Calorie & Nutrition Trackers · sentiment profile
FatSecret
A long-running, fully free calorie and nutrition tracker with web and mobile logging, whose public sentiment leans favourable on price and breadth but divides over community-entered database accuracy.
Sentiment by aspect
One row per aspect. The dot is our reading of how the public conversation leans — positive, mixed, negative — never a number. Each sentence is paraphrased in our words from the linked source.
Trust hinges on the data behind a logged item rather than the app itself: written App Store reviews and the food-logging communities both flag that because much of FatSecret's database is user-contributed, duplicate and mis-entered foods turn up, so the recurring advice is to cross-check a new entry's numbers before relying on them. Reviewers who do that verification step generally report the tracker serves them well. Paraphrased · our words, not a quote
r/caloriecounting →Written App Store reviews frequently describe day-to-day logging as quick and uncomplicated, with barcode scanning, recent-foods reuse and saved meals doing most of the heavy lifting; the food-logging communities echo that once a person's regular foods are set up, entering a day takes little effort. Paraphrased · our words, not a quote
App Store reviews →The database is large enough that people usually find what they are eating, which reviewers count as a plus, but the same crowd-sourced breadth is the most common complaint in r/caloriecounting: entries vary in quality, duplicates exist and some macros are simply wrong, so the practical read is a deep catalogue that rewards picking verified entries over the first match. Paraphrased · our words, not a quote
r/caloriecounting →This is the most consistently favourable theme: written App Store reviews and the communities repeatedly single out that FatSecret keeps full calorie and macro tracking, the diary, barcode scanning and the food database usable for free, with no hard paywall on core logging — a point raised approvingly by people comparing it against trackers that moved key features behind a subscription. Paraphrased · our words, not a quote
App Store reviews →In r/loseit, people describe staying with FatSecret over long stretches in part because nothing nudges them toward a paywall mid-habit, and written reviews from multi-year users back that up; a free, no-pressure tool draws far fewer of the "I gave up when it asked me to pay" stories that end other trackers' streaks. Paraphrased · our words, not a quote
r/loseit →Sync between the web app and phone is a draw for people who like to log on a computer and review on mobile, and reviewers value that the account carries across devices; however, written App Store reviews also surface occasional sync hiccups and slow responses to support requests, so the conversation here is divided rather than uniformly positive. Paraphrased · our words, not a quote
App Store reviews →What users praise
Short, sourced highlight themes — paraphrased, never quoted.
Genuinely free core tracking
The standout point of praise in written App Store reviews is that calorie and macro logging, the diary and the food database stay free with no hard paywall on the basics.
App Store reviews →Web and mobile together
Reviewers like that a full web app pairs with the phone app, so they can log or review a day at a computer and have it carry across.
App Store reviews →Long-haul familiarity
In r/loseit, multi-year users describe FatSecret as something they have quietly kept using without the tool pushing them toward an upgrade.
r/loseit →What users criticise
Every profile carries real, sourced criticisms — favourites included. This block is never empty.
Variable database entries
The most consistent criticism in r/caloriecounting is that the user-contributed database contains duplicates and entries with wrong macros, so a logged number is only as good as the entry chosen and needs checking.
r/caloriecounting →Sync and support friction
Written App Store reviews mention occasional cross-device sync glitches and slow or limited responses when users reach out for support.
App Store reviews →Ads and upsell on the free tier
Because the app is free, some written reviews note in-app advertising and prompts toward the Premium tier as a minor irritant, even while praising that core tracking stays unpaid.
App Store reviews →Synthesis
A neutral read of the whole picture. No verdict, no score, no ranking.
Across written App Store reviews and the main food-logging communities, the public conversation about FatSecret leans favourable on price, on everyday logging ease and on long-term adherence, and divides on accuracy, food database quality and sync-and-support. The throughline of the positive sentiment is that core calorie and macro tracking, the diary, barcode scanning and the database stay usable for free across web and mobile with no hard paywall; the throughline of the criticism is that the crowd-sourced database carries duplicate and mis-entered foods, so users are repeatedly advised to verify an entry's numbers before trusting them. Its 4.77 App Store rating sits in the background, but it describes store ratings rather than the per-aspect sentiment, which is the more useful signal here. This profile does not rank FatSecret against other apps and assigns no score.
Sources we read
The public sources this profile is drawn from. Everything here is paraphrased in our words.
Ratings as of May 2026 · Sentiment last reviewed May 30, 2026
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real and dated; sentiment is paraphrased from the public sources linked above — no quotes,
usernames, upvote counts, or numeric sentiment scores.