An honest comparison.

§ 01 · TL;DR

Pick MyFitnessPal ifyou need cross-platform (Android, web), have years of MFP history you don't want to leave, or want the largest community-supplemented food catalog in the category.

Pick BiteDeck if you want your data on your phone (not a server), refuse ads, run iPhone-only, value on-device weight forecasting, want fasting + body-fat tracking in the same app, or want a calorie tracker with no ads in any tier.

You probably don't need both.

§ 02 · The comparison

Verify pricing and platform claims directly with MyFitnessPal before relying on this table — values change.

§ 03 · Where MyFitnessPal wins

Cross-platform.If you split time between iPhone and Android, or you want web access, MyFitnessPal covers all three. BiteDeck doesn't.

The food database. MFP has been collecting user-submitted entries for nearly two decades. The catch: quality varies row by row. The depth is real.

Existing history.If you have years of MFP meals logged, that history doesn't come with you to BiteDeck. You start fresh.

Recipe importer. MFP can pull recipes from URLs and ingest them as logged meals — useful for serious meal-prep folks.

§ 04 · Where BiteDeck wins

Local-first by design. Your meals, weights, fasts, and Coach history live in SwiftData on your phone — no BiteDeck server, no account. Read what local-first means for the full account.

No ads in any tier.BiteDeck has a free tier and a paid tier (price TBD), but no version shows ads. Whatever ends up in which tier, ads aren't the model.

Apple Health depth.5 reads, 10 writes, per-metric toggles. MFP's HealthKit surface is much narrower. See Apple Health & HealthKit Sync.

On-device weight forecast. A 5-state model (locked / unlocked / goal-reached / maintaining / reversed) with 14-day lookback and 7-day rolling average. Runs on the phone, no upload. See On-device weight forecasting.

Restaurant menus that actually work. 179 chains with section-sorted menus, scoped search inside the menu, and multi-add for build-your-own bowls.

Fasting + body-fat in one app. 16:8 through OMAD timers with streak-day protection. Four body-fat methods (US Navy, Deurenberg, manual, HK import).

§ 05 · Pricing

MyFitnessPal: Free tier with ads. Premium subscription unlocks photo scan, recipe importer, ad removal, and detailed macros. Verify the current annual price on their site.

BiteDeck: Free tier and paid tier. Final pricing for the paid tier is being set ahead of App Store launch. Structural difference from MyFitnessPal: no ads in either tier.

§ 06 · Privacy

MyFitnessPal stores meals, weight, and account data on its own servers under its own privacy terms. Their data practices (and ad partnerships) are spelled out in their public privacy policy.

BiteDeck has no servers and no account. The marketing site ships zero analytics, zero trackers, zero cookie banner. Off-device traffic is limited to four narrowly scoped flows (photo scan, exercise/ingredient parsing, Coach), all routed through BiteDeck's own proxy and never retained. See BiteDeck's privacy policy.

§ 07 · FAQ

• Can I import my MyFitnessPal history into BiteDeck?

  Not directly. MyFitnessPal exports CSV through their Premium tier — that file isn't a current import target in BiteDeck. Most users who switch log fresh; within five to seven days, the pattern is back.

• Does BiteDeck have a barcode scanner like MyFitnessPal?

  Yes. Same workflow — scan the barcode, get the macros, log the meal. BiteDeck also reads nutrition labels via OCR (point the camera at any panel) and recognizes whole-plate photos.

• Does BiteDeck have a subscription?

  BiteDeck has a free tier and a paid tier. Final pricing for the paid tier will be announced ahead of App Store launch. What's locked in either way: no ads, no account, no analytics.