How Foodakl’s AI photo calorie counter reads a plate

Foodakl is a food and calorie tracker for iPhone and Android that reads a photo of your meal: it names each dish on the plate, estimates its calories, protein, carbs and fat, and says how sure it is. If something can’t be seen, such as which meat it is or whether it was fried, it asks you one question. Photo reading is part of Foodakl Premium: 7 days free, no card.

From the shutter to your day

Foodakl takes a meal from a photo to a logged record in six steps.

1. One photo of the whole plate

You fit the plate in the frame and take the photo. Foodakl reads the whole plate at once, drinks included, so there is nothing to search for and nothing to type. By default the photo is read as soon as you take it. If you would rather look at the plate first, More → Camera and analysis can hold photos until you tap Analyse.

2. Each item is named and sized on its own

Foodakl does not give you one number for the plate. It names each item it can see, such as the rice, the curry, the salad and the drink. It judges a portion for each one in everyday units, like pieces, cups or fractions of the plate, then estimates that item’s calories, protein, carbs and fat.

Brackets drawn over your photo show what it found and where, so you can see what the reading looked at. Where it can judge them, it also shows how an item was cooked, such as fried, grilled or steamed. Names and portions come back in your language, in any of Foodakl’s 16 languages. See the languages.

3. Each estimate is a range, with how sure it is

Every figure is an estimate, so Foodakl shows a range beside its best guess, such as about 650 kcal (520–820). Each item also gets a confidence of high, medium or low, with a short reason in plain words, like “sauce hides the quantity”. The meal’s total adds up its items, and its range adds up the same way. If you would rather see a single figure, switch off Show calorie ranges in More → Units and language.

4. If something can’t be seen, it asks one question

Some things a photo can’t settle: what is inside a closed sandwich or dumpling, whether a curry is chicken or paneer, whether a dish was fried or grilled, whether a coffee has sugar in it.

When the answer would change the estimate noticeably, Foodakl asks one question and offers two to four answers you can tap, plus “something else…” if you would rather say it in your own words. Your answer counts as a fact about the food, and the plate is estimated again with it. If the photo already answers the question, or the answer would not change much, Foodakl stays quiet.

5. Correct a name or a portion and the totals update

Tap the meal, then the item. You can rename it, change its portion, split it in two or remove it, and the totals update. If the photo missed something, type it into Add a detail, for example “also had a samosa”, and the plate is read again with that fact. If you often change the same food by about the same amount, Foodakl offers that adjustment on your next reading of it. It never applies it by itself.

6. The meal lands in your day

Foodakl files the meal as breakfast, lunch, dinner or a snack, or as a drink when everything in the photo is one, judging from the plate first and the time of day second. Its calories, protein, carbs and fat join your day’s totals, next to your daily target. The photo and the reading stay in your history and calendar, and you can export your whole record as a spreadsheet, a JSON file or a PDF.

Menus, nutrition labels and packaging

Foodakl reads more than plates.

• A nutrition label, or packaging with the figures printed on it. Foodakl copies the printed figures for one serving instead of estimating them, then asks how many servings you ate. The item says it was read from the label, and it has no confidence gauge, because nothing was judged.
• A menu. Foodakl lists the dishes it can read, each with an estimate for one restaurant portion and a wide range, and logs nothing, because you have not eaten it yet. It never ranks the dishes or calls one a better choice.
• A photo that is not food. Foodakl says so in one friendly line.

What happens to your photo

The service that reads it is a commercial image-analysis service, reached through Foodakl’s own server. The app on your phone has no key to it and no direct connection to it. It receives a reduced copy of the photo and nothing that identifies you. What comes back is text and numbers: names, portions and estimates.

Your record lives on your phone. An optional email account can keep an encrypted copy of your numbers, never your photographs. The privacy policy has the full detail.

When there is no photo

Foodakl still works without a photo: you can describe a meal, or search the library.

