Top 5 FREE Nutrition Apps for Your Smartphone
Today, cell phones aren’t just devices we use for making calls. No, technology has gone far beyond that. For many, they’re our alarm clock, our daily planner, our radio, our weatherman, our personal computer, and much, much more.
So why can’t they also be an aid in eating healthier? The answer: they can! With the arrival of smartphones and the thousands of applications (apps) that are available for them it was only a matter of time before some health conscious techies put together some fabulous nutrition apps. And while there are TONS of great nutrition apps out there, here are [NL]’s top 5 FREE apps that delivered the most “bang without the buck.”
1. Fooducate by Fooducate, LTD. (www.fooducate.com)
This app made the top of our list for a multitude of reasons. For starters, it allows you to scan a product barcode to see product highlights, both good and bad. From there you can select better alternatives by comparing the nutrition information Fooducate analyzes and makes available to you including whether a product has excessive sugar, trans fat, additives and preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, food colorings, and confusing serving sizes. Better yet, the Fooducate app was developed by dietitians and concerned parents and has no influence from food manufacturers, supplement companies, specific diets, or any other agency.
Other Features…
- available for iPhone and Android
- barcode scanner
- over 160,000 products analyzed and growing
- analyzes both nutrition labels and ingredients lists of products
2. Calorie Counter by MyFitnessPal, LLC (www.myfitnesspal.com)
This app is a close second with plenty of terrific features that make it much more than a simple calorie counter. It has the single largest food database of any Android app with over 750,000 foods and counting. It also allows for food and exercise entry so you can keep track of your progress in both areas. For food specifically, it calculates calories and all the major nutrients like fats, carbs, protein, sugar, fiber, and cholesterol and can even store and remember foods you’ve eaten for easy access.
Other Features…
- available on iPhone and Android
- barcode scanner
- recipe calculator (enter your own recipes to get a nutrient analysis)
3. TheCarrot by Health Analytic Services, INC. (www.thecarrot.com)
This particular app is more of an “all-inclusive” type that helps you keep track of many health aspects but its nutrition “tracker” component is terrific as well, providing in-depth nutritional and caloric information. What really makes this app stand out is its ability to incorporate many areas of your life that effect your health and track them so you can reinforce good behaviors and make changes to ones that are effecting you negatively.
Other Features…
- available on iPhone only
- multiple “trackers” (exercise, medications, pregnancy, blood sugar, sleep, and more)
- can enter notes and add photos to trackers for further reinforcement
4. Lose It! by FitNow (www.loseit.com)
Lose It! is an app that focuses on weight loss (as its name implies) but also provides you with the ability to set goals and establish daily calories budgets as well as record your food and exercise. Like the other apps, it also has the ability to analyze your food and track nutrients like fat, carbs, and protein. And if your food isn’t in their database, you can add new foods yourself.
Other Features…
- available on the iPhone only
- email or print detailed reports directly from you iPhone
- works with or without a network connection
- simple interface
5. Restaurant Nutrition by Foundation HealthCare Network (www.healthyandfitcommunities.com)
This one is a great guide when eating out and can help you choose healthier options in a pinch. Users can look up nutrition information from over 100 popular restaurants and over 15,000 food items. You can also journal your eating habits to track your food items, calories, and other nutritional information. Some reviews mention outdated menus and inaccurate calorie counts for some food items but as a general guide to help you choose better options, even at fast food restaurants, it does the job.
Other Features…
- available on iPhone and Android
- allows you to hide menu items with selected food allergies
- map feature allows you to find nearby restaurants
WHATS YOUR APP-INION?
Know of some other great free nutrition apps out there? Have you tried some of the ones mentioned above? Let us know what you think and give us your personal review with a comment.
Nutrition Lately 
I’m a big fan of LoseIt; I use the app and/or website every day. Some of my favorite aspects are the simple interface, robust food catalog, ability to duplicate prior meals & create my own recipes.
They’ve recently started working with Fitbit, so those little gadgets will automatically upload activity information to LoseIt, and then LoseIt will adjust your calorie budget accordingly. I don’t have a Fitbit myself, but it sounds intriguing.
My one complaint is that the reports are too simplistic. The standard carb/fat/protein info is fine, but for a nutrition nerd like me, I want more detail (am I getting enough B12? what are the best sources of zinc among my most-eaten foods?).
Fitbit does sound intriguing. I think Lose It! has many great features, I thought the ability to create your own recipes was one of the best as well.
I use Loseit myself. I track what I eat from breakfast to my midday snack most days to see what I have left for dinner. It is really helpful and the feature that allows you create your own food is handy. Nice article, Rob!
Thanks Elise,
Yeah, Lose It! has a lot of great features and is definitely a handy app for your smartphone.
I found a great Nutrition Search app called “Nutrition Data” by StarApps. The UI is very clean and easy to use. Only on Android it seems at this stage.
Thank you for the comment William. We’ll have to check that app out! Have you tried any of the apps we mentioned? If so, what do you think?
I personally use MyNetDiary. You can track your calorie intake and burnt calories through exercise but, besides that, it analyzes your food intake so as to check whether you’ve eaten too much salt, not enough fiber etc. Also, it gives you a weekly analyzis where you can check the amount of vitamins you take, and if you are lacking any. It’s pretty good.
Thanks for the comment Tony. There are SO many good apps out there, we’ll have to check that one out!
What is a good app to track calories and weight gain in pregnancy?
