Questions, answered.

Long-press the camera button to see all options:

📸 Scan Food — take a photo and AI identifies all food items with calories and macros
🖼️ Photo Gallery — choose an existing photo for AI analysis
📊 Scan Barcode — scan packaged food barcodes for nutrition info

💡 A quick tap on the main camera button uses your last selected mode.

Plate-Wise uses advanced AI — Google Gemini for food recognition, with Anthropic Claude and OpenAI as fallbacks — to analyze photos of your meals.

What it does:

• Identifies food items automatically
• Estimates portion sizes
• Calculates calories, protein, carbs, and fat
• Detects weighing scales and reads the weight for exact nutrition

Simply take a photo of your meal, and the AI does the rest! It shows a confidence percentage for each analysis, and you can always edit the results before saving.

For the most accurate nutrition tracking, use a kitchen scale!

⚖️ How to weigh food:
1. Place your food on a kitchen scale
2. Take a photo showing both the food AND the scale display
3. The AI will automatically read the weight and calculate exact nutrition

Why it works:

• AI detects the digital scale reading automatically
• Calculates nutrition based on exact grams (not visual estimation)
• No manual weight input needed
• Works with any digital or analog kitchen scale

💡 Pro tip: You can also manually edit the weight in the food preview after scanning. Tap the food item, change the quantity to grams (e.g., '250g'), and nutrition recalculates automatically.

Your Dashboard has two ring sets — here's how to read them:

🔵 LEFT: Calorie Ring (two concentric rings)

• The ring fills clockwise as you eat — empty at 0%, full circle at 100% of your daily target
• Center shows calories remaining or how much you're over
• When you go OVER target, a darker shade continues past the start point, and the ring glows yellow as a gentle heads-up

🟣 RIGHT: Macro Rings (three concentric rings)

• Outer ring = Protein (blue)
• Middle ring = Carbs (orange)
• Inner ring = Fat (green)
• Each fills to 100% of your target. Center shows eaten/target for each
• Over target? A darker shade extends past the start — same yellow glow

💡 Quick read:

• Gap in the ring = still have room
• Full ring, no glow = right on target
• Full ring + dark overlap + yellow glow = over target

Tap 'View Progress' under Today's Macros to see weekly trends and charts!

Plate-Wise offers 4 input methods:

📸 Camera — take a photo for AI analysis (auto-detects scale readings too!)
🖼️ Gallery — upload an existing photo
📊 Barcode — scan packaged food labels
✏️ Type — manually enter food descriptions

Plus:

💡 Long-press the camera button to access all options. Text entry is unlimited.

Free plan:

• 5 AI food captures per day
• 7-day data retention (device only)
• Basic tracking

Pro plan ($9.99/month Launch Special, or $99.99/year — save 17%):

• 30 AI food captures per day
• 12-month cloud data retention with cross-device sync
• Smart Favorites
• Advanced analytics & PDF export reports
• Priority support

Smart Favorites lets you log frequently eaten foods with one tap!

How it works:

• Heart ❤️ a food item to save it as a favorite
• Favorites are tagged by meal type (breakfast, lunch, etc.)
• See up to 3 favorite pills on collapsed meal cards for quick logging
• Add Food picker shows up to 8 favorites filtered by meal type
• Sorted by recent usage and frequency

💡 Long-press on any favorite pill to remove it.

1. Go to Settings > Notifications
2. Enable meal reminders
3. Customize reminder times for each meal:

• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner
• Snacks
• Supper

Plate-Wise uses fun, encouraging messages to remind you to LOG your meals (not to eat). Push notifications require allowing permissions on your device.

You can easily edit any food item detected by the AI.

Tap the edit (pencil) icon to:

• Change the food name
• Adjust portion size
• Manually enter calories

Smart scaling:

• Change only calories → macros scale proportionally
• Change only quantity → all values scale by the ratio

Your corrections help the AI learn and improve future accuracy!

Plate-Wise organizes your daily food into 5 meal types: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snacks, and Supper. Each has its own expandable card on the Dashboard showing total calories and items. You can add multiple food items to each meal throughout the day.

Plate-Wise is available on the Apple App Store for iPhone and the Google Play Store for Android devices. You can also use the web app at plate-wise.com on any browser. Pro subscribers enjoy automatic cloud sync across all platforms, so your data stays consistent whether you're on your phone or computer!

Yes! When you correct a food name or manually enter calories (like from a menu or package label), Plate-Wise stores this correction. The next time you scan a similar food, the AI uses your verified data to provide more accurate estimates. This Diet Learning feature improves over time as you use the app.

Always include the cooking method when typing or editing food!

Cooking method changes calorie density significantly:

• Fried chicken — ~250 cal/100g (oil absorbed)
• Grilled chicken — ~165 cal/100g (fat rendered out)
• Steamed chicken — ~150 cal/100g (no added fat)
• Boiled egg — ~155 cal/100g
• Fried egg — ~196 cal/100g

Examples of good input:
✅ 'Grilled chicken breast 200g'
✅ 'Pan-fried salmon fillet'
✅ 'Steamed broccoli 1 cup'

Examples to avoid:
❌ 'Chicken' (too vague — grilled? fried? raw?)
❌ 'Fish' (baked? deep-fried? poached?)

The AI uses your cooking method to match the right calorie values. Without it, the app defaults to a generic 'cooked' estimate which may be less accurate.

