AI Calorie Tracker by Yazio

What it does

Yazio is a health and fitness app designed to help users achieve their dietary goals, whether it's losing weight, maintaining it, or building muscle. At its core, it's a calorie and nutrition tracker that allows users to log meals, track water intake, monitor physical activities, and follow intermittent fasting schedules. The app uses an extensive initial quiz to create a personalized plan and provides tools like a barcode scanner, a recipe database, and progress analytics to support the user's journey.

Where it shines

Yazio excels at making the potentially tedious task of tracking feel engaging and supported. The onboarding process, while long, effectively builds a sense of a truly personalized plan (03:53). The app's 'Smart Adding' feature (06:25) is a standout, proactively suggesting that users save frequently logged food combinations as a single meal, which reduces friction over time. Furthermore, the intermittent fasting tracker is comprehensive, offering various plans and clear timers that visually distinguish between eating and fasting periods (18:27).

UX highlights

The app uses a friendly mascot to deliver positive reinforcement throughout the onboarding quiz (e.g., 00:23), making a long process feel more encouraging.
A unique 'tap and hold' gesture is used for goal commitment (00:32), creating a stronger sense of personal investment than a simple button tap.
Small gamified animations like 'Vitamin Boost!' (05:53) and 'Protein Power!' (06:18) appear when logging healthy foods, providing delightful micro-feedback.
The recipe section features robust filtering capabilities, allowing users to sort by diet, preparation method, ingredients, and more, making it easy to find suitable meals (17:15).
The ability to create custom meals and recipes is straightforward, with clear steps for adding ingredients and instructions (07:11).
The main dashboard provides a clean, at-a-glance summary of daily progress, including calories, macros, and water intake, without feeling cluttered (05:26).

Monetization & growth

The app introduces its premium subscription, Yazio PRO, immediately after the personalized plan is created. The first paywall (04:24) presents two options (12 months and 3 months) without a free trial. A particularly clever growth tactic appears if the user closes this initial offer: a gamified 'spin-the-wheel' modal (04:30) pops up, offering a chance to win a 75% discount. This leads to a more aggressive offer, creating urgency and a sense of having won an exclusive deal. PRO features are also locked throughout the app with a clear icon, such as in the food rating section (05:58).

Who it’s for

Yazio is for individuals who want a structured and data-driven approach to their nutrition and fitness. Its detailed tracking features appeal to users serious about monitoring their intake, from calories and macros to specific vitamins and minerals. The inclusion of intermittent fasting trackers and a vast recipe database also caters to those looking for specific dietary lifestyles, not just simple calorie counting. The friendly design and gamified elements make it accessible for beginners, while the detailed analytics serve more advanced users.

Notes & opportunities

While the onboarding is thorough, its length could be a point of friction for some users, potentially leading to drop-off before they reach the core app. The app requests a rating very early in the user journey (02:45), before the user has had a chance to experience the main features, which might feel premature. Additionally, while the app integrates with Apple Health, the sheer number of permissions requested at once (02:04) could be overwhelming. Breaking these requests into smaller, context-specific prompts might improve the user experience.