Lose It! App Review: Still Worth It? (2026)

Lose It! is a familiar, database-first calorie tracker with a free plan and a paid Premium tier. As of October 27, 2026, its US App Store listing lists calorie tracking, a weight-loss plan and community support as free features, and puts Photo Meal Logging, AI Voice logging, the Barcode Scanner, advanced tracking (including macros and nutrients), meal planning, diet plans and fitness-app syncs under Premium. That is a bigger change than most older reviews describe: the free plan is still a working calorie diary, but many of the shortcuts people associate with Lose It now need Premium. Amy Food Journal is a paid alternative built around typing, saying or photographing a meal instead of searching for each food. If you want something free, see our guide to free calorie tracking apps with no subscription.

How this review was checked: we compared Lose It’s current US App Store listing, its help-center articles and its website. We did not run a timed or accuracy test of the app, so this page does not give speed or accuracy figures. Plans and prices can differ by country and by account, so check the listing in your own App Store before you subscribe.

What Is Lose It?

Lose It! has been around since 2008 and runs on iPhone, Android and the web. Its approach has stayed consistent: give you a daily calorie budget from your goal and a simple food diary to log against it. Where Cronometer focuses on nutrient detail and MyFitnessPal on a large connected platform, Lose It aims to keep the daily diary simple. If you are new to calorie counting, our calorie counting for beginners guide covers the fundamentals before you start.

Lose It Features

The food database is the foundation. Lose It’s US App Store listing describes “a global food database of 56+ million items and recipes.” Like any large database, it mixes many sources, so check that an entry’s serving size and calories look right before you rely on it. For restaurant lookups, our calorie guides for Starbucks, Chipotle, Chick-fil-A and Dunkin’ are built from each chain’s published nutrition.

Barcode scanning is no longer a free feature you can count on. The US listing puts the Barcode Scanner under Premium, and Lose It’s scanner-transition notice says barcode and nutrition-label scanning are moving into Premium, with access differing between accounts during the transition.

Lose It also offers photo and voice logging. The listing describes Photo Meal Logging (“Log meals by taking a picture”) and AI Voice, with the example “I had 2 eggs, toast with butter and jam.” Both are listed under Premium. Like any photo or voice estimate, check the foods and portions it picks before you save.

For devices, the listing names syncs with fitness trackers and apps such as Fitbit, Garmin, Withings scales and Google Fit as a Premium feature. Separately, Lose It’s Apple Health support page says Apple Health syncing is available to all iOS users. If you use an Apple Watch, our guide on Apple Watch calorie tracking accuracy explains what those exercise numbers can and can’t tell you.

Meal planning and meal targets are listed under Premium. Lose It’s help center says all users can manually create recipes, divide them into servings and reuse them. Community support, including friends and groups, is listed as free.

Lose It Pricing: Free vs Premium

The free plan is a real calorie diary, not a time-limited trial. Premium is an auto-renewing subscription, and the US App Store lists several Premium purchase options at different prices. Prices vary by country, plan length and offer, so this page does not quote one annual price.

Feature (US App Store listing, October 2026)	Lose It Free	Lose It Premium
Calorie tracking for food and exercise	Yes	Yes
Weight-loss plan and calorie budget	Yes	Yes
Community support (friends and groups)	Yes	Yes
Manual recipes (help center)	Yes	Yes
Apple Health sync (help center)	Yes	Yes
Barcode Scanner	Moving to Premium; varies by account	Yes
Photo Meal Logging	No	Yes
AI Voice logging	No	Yes
Advanced tracking (macros, nutrients, health metrics)	No	Yes
Meal planning, meal targets and diet plans	No	Yes
Fitness tracker and app syncs	No	Yes

For context, Amy Food Journal costs $9.99/month or $99.99/year in the US after a free 3-day trial, with every feature included. MyFitnessPal’s plan comparison keeps food logging, recipes and macro viewing free and puts barcode scanning, Meal Scan and voice logging in Premium.

What Lose It Does Well

The free plan still covers the core job: a daily calorie budget, food and exercise logging, weight tracking and community features, on iPhone, Android and the web. For anyone who wants to try calorie counting before paying, that is a reasonable place to start. This is why it appears on our list of the best food journal apps.

The diary is straightforward. You search the database, pick an entry, set the serving size and confirm. That workflow is familiar to anyone who has used a database-first tracker.

Platform coverage is another strength. Lose It works on Android and the web as well as iPhone, which many newer apps, including Amy Food Journal, do not.

Where Lose It Falls Short

The biggest change for free users is that convenience features have moved into Premium. If you want to scan barcodes, log from a photo, log by voice or set detailed macro targets, plan to pay or check what your own account allows.

The free diary is still a search-select-adjust workflow. For a mixed meal you search for each part, choose an entry and set each portion. Some people find that fine; others find it is the reason they stop logging. AI-powered calorie counters let you describe or photograph the whole meal at once, but they estimate, so you still need to check the result.

Nutrient detail is a Premium feature, and Lose It is not built around micronutrients the way Cronometer is. If you need vitamin and mineral detail, see our Cronometer comparison.

As with any large database, some entries will be wrong or use odd serving sizes. Restaurant and international dishes are where it pays to double-check.

Lose It vs Amy Food Journal

Lose It and Amy Food Journal take different approaches. Lose It is a database-first diary with a free plan and a Premium tier, available everywhere. Amy Food Journal is a paid iPhone app where you write, say or photograph what you ate and it estimates the calories and macros for you to check.

