here's which one actually fits which person — with honest 'best for' and 'not for' calls on each.
Jun 12, 2026I'm a tester, not a true believer. So do AI calorie counters actually work? Mostly yes — but only the ones that reason about hidden ingredients and ask you to confirm. Here's where photo logging breaks, and how to tell a good one from a lazy one.
Jun 12, 2026I used MyFitnessPal for years, hit the paywall wall one too many times, and quit logging entirely. Then I gave an AI photo tracker 30 days. A week-by-week, honest account of what got easier — and what didn't.
Jun 12, 2026A whole week of meals I actually cooked — stir-fries, a curry, homemade soup, leftovers — and not one had a barcode. Here's how the database apps fell apart and how an AI photo tracker handled food that doesn't exist in any database.
Jun 12, 2026MyFitnessPal moved its most useful features behind Premium, so I tested the alternatives people are actually switching to. Here's my honest, first-person take on five — with ratings, 'best for / not for', and pricing.
Jun 12, 2026Two apps every roundup keeps crowning, going head-to-head. I logged real meals in both for weeks. Here's which one fits which person — AI photo logging vs adaptive macro coaching, called honestly.
Jun 12, 2026