Calorie Counter by fatsecret

What it does

Calorie Counter by fatsecret is a comprehensive nutrition and weight management app. It allows users to track their daily food intake, log exercise, and monitor their weight progress against set goals. Beyond simple tracking, it features a robust recipe database and a social community to share progress and find motivation.

Where it shines

fatsecret excels by integrating utility with community. The decision to make the social feed the default home screen (02:11) is a strong choice. It immediately immerses the user in a supportive environment, providing inspiration and reducing the intimidation of starting a new health journey. Another highlight is the powerful recipe filtering system (02:32). Users can drill down by calories, prep time, and even macronutrient percentages, which caters effectively to more advanced users. Finally, the app’s use of gamification, like the badge system that guides users to discover features (05:41), is a clever way to encourage exploration without intrusive tutorials.

UX highlights

Community-first design: The app defaults to a social feed, fostering engagement and providing immediate social proof.
Advanced filtering: The recipe section offers granular filters for calories, time, and macros, a powerful tool for users with specific dietary needs (02:34).
Gamified feature discovery: Instead of a tutorial, a "Starter Badges" system (05:46) prompts users to try core features like weighing in by showing them what's locked.
Barcode scanner fallback: When a barcode scan fails (12:10), the app prompts the user to manually search for the product, providing a seamless recovery path.
Meal saving: Users can save a combination of logged foods as a custom meal (11:16), speeding up future logging for recurring meals.
Flexible reminders: The app allows users to set multiple, customizable reminders for meals and weigh-ins with specific days and times (10:34).

Monetization & growth

Monetization is handled through soft paywalls for premium features. The app doesn't present a paywall during onboarding. Instead, it surfaces upgrade prompts when a user tries to access a premium feature, such as viewing premium recipes (03:20) or using the Smart Assistant (12:02). The paywall itself (03:31) presents three subscription tiers (1, 3, and 12 months), with a discount highlighted on the annual plan to create urgency. This contextual approach ties the value of subscribing directly to a specific user action.

Who it’s for

This app is well-suited for individuals who are serious about detailed nutrition tracking and value a sense of community. Its comprehensive feature set appeals to both beginners needing guidance and experienced trackers who want to fine-tune their macronutrient intake. The social feed makes it a good fit for users seeking motivation, accountability, and shared experiences on their weight loss journey.

Notes & opportunities

While functionally rich, some parts of the UI feel slightly dated, like the full-screen green background for weigh-ins (05:58). The initial onboarding is also quite long, though broken into small steps. The community feed is a strength, but it also creates opportunities for moderation challenges and could feel overwhelming for users who just want a simple utility. Refining the balance between the social and personal tracking aspects could further improve the user experience.