For most people, yes. Of the four apps we compared, Cal Plus is the only one with unlimited AI photo, barcode and menu scans, an unlimited AI coach and a full gym workout log, all free and with nothing to set up. We put it side by side with CalFix, Cal AI and MyFitnessPal Premium, prices included, in our best free AI calorie tracker comparison.
Ads. Cal Plus shows occasional short ads instead of charging for scans, and that is the whole business model. Everything else you can buy is optional: going ad-free ($14.99 a year or $34.99 once on calplus.app, a little more inside the app), call credits for voice calls with the coach, and a $0.99 streak restore. No feature is locked behind any of them.
MyFitnessPal put barcode scanning and photo meal scanning behind its Premium plan (about $79.99 a year in the US) and has no AI coach. Cal Plus keeps both kinds of scanning free, adds a free AI coach and a gym workout log, and pays for it with ads. MyFitnessPal still has the bigger verified food database and a web app. Full story in what happened to MyFitnessPal's free version.
Cal AI has no free version: after a 3-day trial, photo and barcode scanning need a subscription. Cal Plus gives unlimited scans, a coach and workout tracking free, with occasional ads instead. See Cal AI free alternatives in 2026.
Yes. Photo, barcode and menu scans have no daily cap and no premium tier. Scan every meal, every day, for free.
Yes, on the ad-free plan. Link your account once and your assistant can coach you on your own meals, workouts, weight, sleep and habits. The connection is read-only and you can disconnect at any time. Setup steps are on Connect Cal Plus to ChatGPT, and the full story is in ChatGPT as your nutrition coach.
Annoying, but totally fixable. Cal Plus checks your purchase every time it opens, so there is no restore button to hunt for. Here's what to do:
Tip: Switched phones or accounts? That's usually the culprit. Still seeing ads? Email contact@calplus.app with the email you paid with and we'll fix it.
Bought on calplus.app? Yes. Sign in with the same Cal Plus account and ad-free works on both iPhone and Android.
Bought on the App Store? No. Apple purchases stay on Apple devices, so to go ad-free on Android you would buy on calplus.app.
Two ways:
Choose a one-time lifetime purchase or a yearly plan — there's no monthly plan. Going ad-free is optional: scanning, tracking, groups, insights and the AI coach stay free forever.
It depends where you bought it:
Heads up: Deleting the app does not cancel a subscription. After you cancel, you keep ad-free until the end of the period you've already paid for. A lifetime purchase has nothing to cancel.
Refunds come from wherever you paid:
Family Sharing is only available on Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, Mac) and is managed entirely by Apple. Cal Plus has no control over Family Sharing settings, eligibility, or access. To set up or manage Family Sharing, go to your Apple ID settings or contact Apple Support. Family Sharing is not available for Android or web purchases.
No food scanner is perfect — a photo can't always tell a chicken wrap from a burrito. The fix takes ten seconds:
You can also tap any ingredient to change its portion, add or remove ingredients, or delete the meal and scan again.
For better scans: good light, food in focus, and let it fill the frame. Packaged food? Use the barcode scanner. Mixed dish hiding under sauce? Use Describe and type it instead.
Not yet. Cal Plus has no importer right now. You can start logging today with a photo, barcode, the food database or Describe. We know this is wanted and it's on our list.
Yes. Go to Settings → Profile → Data Management → Export CSV. You get a spreadsheet file with your profile, food logs, weight history, saved meals and goals, which you can save or share anywhere.
iPhone with iOS 16 or later, and Android phones with Android 8.0 or later. Older phones may open the app but run slowly.
Your meals, weights and goals are stored in the cloud, not on your phone, so reinstalling loses nothing as long as you sign in with the same account.
Still stuck? Email contact@calplus.app with your phone model and OS version and we'll check for known bugs.
Your data is safe in the cloud. It only looks gone because you're signed in to a different account. Sign out and sign back in with the exact same email, Apple ID or Google account you used before and everything reappears.
The one thing stored on the phone itself is your reminders — set those again in Settings → Notifications → Reminders.
Still missing? Email contact@calplus.app with the email on your account and we'll look into it.
Turn on Settings → Appearance → Reduce animations. It switches off blur, motion and vibration effects, which helps a lot on older or low-memory phones. Make sure you're on the latest version too.
Go to Settings → Profile → Connected Apps and turn on Apple Health (iPhone) or Health Connect (Android), then allow the permissions it asks for. You can also swipe left on the Home screen to the Apple Health / Health Connect card.
On Android, the Health Connect app must be installed and the apps that count your steps must be sharing into it. Data can take a few minutes to appear.
Cal Plus counts energy from your health app only once — a run recorded by your watch isn't added again as a workout. If the number still looks high, check whether two apps (say, a watch app and Strava) both write the same activity into Apple Health or Health Connect, and turn one of them off there.
Prefer burned calories not to change your goal at all? Turn off Add burned calories to your goal in Connected Apps.
Yes. Go to Settings → Profile → Connected Apps and turn on Show workouts from Apple Health (or Health Connect). Workouts recorded by other apps then show up in Cal Plus and your coach can see them.
Go to Settings → Notifications → Reminders. Switch off the ones you don't want, change their times, or add your own.
If Cal Plus can't send notifications at all, allow them in your phone's settings:
Log at least one meal a day and your streak grows. Miss a day and it goes back to 0 — your best streak is always saved.
Yes. On iPhone, open Progress, tap your streak and choose Restore. On Android, go to calplus.app/restore-streak. It's a small one-time purchase that sets your streak back to your personal best.
With your email (we send a 6-digit code — no password to remember), with Apple on iPhone, or with Google on iPhone and Android. Use the same one every time so your data and purchases follow you.