A great FREE app for pregnancy is I’m Expecting. This allows you to monitor your weight, however, I don’t believe it can track your calories. Ultimately, during pregnancy your overall weight gain is the more important of the two to follow as you want to be sure you are gaining adequately. Here’s a link to the app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.medhelp.iamexpecting&hl=en
Nutrition Pro Manager is the ultimate tool for Android to calibrate the best diet and significantly improve your nutrition knowledge.
See the link for more info:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=it.smh17.nutrition.pro.manager
also checkout the nutri facts app with really awesome UI at http://www.foodfacts.co/
Thanks Alex, appreciate the comment and we’ll check that out!
Do any of these apps analyze for sugars (ie sucrose, lactose, maltose, fructose, glucoase) and starch? It doesn’t appear so, but hard to tell and hard to find out. Thanks,
anne
Hi Anne,
Great question. While each of them does provide information of sugar content they do not break them down to individual sugars such as maltose, lactose, etc. To see if these are included you would need to look at the ingredient list. These are provided with most of these apps.
I would recommend: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=pl.szymonwojtowicz.tabele_dietetyczne
Thank you for the comment Szymon. Is this your app?
Yes, this is my app.
Great! We will have to check it out!
Hi guys, you can check out this site which has good nutrition apps for android http://www.androidfitness.net/apps-nutrition
Thanks for your comment Vaselin. We will check it out. Any apps in particular you like from this site?
Thank you for your reviews. I selected MyFitnessPal.com. I thought I had to enter each food item myself until I read your article. I was so glad to find out I could search for items. It even has some of the items my work stocks in the vendor machines – Cranberry Walnut salad was an exact match. It is nice to know it is so highly rated.
You’re very welcome Lara. We are glad you found it helpful. With so many nutrition apps out there it can be challenging to navigate and decide which one is right for you – glad we could assist!
I was trying to find an app to apply to my phone couldn’t find one.
Hi Valarie, each of the apps mentioned are available on both Android and iPhone. What type of smart phone device do you have?
Hi Rob,
Great list of nutrition apps. Going to try Calorie Counter to increase my weight.
Glad you found this article helpful Arafa and thanks for commenting!
Do you know of any applications that will let you enter food from a label & it will calculate how many starches, protein, & fats you are using? I don’t want percentages am looking for figures?
Good question Rosemarie, each of these apps can break down the nutrients from the food you use into grams (g). If you wanted to convert those into carb (starch), protein, or fat servings you’d need to then use whatever conversion factor for a single “serving” for each of those would provide. For example, a carb serving is typically 15 g of carb, if your food item had 30 g of carb that would = 2 carb (starch) servings. Hope this helps!
Do any of these apps calculate nutrient breakdown (i.e., protein, fat, sugar, carbs, etc..and maybe even vitamin percentages) for free? The last time I poked around, you had to upgrade to get more than very basic information. Thanks for this great article!
Hi Melissa, thank you for the question. Each of these apps provide a breakdown of some sort. For example, Fooducate does a great job of breaking down and showing you macronutrient content (carb, protein, fat) along with additional categories like added sugars. For more detailed analysis (like vitamin and mineral breakdown) you’d need to upgrade to their pro version.
I use Calorie Counter by My Fitness Pal. Its a great app amd I use it a lot for barcode scanning, but I’m having problems with tracking homemade meals. It lets you add recipes, but you have figure out the nutritional value yourself and then enter it in, which I do not like. I want an app that wil automatically calculate the nutrion facts of homemade meals based on the ingredients. So if I make a custom Pasta Pot dish and I type in x quantity of carrots, zucchini, red potatoes etc, I want the app to tell me the calories and major nutrients based on whatever raw vegetables or spices that I include. What app out there is capable of this so I dont have to manually estimate nutrients? Thanks
Hi Mike, appreciate the comment. There are TONS of helpful apps out there but unfortunately, custom meals will always need some manual input due to the fact that the app can’t anticipate the ingredients or portions used until you enter them. Most apps allow you to save homemade meals, however, so the next time you won’t have to re-enter all the info.
I’m looking for a free app for my I phone to monitor my daily nutritional intake including calorie, sodium,potassium and others. Can you provide me with information as to where the apps are
Fooducate isn’t available for android 😦 I tried to download it
I’m sorry, these apps are useless to me. Some of us already have a firm grasp on reading and using labels as well as how diet, exercise, and lifestyle effects results. That is why we cook and prepare over 90% of our home’s diet from fresh whole ingredients. That being said. I’m looking for an app that’s ONLY function is to take in a list of ingredients, and give me a complete nutritional breakdown of what’s in the recipe I’ve chosen to prepare. I want to know down to the vitamin and mineral content, how much fiber there is and the ratio of soluble to insoluble, what fats are there and how much is saturated, unsaturated, omega rich, etc. I have 3 people who all have different medical diets to follow, but share meals regularly. I want to safely make sure each gets what they need without sabotaging the other diets. I need to know all the way down to the micronutrients in food. I want to know this primarily for my use which is what the final numbers are after I’ve made a homemade meal from fresh ingredients. You’re welcome to expand the usability by adding the myriad of premade crap in all the markets and restaurants too. I just want my loved ones to get the most out of their restricted lives and allow them all to keep the simple pleasure of good wholesome foods in their diets. Thank you, Karen
I have used fitbit and my fitness pal and had problems signing into my fitness pal app.also fitbit doesn’t track my steps,miles or sleep like it is supposed to
Three top Android Apps for scanning round-labels on bottles and cans?