Describe it (Premium)

Type what you ate in your own words, such as a meal you have already finished, and Foodakl reads the description the way it reads a photo: each item named, each portion sized, calories and macros as a range, with a confidence. You choose when you ate it, from “Just now” to “Last night”, or pick a time. The meal says it came from your description, and because words carry less than a photo does, its estimates are less certain. Nothing is sent while you type. The words are sent once, when you press Read it, and no photo is involved.

Search the library (free)

Foodakl’s library has 2,944 dishes from 41 kitchens. You can log from it by search, or from your own usuals, on every plan. Search runs on your phone, so it works without a connection. The figures are reference numbers for a typical serving. Browse the dishes.

Without Premium

Photos you take are still saved with the meal, and you can add the numbers from the library or your usuals. Premium adds the reading.

Foodakl is free to use, with no account and no card. Photo reading is part of Foodakl Premium: 7 days free, then $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year. The trial needs no card and doesn’t turn into a subscription on its own; when it ends, the app keeps working for free, without the photo reading. The pricing page has the detail.

Weighing your food

If you weigh your food, Foodakl has a kitchen-scale mode for the meals it reads. Turn on I weigh my food in More → Camera and analysis.

Each item then shows its weight in grams, and the portion buttons step in grams instead of quarters of a serving. Type the number your scale shows and that item’s calories, protein, carbs and fat scale to the weight, on your phone, at once. The item then reads, for example, “185 g · weighed”. You can also weigh the whole plate: enter its weight and every item takes its share, in the proportion the reading saw. If a reading came back without a weight to scale from, Foodakl reads the plate again with your weight as a fact.

A scale settles how much food there is. It can’t see how much oil went into it, so the range scales with the weight and does not disappear. With the setting off, the weight is still there: open an item’s editor and type it.

Why estimates come as ranges

Foodakl shows a range because a photo can’t show everything that decides a dish’s calories. Three things move the numbers most.

• Kitchens differ. Two kitchens cook the same dish differently. The library lists a typical chicken biryani at 650 kcal, with a range of 520 to 820.
• A photo flattens scale. Foodakl judges portions against the plate, the cutlery and anything else in the frame, and you can weigh the food to settle the amount.
• Oil, butter and sauce are often invisible. A photo can’t know how much oil went into the pan, so Foodakl asks how something was cooked when it matters.

Confidence says how sure Foodakl is. High means it could name the item and judge its portion from the photo. Medium means one of those is uncertain. Low means a real guess.

That is why Foodakl calls every number an estimate. It is not a medical device, and it never judges what you eat. Most calorie apps work the other way, by search: see photo-first and search-first tracking.

How changes to the reading are checked

Every change to how Foodakl reads plates is tested against a fixed set of meal photographs before it ships. That way, a change that makes readings worse can be caught before anyone sees it. The written read of your week, Ask your record and describing a meal each have their own fixed set of cases too.

Questions people ask

How does Foodakl count calories from a photo?

Foodakl’s AI looks at the photo, names each item on the plate, judges its portion and estimates its calories, protein, carbs and fat as a range, with a confidence. It adds the items up for the meal, and asks one question if something can’t be seen.

Do I have to type or search to log a meal?

No. You photograph the plate. With no photo, you can describe the meal in your own words (Premium) or log it by search from the library (free).

What if Foodakl gets a plate wrong?

Rename the item, change its portion, split it or remove it, or answer its question, and the totals update. You can also add a detail the photo missed, such as “also had a samosa”.

What happens to my photo?

The original photo stays on your phone. A smaller copy is sent to be read; Foodakl never stores it, and the service that reads it keeps requests for a limited time, only to detect abuse. Never used to train AI.

Can I weigh my food in Foodakl?

Yes. Turn on “I weigh my food” in More, under Camera and analysis. Each item then shows its weight in grams, you can type what your kitchen scale says, and the item’s figures scale to match.

Why does Foodakl show a range instead of one number?

A photo can’t show how much oil went into the pan, how a dish was made or how much food there really is, so Foodakl shows a range beside its best guess and says how sure it is.

Is Foodakl a medical device?

No. Foodakl helps you understand what you ate. If you need precise intake for a medical condition, work with a qualified professional.