Go to Settings → Profile, scroll to the bottom, tap Delete Your Data and type delete to confirm. Everything is removed for good: meals, weights, goals and group activity.
Heads up: If you have a subscription through the App Store or Google Play, cancel it separately — deleting your account doesn't stop the billing.
We share promotions on Instagram @calplus.app now and then. Creators who'd like to work with Cal Plus: email contact@calplus.app with a link to your channel and what you have in mind.
Cal Plus is a free AI-powered nutrition app that helps you track calories, macros, ingredients, additives, and restaurant meals using fast AI meal scanning. The core features of Cal Plus are always free, including scanning, tracking, groups, barcode lookup, and the AI Chat Coach.
Yes. Cal Plus is free and stays free. You can use AI Meal Scanning, Barcode Scanning, Additive Detection, Restaurant Analysis, AI Nutrition Chat Coach, Daily & Weekly Insights, Groups with Friends — all without paying anything. A one-time purchase or annual subscription is optional, but the essential experience is free forever. You can also purchase the ad-free upgrade on our website for a cheaper price.
The Cal Plus AI Chat Coach is a built-in AI assistant that helps with nutrition questions, calorie estimates, macro planning, food substitutions, eating-out choices, and healthy-habit guidance. The coach remembers your preferences like dietary choices, favorite meals, calorie goals, foods you avoid, and personal goals — making it feel like a personal nutritionist that adapts to you. It is completely free.
Cal Plus uses computer vision to analyze a photo of your meal and instantly estimate calories, macros (protein, carbs, fats), ingredients, additives, portion sizes, and food categories. AI meal scanning is included in the free plan.
Yes. Cal Plus includes a free additive detection system that identifies common additives, emulsifiers, colorings, and preservatives. This helps users understand food quality, not just calories.
Yes. You can track calories, protein, carbohydrates, fats, fiber (when available), daily totals, and weekly insights. Tracking is free and unlimited.
Yes. The barcode scanner is free and pulls nutrition data from a global database of packaged foods.
Yes. The Menu Scan feature lets you snap a photo of any restaurant menu and get personalised meal recommendations based on your daily nutrition goals and remaining calories.
Cal Plus Groups are private, invite-only spaces where you can share meals with friends, track progress together, react with emojis, and stay accountable. Groups use 6-character codes, and all group activity stays private. Groups are part of the free features of the app.
Yes. Your food logs are private by default. Group posts are visible only to your group. Cal Plus does not sell your data, and your preferences for the AI coach are stored securely.
Cal Plus is built to be free, fast, AI-first, simple, accurate, and private. It includes features like AI scanning, additive detection, and an AI coach with memory — all without requiring a subscription.
Yes. Your preferences, diet choices, and conversation history are stored securely. Cal Plus does not sell personal nutrition data to third parties.
Yes. The AI Chat Coach is available with unlimited messages in the free version. No subscription is required.
Yes. You receive daily nutrition summaries, weekly calorie and macro charts, behavior patterns, protein intake consistency, and meal logging streaks. Insights are included in the free plan.
Cal Plus is designed for students, gym-goers, weight-loss users, beginners, busy professionals, people who want a free AI nutritionist, and anyone who prefers scanning over manual logging.
Yes. The AI Chat Coach has persistent memory and improves as you use the app. It remembers your goals, foods you prefer, dietary restrictions, meal habits, and personal patterns — so it can give better recommendations over time.
Yes. Cal Plus includes a full workout tracker app experience inside the same app you use for nutrition. You can log gym workouts, exercises, sets, reps, weights, and cardio details without needing a second app.
You can log each exercise with set-by-set details including:
Yes. Cal Plus has a built-in rest timer and stopwatch for workout logging. You can quickly adjust rest intervals, run timer mode or stopwatch mode, and choose your preferred timer sound.
Workout calories are estimated using your profile data (such as age, sex, height, and body weight), completed sets, estimated workout time, and training load (weight × reps volume). This helps Cal Plus reflect both workout duration and workout intensity.
Like all fitness apps, calorie values are estimates, not medical measurements.
Yes. You can edit a saved workout, update exercises and sets, and keep your workout history accurate over time. Cal Plus recalculates workout metrics after edits so your progress tracking stays consistent.
Tracking workouts and food in one app gives better context for fat loss, muscle gain, and performance. You can connect your training output with your calorie intake, spot patterns faster, and make smarter weekly adjustments.
Call Your Coach lets you have real-time voice conversations with a personal AI coach. You can talk about your nutrition, workouts, goals, and progress — just like speaking with a real coach. It's available 24/7 with no scheduling needed.
Go to the Coach tab and tap "Call Your Coach." Choose from different coaches, each with their own personality and coaching style. Once you start a call, you'll hear a ringing sound while connecting, and then you can speak naturally with your coach in real time.
You can discuss anything related to your health and fitness journey. Your coach has access to your logged meals, workouts, goals, and progress — so they can give personalized advice, answer nutrition questions, suggest meal ideas, help adjust your plan, or simply motivate you.
Yes. When you navigate away from the call screen, the call continues in the background. On iOS, you'll see the call in the Dynamic Island. On Android, an ongoing notification keeps the call active. You can tap either to return to the call screen at any time.
Yes. Your AI coach automatically has context about your calorie and macro goals, today's meals and workouts, your streak, weight progress, and preferences. This means the conversation is personalized from the very first moment — no need to repeat your background every time.
Didn’t find your answer? Email us and a real person will reply — usually within one business day. Include the email address you use in Cal Plus so we can look at your account.
Connected Cal Plus to ChatGPT and something isn’t working? Mention which assistant you used and roughly when — it helps us find it fast.