We are excited to roll out a major update for us Meal scanning function.* With photo uploading you can now streamline your food tracking experience like never before. With this innovation, we add the choice to scan meals in real time or at any time, for an even more integrated and intelligent system.**
*The Meal Scan feature is currently only available to Premium users. Upgrade to a 30-day free Premium trial.
**Photo upload currently only available via the iOS app.
What’s new?
Premium and Premium+ users can now enjoy an even smarter, more flexible Meal Scan experience. Use your phone’s camera to scan your food in real time. It’s easier than ever to keep your food diary up to date, on your terms.
Now you can also easily register a meal by uploading a photo later. Meal Scan now has more accurate detection, so whether you’re dining out or just want to stay at the table, you can quickly take a photo and log in at your convenience.
Step-by-step guide to meal scan
Here’s a quick overview of the smooth, new Meal Scanning process:
- Preparing and serving: Prepare your meal and place it on your plate.
- Ready, set, scan: Open Meal Scan and point your camera at your plate before you get started. Do you want to stay in the flow of the meal? Take a quick photo and later upload it to Meal Scan to capture your meal. (You know you took that photo for social media!)
- Smart detection: Meal Scan gets to work and identifies and matches foods from our extensive database.
- Select and add: Confirm your meal items from the scan results or use the search function to add extras.
- Review and edit: Review your selections and adjust portion sizes as necessary.
- Log it: Satisfied with your input? Record your entire meal in one tap!
For a tip: Meal Scan works best for meals where all ingredients are clearly visible. For mixed and blended foods, such as soups and smoothies, you can try the stem log.
Our goal with these updates is not only to improve the Meal Scan, but also to make healthy living effortless for our community.
Try the new and improved Meal Scan feature now
Originally published on December 2, 2020:
Phones have come a long way. They’ve actually come this fartalkon them is not the reason why your phone is by your side 24/7. Can we ever go back to not having a camera at our fingertips? We don’t think so. That’s why, if someone tells you that you can log your food on MyFitnessPal just by hovering your phone’s camera over it, you should believe him or her.
Chances are you use your smartphone several times a day to enter meals into the MyFitnessPal app. In fact, our data shows that users log more than 6,000 meals per minute! So you probably log in without thinking too much about it. Just type in your food and select a match or tap your favorite food and go about your day — like it’s second nature. But we are here to tell you about an easier way, like scanning your food more easily.
As you’re typing “blueberries,” it’s probably occurred to you that it would be great if you could simply take a photo of your blueberries to record this antioxidant-rich fruit. Well, at MyFitnessPal we’ve done even better. You don’t have to take a photo and wait for it to be processed and then log your food; instead, you simply hover your camera over the food so the app can immediately identify it, allowing you to verify and log in in no time.
Yes, visual foraging for food has arrived.Get to know the Meal Scan.
BENEFITS OF MEAL SCAN
At MyFitnesspal we’re always looking for innovative ways to make your life better – and your ability to log easily and accurately; that’s where Meal Scan comes into the picture.
“We know that when people jump on the MFP there’s no magic pixie dust in the app so you suddenly reach your goals. You still have to do the work,” says Michael La Guardia, senior vice president of product for MyFitnessPal. “So we try to make logging as effortless as possible. We want to help more people be aware of their diet and change their habits successfully.”
Powered by Passio, which offers patented scanning technology for real-time food recognition and nutritional intelligence, this new feature will shave minutes off your logging time, and its ultimate benefits of learning more about your macrosnutrition, habits, etc., more seamlessly than ever. Even better, it provides a verified nutritional result, so it’s not only quick and easy; it is also accurate.
- Find the right food faster
No more typing to search for each individual food. Meal Scan uses a visual food recognition system to provide reliable results in seconds. - Track foods more consistently
Meal Scan is so simple, you’ll want to use it every day. Good thing, because keeping track of what you eat is the best way to achieve your goals.
HOW TO USE MEAL SCAN
All MyFitnessPal Premium users with language preference set to English can access this feature. You just open the MyFitnessPal app on your phone, go to the log screen (or click here!), and tap ‘Scan a meal’.
Point your phone’s camera, zoom in on the food item, and hover it over your food for a few seconds. You don’t have to take a photo. Please note that although you grant MFP access to your camera, the Meal Scan feature does not store or upload data from your phone’s camera.
The library then populates verified suggestions, and you can then add them directly to your calendar.
And if you want to log multiple foods, simply move the camera over the dishes to record the entire spread. Take it from us, your fingers will thank you.
BEST MATCH ACCURACY
Although accuracy improves with more frequent use, the feature can already successfully identify thousands of foods. If the correct food is not identified, a list of suggestions will appear for you to approve.
It’s all about using technology to remove barriers to success.
“Logging is at the heart of what we do, so we will always be looking for ways to improve that,” says La Guardia.
cget away Meal scan now.
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