Why We Built Macronote

The problem with calorie trackers

Every calorie tracking app works the same way: you search a database, scroll through dozens of similar-sounding entries, pick one, hope it's accurate, and move on. For a single meal, that process might take 5–10 minutes.

Do that three times a day and you've spent half an hour on something that should take seconds. Most people give up within a week. Not because they don't care about nutrition, but because the tools make it feel like homework.

And the data quality problem is even worse. Most apps rely on user-submitted databases where anyone can add an entry. You end up with 47 different “chicken breast” entries, all with different calorie counts, and no way to know which one is right.

What if you could just say what you ate?

That was the question that started Macronote. What if instead of searching and scrolling, you could just describe your meal the way you'd tell a friend?

No searching. No scrolling. No barcode scanning. Just natural language — typed, spoken, or even a photo of your plate. The app figures out the rest.

We care about where the data comes from

Most calorie trackers treat nutrition data as a black box. You get a number, but you have no idea where it came from or whether it's accurate. We think that's a problem.

In Macronote, every calorie is traced back to its source. When you log a Nando's meal, the data comes from Nando's official nutrition page. When you log a chicken breast, it's matched to a verified food database. And when we estimate — because sometimes estimates are necessary — we tell you it's an estimate rather than presenting it as fact.

You can see the source for every number. You can verify it yourself if you want. That level of transparency doesn't exist in other trackers, and we think it should.

Built to be honest, not addictive

A lot of health apps are designed to keep you opening the app as much as possible. Streaks, badges, social features, gamification — all designed to maximise engagement rather than actually help you.

Macronote is a paid app. That means we don't need to show you ads, sell your data, or trick you into spending more time in the app than necessary. Our incentive is simple: build something useful enough that you're happy to pay for it.

We want logging a meal to take seconds, not minutes. We want you to get what you need and get on with your day.

Three principles behind Macronote

What's next

Macronote is launching soon on iOS and Android. We're starting with the core experience — fast, transparent meal logging — and building from there based on what users actually need.

If you've tried other trackers and given up because they felt like too much work, Macronote is built for you. We think nutrition tracking should be something you barely think about, not something that takes over your day.