Introducing the improved meal scanning feature!

 

We’re excited to introduce a significant update to our Meal scanning feature.* Now with photo uploading, you can streamline your food journaling experience like never before. With this innovation, we’re adding the choice of real-time or anytime meal scanning for an even more integrated and intelligent system.**

*The meal scanning feature is currently only available for Premium users. Upgrade to a free 30-day Premium trial.

**Photo upload is currently only available in the iOS app.

What’s new?

Premium and Premium+ customers can now take advantage of an even smarter, more flexible meal scanning experience. Use your phone’s camera to scan food in real time. It’s easier than ever to keep your food journal up to date—on your terms.

Now you can also easily report a meal just by uploading a photo later. Meal Scan now has more accurate detection, so whether you’re dining out or just want to stay present at the table, you can quickly snap a picture and check in at your convenience.

Try it now!

A step-by-step guide to scanning meals

Here’s a quick overview of the smooth new meal scanning process:

1. Preparation and plate: Cook your meal and prepare it on the plate.
2. Ready, set, scan: Open Meal Scan and point the camera at your plate before you dig in. Want to stay on top of the meal? Just snap a quick photo, then upload it to Meal Scan later to record your meal. (You know you took that photo for social media anyway!)
3. Smart detection: Meal scanning goes to work, identifying and matching foods from our extensive database.
4. Select and add: Confirm your meals from the scan results or use the search function to add any extras.
5. Review and Edit: Check your selections, adjust serving sizes if necessary.
6. Note: Are you satisfied with your entries? Record your entire meal with one tap!

For a tip: Meal scanning works best for meals where all ingredients are clearly visible. For mixed and blended foods like soups and smoothies, try voice recording.

Our goal with these updates is not only to improve meal scanning, but also to make healthy living easier for our community.

Try the new and improved meal scanning feature now

---

Originally published on December 2, 2020:

Phones have come a long way. They have come so farconversationthey’re not the reason 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. So if someone tells you that you can log your food on MyFitnessPal just by swiping over your phone’s camera, you should believe them.

Chances are you use your smartphone to log your meals in the MyFitnessPal app multiple times a day. In fact, our data shows that users log more than 6,000 meals per minute! So you probably sign up without thinking too much about it. Simply enter your food and select the appropriate food, or tap your favorite food and get on with your day — like it’s second nature. But we’re here to tell you about an easier way — like scanning food more easily.

It probably occurred to you as you typed “blueberries” that it would be amazing if you could simply snap a photo of your blueberries to document this antioxidant-rich fruit. Well, at MyFitnessPal, we’ve made it one better. There’s no need to take a photo and wait for it to process to then record your food; instead, simply hover over the food and the app will instantly identify it so you can check and report it in no time.

Yes, visual food search has arrived.Say hello to 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 in.

“We know that when people jump on MFP, there’s no magic pixie dust in the app so you suddenly hit your goals. You still have to do the work,” says Michael La Guardia, senior vice president of product for MyFitnessPal. “That’s why we try to make harvesting as easy as possible. We want to help more people to take care of their diet and to successfully change their habits.”

Powered by Passio, which offers patented scanning technology for real-time food recognition and nutrition intelligence, this new feature shaves minutes off your logging time to create a log and its eventual benefits of learning more about your macrosdiet, habits, etc., more impeccable than ever. Even better, it delivers proven food results, so it’s not only quick and convenient; is also true.

• 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 your food more consistently
  Meal scanning is so easy you’ll want to use it every day. Good thing, because watching what you eat is the best way to reach your goals.

Everything MyFitnessPal Premium users with language set to English have access to this feature. You’ll just open the MyFitnessPal app on your phone, go to the logging screen (or click here!), and tap “Scan Meal”.

Point your phone’s camera, zoom in on the food and hover over the food for a few seconds – no need to take a photo. Note that while you will give the MFP access to your camera, the meal scan feature does not save or transfer data from your phone’s camera.

Then the library populates the verified suggestions, and you download them from there by adding them to your journal instantly.

And, if you want to record multiple foods, hover over the dishes to include the entire spread. Take it from us, your fingers will thank you.

Although accuracy improves with more frequent use, this feature can already successfully identify thousands of foods. If it doesn’t identify the right food, it will offer you a list of suggestions to approve.

It’s all about using technology to remove obstacles that stand in the way of success.

“Logging is at the heart of what we do, so we’re always looking for ways to improve it,” says La Guardia.

Check out Meal scan now.

Post Introducing the improved meal scanning feature! appeared first on MyFitnessPal Blog.