§ · New iPhone
New iPhone.Same food log.
Yes — your BiteDeck food log follows you to a new iPhone, and you don't have to do anything to make it. It travels two independent ways at once: it syncs through your own iCloud, and it is included in your encrypted iPhone backup and in a direct device-to-device transfer. There is no account to migrate and no password to recover, because there was never one to begin with.
§ · The short answer
BiteDeck has no account, but your food log still follows you to a new iPhone. It syncs through your own private iCloud — Apple's CloudKit database, tied to your Apple ID, which BiteDeck cannot read — and it is separately included in your encrypted iPhone backup and in Quick Start device-to-device transfer. Nothing in the app is flagged to skip backup, so a restore brings the whole log with it. Meal and progress photos are the one exception: they live on the device rather than in iCloud, so they survive a backup or transfer but not a delete-and-reinstall. Free CSV, JSON and full-archive export is the manual escape hatch if you would rather not rely on any of it.
§ 01 · Path one — your own iCloud
“No account” means no BiteDeckaccount. It does not mean nothing ever syncs. BiteDeck writes your log to Apple's CloudKit private database, which belongs to your Apple ID — your iCloud, not our server. There is no BiteDeck server in the loop and no copy of your log that we can read, subpoena, breach, or sell.
What that buys you on upgrade day: sign into the same Apple ID on the new iPhone, install BiteDeck, and your meals, weights, body fat entries, fasts, water and streaks arrive on their own. No login, no restore code, no support ticket. You can watch it happen at Settings → Your Data → iCloud Sync.
If you are not signed into iCloud, nothing breaks — BiteDeck keeps writing locally and sync simply does not run. Sync lives entirely in iOS Settings under your Apple ID, not behind a switch we own.
§ 02 · Path two — encrypted backup and Quick Start
The second path is the one you already use for everything else on the phone. BiteDeck's database sits in a normal backed-up location on the device, so it is included in your encrypted iPhone backup and in a direct Quick Start transfer — which means your log can be on the new phone before iCloud has finished syncing a thing.
iOS lets an app opt its files out of backup. Some apps do it deliberately for encrypted stores. We checked ours rather than assumed: a search across the entire BiteDeck codebase for iOS's backup-exclusion flag — isExcludedFromBackup — returns zero matches (verified 8 August 2026). Nothing in BiteDeck is flagged to skip your backup.
Use an encrypted backup rather than an unencrypted one. Encrypted backups are the right default for health data generally, and they are the version Apple carries the most across.
No account to migrate, no password to lose. Start with a meal, and let the phone handle the rest.
Download on App Store§ 03 · The exception, stated plainly — photos
Meal photos and progress photos are the one part of BiteDeck that does not sync. The images live in the app's own storage on your iPhone; only the reference to them travels in the log. So:
New phone via backup or Quick Start
Photos come with you. The app's files are part of the restore.
Delete and reinstall on the same phone
The log syncs back from iCloud in full. The photos do not — deleting the app deleted the files.
Either way
A full-archive export includes your photos, so one export before you wipe anything closes the gap entirely.
We could have left that out. It is the kind of detail you find out at the worst possible moment, which is exactly why it belongs on the page you read before you buy.
§ 04 · Path three — export, and it is free
Export is the path that does not depend on Apple, on us, or on a restore going smoothly. Settings → Your Data → Export gives you CSV, JSON, a one-page PDF summary, or a full archive: a ZIP with your history and your photos in it.
None of that is behind Premium. The paid tier buys the AI features and nothing else, because a local-first app you cannot export from is just vendor lock-in wearing different clothes.
Import runs the same way in reverse — BiteDeck reads its own JSON and archive files, and a MyFitnessPal CSV export. Imports match on the underlying entries, so running the same file twice does not duplicate your history. If an import gets interrupted, you just start it again.
§ 05 · Before you hand over the old phone
Do not erase first
BiteDeck's Erase All Data clears your iCloud copy too — that is the point of it. Run it after the new phone has your log, never before.
Check the sync status
Settings → Your Data → iCloud Sync tells you where sync stands. Look at it before the old phone is wiped, not after.
Take one export
Sixty seconds for a full archive you keep yourself. Belt and braces, and it costs nothing.
Prefer encrypted backup or Quick Start
Both carry the app's files. An unencrypted computer backup is the weaker option for health data in general.
Free CSV, JSON and full-archive export — in the free tier, on day one, before you have anything to lose.
Download on App Store§ 06 · How the account-based trackers handle it
MyFitnessPal, Lose It and Cronometer all require an account and keep your log on their servers, and that gives them a genuinely good answer to this question: sign in on the new phone and your history is there. It also works when the new phone is an Android one, which is a real win and we say so on the comparison page.
The difference is what the account implies the rest of the time. A server-side copy of your food log exists whether you are upgrading or not, your access to your own history depends on the company continuing to offer it, and the export you would need in a hurry is sometimes the part behind the subscription. BiteDeck trades the cross-platform login for the absence of all three — and then keeps the export free so the trade is not a trap. The full architecture is on how offline tracking works and what private actually means here.
§ 07 · FAQ
I’m getting a new iPhone. Does my BiteDeck food log come with me?
Yes, and you don’t have to do anything. Sign into the same Apple ID on the new phone, install BiteDeck, and your meals, weights, fasts and streaks sync back down from your own iCloud. The log is also included in your encrypted iPhone backup and in a direct Quick Start transfer, so it can arrive during setup before iCloud has finished syncing.
If BiteDeck has no account, does it use iCloud?
Yes — your iCloud, not a BiteDeck server. There is no BiteDeck account to create and no BiteDeck database holding your log, but the app syncs through Apple’s CloudKit private database, which is tied to your Apple ID and which BiteDeck cannot read. That is why the log can follow you to a new phone without anyone logging in anywhere. Sync is controlled entirely in iOS Settings → your Apple ID → iCloud; if you are not signed in, BiteDeck keeps working and just writes locally.
Do my meal and progress photos transfer to a new iPhone?
They do on a new phone, through the encrypted backup or a Quick Start transfer. Photos are the one part of BiteDeck that is not in iCloud — the JPEGs live in the app’s own storage on the device, and only the reference to them is in the synced log. So a device restore brings them back, and a delete-and-reinstall on the same phone does not. If your photos matter to you, take a full-archive export before you wipe anything.
Will my food log come back if I delete BiteDeck and reinstall it?
The log will, because it syncs from your iCloud — meals, weights, body fat entries, fasts and water all return. Your meal and progress photos will not, because deleting the app deletes the files they live in and they are not mirrored to iCloud. This is the one asymmetry worth knowing before you delete anything, and it is why the free export includes your photos.
Is exporting my data a Premium feature?
No. CSV, JSON, a PDF summary and a full archive (a ZIP with your photos in it) are all in the free tier. A local-first app you cannot export from is just vendor lock-in wearing different clothes, so the escape hatch is never the thing you pay for. The paid tier buys the AI features and nothing else.
Can I import my history from MyFitnessPal?
Yes. BiteDeck imports its own JSON and archive exports and a MyFitnessPal CSV export. Imports are matched on the underlying entries, so re-importing the same file does not duplicate your history — if an import is interrupted, you just run it again.
How do I move my food log to an Android phone?
By exporting it. iCloud sync and iPhone backup are both Apple-only, so leaving iOS means CSV or JSON out of BiteDeck and into whatever you switch to. That is the honest limit of a phone-native app, and it is exactly why the export is free rather than a Premium upsell.