💡 Tip: For photos, the AI can usually detect the cooking method visually. For text input, always type it!

AI analysis requires sending your photo to our servers for processing. The time depends on your internet connection speed and server load. If you're on a slow connection, analysis may take 5-15 seconds. The confidence percentage (e.g., 90%) indicates how certain the AI is about its detection.

1. Go to Settings > Edit Profile
2. Tap 'Re-calculate Target Calories'

Your daily target is estimated using the Mifflin-St Jeor equation (Mifflin MD et al., Am J Clin Nutr, 1990) for BMR, then adjusted for your activity level using standard multipliers (1.2 sedentary → 1.9 extra active) to estimate Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE).

Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2305711/

These estimates are for informational purposes only and are not medical advice. Please consult a healthcare professional before making dietary changes.

When editing a food item:

• Change only calories → macros scale proportionally (instant, no AI call)
• Change only quantity → all values scale by the ratio (e.g., '1/2 cob' to '1 cob' = 2×)
• Change name → AI re-estimates everything
• Change name AND calories → AI estimates macros but keeps your calorie value

Only name/calorie corrections are saved to help future AI accuracy.

Tap the upgrade banner on Dashboard or go to Settings > Subscription > Upgrade to Pro. Choose monthly ($9.99) or annual ($99.99 - save 17%) billing. Payment is processed securely through the App Store. You get immediate access to all Pro features!

Pro includes:

• 30 AI food captures/day (vs 5 free)
• 12-month cloud data retention with cross-device sync
• Smart Favorites
• Advanced analytics & insights
• PDF export reports
• Priority support

Yes! Pro users can export comprehensive PDF reports with weight history, calorie tracking, macro breakdowns, and meal logs. Go to Settings > Data Management > Export My Data. Great for sharing with healthcare providers, nutritionists, or personal trainers.

Manage or cancel your subscription through your app store account. On iPhone: open the App Store, tap your profile photo, tap Subscriptions, then select Plate-Wise. On Android: open Google Play, tap your profile, then Payments & subscriptions > Subscriptions. Your Pro access continues until the end of the current billing period. No refunds for partial months.

New users can start a 7-day free trial of Pro on the monthly or yearly plan through the App Store. A payment method on your store account is required to begin the trial; cancel any time before it ends to avoid being charged. The weekly plan has no trial. You can also keep using the Free plan with no payment method.

We accept all major credit/debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover). Your card details are never stored on our servers - all payments are processed securely through our payment provider.

If you cancel Pro:

— 3 AI captures/day
— 7-day local retention

• You keep access until your billing period ends
• After that, you move to Free plan:
• Your cloud data remains stored
• Resubscribe to access history beyond 7 days

You can pick one of 10 diet types. Each sets your protein, carb and fat split:

• Balanced
• High Protein
• Keto
• Low Carb
• High Carb
• Mediterranean
• Carnivore
• Vegan
• Vegetarian
• Paleo

Keto (Ketogenic):

• Stricter — under 20-50g carbs/day
• Moderate protein, high fat
• Aims to achieve ketosis

Low Carb:

• More flexible — 50-150g carbs/day
• Easier to maintain long-term

Keto offers specific metabolic benefits, while Low Carb is more sustainable for most people.

Keto:

• Very low carbs, moderate protein, high fat
• Aims to achieve ketosis / fat adaptation

High Protein:

• Prioritizes protein (30-40% of calories)
• For muscle building and satiety
• No strict carb limits

Choose Keto for fat adaptation, High Protein for muscle goals.

An elimination diet consisting only of animal products - meat, fish, eggs, and some dairy. Excludes all plants, fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes. Some people use it to identify food sensitivities or for dietary simplicity. Consult a doctor before starting.

Yes! Go to Settings > Profile > Goals. Set your daily calorie target and macro ratios (protein, carbs, fat). The app will track your progress against these goals on the Dashboard and Progress screens.

Absolutely! Your data is protected with:

• Enterprise-grade encryption (TLS/HTTPS) for all data in transit and at rest
• Secure authentication with optional biometric login (fingerprint/face)
• No sharing of personal data with third parties for marketing
• Food photos processed temporarily for AI analysis — not permanently stored

Yes!

1. Go to Settings > Data Management > Delete Account
2. This permanently deletes all your data within 30 days:

• Meal logs
• Profile info
• Favorites

⚠️ This action cannot be undone.

Individual meals can be deleted from the Dashboard.

Go to Settings > Security > Reset Password, or use 'Forgot Password' on the login screen. We'll send a password reset link to your registered email address. For security, links expire after 1 hour.

Biometric login lets you use your fingerprint or face to unlock Plate-Wise instead of entering your password. Enable it in Settings > Security > Biometric Login. This uses your device's secure biometric system - we never store your biometric data.

Never! We do not sell, rent, or share your personal data with third parties for marketing or advertising. Your health and nutrition data is yours. We use anonymized, aggregated analytics only to improve app features. See our Privacy Policy for complete details.

In Settings > Security & Privacy:

(opt-in, default OFF)

• Marketing Communications — tips, promotions, new feature announcements

(opt-out, default ON)

• App Communications — product updates, security alerts, service notifications

These are separate from push notifications.

Yes! Toggle dark mode in Settings or tap the moon/sun icon in the header. You can also choose between Purple and Green color themes. Your preference syncs across devices for Pro users.