Feature	Lose It!	Amy Food Journal
Primary input	Database search (free); photo and AI voice (Premium)	Text, voice, photo, barcode and menu scan
Food database	56M+ items and recipes (App Store listing)	AI estimates, plus barcode lookups
Free plan	Yes	No (3-day free trial)
Pricing	Free; Premium varies by region and offer	$9.99/mo or $99.99/yr (US)
Platforms	iOS, Android, web	iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch (no Android or web)
Barcode scanning	Premium (moving; varies by account)	Included
Device syncs	Apple Health (all iOS users); fitness trackers and apps (Premium)	Apple Health
Community	Friends and groups	None

Lose It wins on reach and price of entry. It’s free to start, works on Android and the web, and has community features. If you’re not sure calorie tracking is for you, it lets you find out without paying.

Amy Food Journal is built for people who quit because entering each food felt like a chore. You can type “grilled salmon with asparagus and brown rice,” say it, or take a photo, and Amy estimates the whole meal for you to confirm or adjust. We have not timed the two apps side by side, so we don’t claim a specific time saving. For a deeper side-by-side, see our Lose It vs MyFitnessPal vs Amy comparison.

Amy Food Journal costs $9.99/month or $99.99/year in the US after a free 3-day trial. It runs on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, with no Android or web app. It has no community features and includes every feature in the subscription with no ads.

Lose It vs MyFitnessPal

This is the comparison most people searching for a Lose It review want. Both are database-first trackers with free plans, and both now put barcode scanning, photo logging and voice logging behind their paid tiers.

The differences are in the details. MyFitnessPal’s plan comparison keeps macro viewing and percentage-based macro goals free, while Lose It’s US listing puts advanced tracking, including macros, under Premium. MyFitnessPal’s US App Store listing advertises more than 20.5 million foods and connections to more than 40 apps and devices. Lose It is often described as simpler to use, but that is a matter of taste. For a detailed look at MyFitnessPal, see our MyFitnessPal alternative review.

Who Should Use Lose It?

If you are trying calorie tracking for the first time and want to test it without paying, Lose It’s free plan is a sensible starting point. Pair it with our calorie deficit calculator to set a daily target.

If you’re on Android or want a web app for logging at a desk, Lose It works across all three. Many newer alternatives are Apple-only. Amy Food Journal runs on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch; Macs with Apple silicon (M1 or later, macOS 15.6+) can run the iPad version, which Apple lists as “Not verified for macOS,” so it is not a native Mac app. It has no Android or web version.

If you have tried calorie tracking before and quit because searching for every food felt like a chore, a database-first diary may not solve that. Amy Food Journal lets you write a meal in one sentence, and you can try it free for 3 days to see if that changes your consistency. If you need detailed micronutrient data, Cronometer is the better fit.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Lose It! really free?

Partly. The free plan lets you track calories for food and exercise, follow a weight-loss plan, use community features and create recipes. The US App Store listing puts the barcode scanner, photo meal logging, AI voice logging, advanced tracking (including macros), meal planning and fitness-app syncs under Premium, and Lose It says scanner access is moving to Premium and can differ by account. See our list of free calorie tracking apps with no subscription for other options.

Is Lose It Premium worth it?

It depends on which features you need. If you want barcode scanning, photo or voice logging, macro targets or fitness-tracker syncs, those are Premium features in the current US listing. Check the price in your own App Store, since it varies by region and offer. If photo or plain-language logging is what you’re after, compare Premium with AI-first apps like Amy Food Journal ($9.99/month or $99.99/year in the US).

How accurate is Lose It’s food database?

We have not tested its accuracy, and we have not found an independent accuracy study of Lose It’s current database. Large databases include entries from many sources, so check that the calories and serving size of an entry match the label or a trusted reference, especially for restaurant and international foods. Read more about how AI calorie counter accuracy compares to traditional database approaches.

Does Lose It work with Fitbit and Garmin?

The US App Store listing names Fitbit, Garmin, Withings scales and Google Fit among the fitness trackers and apps it can connect to, and lists those syncs as a Premium feature. Apple Health syncing is available to all iOS users, according to Lose It’s help center.

How does Lose It compare to MyFitnessPal?

Both are database-first trackers with free plans, and both now charge for barcode scanning, photo logging and voice logging. MyFitnessPal keeps macro viewing free and advertises a larger connected-app ecosystem; Lose It’s US listing puts macro tracking under Premium. We wrote a detailed Lose It vs MyFitnessPal vs Amy comparison for a full breakdown.

Can Lose It track macros for free?

Not fully, according to the current US App Store listing, which puts advanced tracking of macronutrients under Premium. Lose It’s Apple Health help also notes that some custom goal categories, including protein, fat and carbohydrates, need Premium. For a guide on setting macro targets, see our how to track macros guide.

Does Lose It have an Apple Watch app?

Lose It syncs with Apple Health, so Apple Watch exercise data can flow into it. Check the current App Store listing for Apple Watch support before you buy if logging from your wrist matters to you.

Is Lose It safe and private?

Read Lose It’s privacy policy and the App Privacy section of its App Store listing, which shows what data the app says it collects and how it is used. Health data is sensitive, so it’s worth checking before you connect devices.

What is the best alternative to Lose It?

It depends on your priority. If you want to log a whole meal in one sentence or one photo, Amy Food Journal is built for that ($9.99/month or $99.99/year in the US, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, free 3-day trial). If you want deeper nutrition data, Cronometer is the nutrient-detail pick. If you want the broadest connected-app ecosystem, MyFitnessPal remains the widest. See our best food journal apps ranking for a broader comparison.