BiteCheck: questions and answers
Short answers first, with the rules and limits in How it works.
Is the BiteCheck score medical or diet advice?
No. It is a general wellness indicator from a fixed set of rules: protein and fibre add points; frying, sugar, refined carbs and very large portions take them away. It ignores salt, additives, allergens and your own health. For a medical diet or an allergy, ask a doctor or dietitian.
The rules and their weights are listed under How the score is built.
How does BiteCheck know what is in my photo?
A vision model on BiteCheck's analysis service names up to six dishes, guesses each portion and notes things like frying. The app matches each dish to its table of 452 dishes and does the nutrition math on your phone. It can misread a dish; you can correct it.
Known recognition mistakes are listed under Inputs and limits.
Why does a bigger portion sometimes score higher?
Protein and fibre add points by the gram, while the penalties for frying, sugar and refined carbs are fixed, and size only costs points above 600 kcal. So two tacos score 84 and one scores 72. The score follows its rules for one meal; it doesn't tell you how much to eat.
Why is nutrition shown as a range?
The same dish varies with the cook, the oil and the portion, so BiteCheck shows each number 15% either side of its table value for the portion you set. The band is fixed; it is not a measured margin of error, and a misread dish or portion can be further off.
What happens if the photo shows a dish BiteCheck doesn't know?
It uses a rough estimate from the model's name for the dish, or a generic serving, and labels it Approximate estimate. Treat that score loosely; an unknown dish can still grade A. You can replace it with the closest dish from the list of 452.
How does barcode scanning work?
The camera reads the barcode on your phone with Google's ML Kit, and BiteCheck looks it up in Open Food Facts, a public database. It scores the label's values per serving and shows where they came from. If the product isn't in the database, you get no verdict instead of made-up numbers.
The thresholds are on How it works.
What does BiteCheck send off my phone?
When you check a meal, the photo goes to BiteCheck's analysis service and a vision model provider, which name the dishes; we don't store it. Barcode numbers go to Open Food Facts, and Google's ML Kit barcode library sends Google device and app information and performance metrics. Your history stays in the app, and Android may back it up.
The providers handle the photo under their own terms, and we have not yet confirmed how long each keeps it. Full details: BiteCheck privacy policy.
Does BiteCheck work offline?
Your history, insights and products you have already looked up work offline. Checking a meal needs a connection: photos you take offline wait on the phone, up to 20, and are sent when you're back online. Barcodes you haven't looked up before need a connection too.
Is there a limit on checks?
Yes. The analysis service allows 30 photo checks per network per UTC day, and the live service also caps the total across all users, currently 300 a day. Everyone on the same Wi-Fi shares the 30. When a limit is reached, the app says to try again after midnight UTC. Barcode lookups don't count.
Do I need an account, and are there ads?
No account, no sign-in, no ads and no in-app purchases. Your history is kept in the app's storage on your phone, and Android may include it in your Google backup. The interface follows your phone's language, English or Hindi, with English for everything else, and you can change it under About & language.
Try it on your next meal.
