Say it, snap it, scan it or tap it. Protocol turns what you ate into calories, protein, carbs and fat in seconds, then reads your food alongside your sleep and training.
Free to start, no credit card. 5 AI meal logs a day on the free plan; Pro is unlimited.
What is Protocol’s meal logging?
Protocol is an AI meal logging app for iPhone that tracks calories, protein, carbs, fat and fiber. You can log a meal five ways: describe it by voice or text, photograph your plate, photograph a nutrition label or menu, scan a barcode, or tap a saved food. Every estimate is itemized, correctable in plain words, and reviewed by you before it is saved.
ways to log, one screen
5ways to log, one screen
nutrients per meal: kcal, protein, carbs, fat, fiber
5nutrients per meal: kcal, protein, carbs, fat, fiber
free AI logs every day
5free AI logs every day
barcode scans and saved foods, free
∞barcode scans and saved foods, free
Why people quit food tracking
Logging meals is a pain.
Most calorie counters start with a search box, so a burrito bowl becomes five searches, five lists of near-identical entries and five portion guesses. Protocol starts with the meal.
A search-first tracker
0 steps
Search foods
1Search “chicken”
2Pick one of dozens of near-identical entries
3Set the amount in grams
4Search “rice”
5Pick an entry, set the amount
6Search “black beans”
7Pick an entry, set the amount
8Search “salsa”
9Pick an entry, set the amount
10Search “lettuce”
11Pick an entry, set the amount
12Add all five to lunch
Protocol
2 steps
“Chicken burrito bowl, extra rice, no sour cream”
Logged while the other one is still searching.
Illustrative. Steps for a generic search-and-pick food database, not any one app.
Five ways to log a meal.
Use whatever is fastest in the moment, or mix them in one entry.
01
Say it or type it
Just say what you ate.
Describe the meal the way you would to a friend. Protocol breaks it into foods and portions and estimates the calories, protein, carbs, fat and fiber.
Type it, or tap the mic and dictate. “Chicken burrito bowl, extra rice, no sour cream” is a complete entry.
Every food comes back as its own line with a portion, so you can see exactly what was counted.
Not quite right? Just say so. “I only ate half” or “there was also a coke” adjusts the estimate instead of starting over.
A confidence badge on every estimate tells you how sure it is before you save.
What did you eat?
BreakfastLunchDinnerSnacks
Chipotle chicken bowl, no guac…
Estimate
02
Snap your plate
Snap your plate.
Point the camera at what you are about to eat. Protocol identifies the foods, estimates the portions and fills in the macros.
Add up to four photos of the same meal for a better read on portions.
Add what the photo can’t see: “cooked in olive oil” or “dressing on the side” changes the numbers.
Mix photos and words in one entry. The note always wins over what the camera guessed.
Nothing is saved until you check it and tap Log meal.
Frame the plate
MealLabelMenu
03
Snap the label or the menu
Labels, menus, even screenshots.
A nutrition facts panel, a restaurant menu, a delivery order or a screenshot from another app. If it has food on it, Protocol can read it.
Labels are read, not guessed: the exact values from the panel, multiplied by how many servings you had.
Menus use any printed calories and estimate the rest, so eating out stays loggable.
Screenshots work too, straight from your photo library.
MealLabelMenu
Nutrition Facts
Serving size1 bar (60g)
Calories230
Total Fat9g
Sodium190mg
Total Carbohydrate24g
Total Sugars6g
Protein15g
Reading the panel…
04
Scan the barcode
Scan the barcode.
Packaged food logs in one scan, with the label’s own numbers and a serving picker for what you actually ate.
Pick ½, 1×, 1.5×, 2× or 3× servings, or type any amount.
New barcode? Snap the label once. It’s remembered, so the next scan needs no photo.
Barcode lookups don’t use AI, so they are unlimited on every plan.
A badge shows where the numbers came from, and a warning appears if a product’s macros don’t add up.
Center the barcode
0 36632 03627 4
05
Tap a saved food
Your usual, one tap.
The breakfast you eat four days a week shouldn’t take more than a second. Save a food or a whole meal once, and it becomes a one-tap chip.
Saved meals hold several foods: “Eggs & toast” logs all three at once.
Saved foods log in one tap, with a quick ½× to 3× adjust when the portion changes.
Unlimited on every plan, on iPhone and on the web.
Saved meals — tap to log
Eggs & toast 3 foodsOvernight oats 2 foods
Saved foods — tap to log
Greek yogurtChicken bowlBananaProtein shake
Protein96 g / 165 g
69 g protein to go
Demo numbers are examples in the app’s layout. Label and barcode values are exact in the app.
The meal composer
Five ways in. One screen.
No modes to pick and no menus to dig through. The meal slot fills itself from the time of day, and a photo, a sentence and a saved food can all go into the same entry.
What did you eat?
BreakfastLunchDinnerSnacks
Chipotle chicken bowl, no guac…
Photo
Barcode
Library
Saved meals — tap to log
Eggs & toast
Saved foods — tap to log
Greek yogurtChicken bowl
Estimate
Meal reminders
A nudge at lunch. Snap, check, logged.
The hardest meal to log is the one you forgot. Set a reminder for each meal, and tapping it takes you straight into logging.
One reminder per meal, each with its own time, all off until you turn them on.
“What’s for lunch?” opens wherever you log fastest: the camera, voice, your saved meals or the full composer.
A Macros widget on your Home Screen shows the day so far and opens Log meal in one tap.
Protocol now
What’s for lunch?
Snap a photo and it’s logged.
Wednesday
12:00
Calorie and macro tracking
Every macro, every meal.
Calories, protein, carbs, fat and fiber add up across breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks against targets built for your goal.
1873of 2,200 kcal
Protein177 / 165 g
Carbs175 / 220 g
Fat53 / 70 g
Today · tap a meal to toggle it
How is my protein target set?
By bodyweight and goal: about 1.0 g per pound to lose fat, 0.9 g/lb to build muscle, 0.8 g/lb to maintain. Hit it and your protein streak grows.
From your daily energy expenditure (Mifflin-St Jeor times your activity level), about 500 kcal under to lose fat or 300 over to build muscle. Edit it whenever you like.
Describe the meal or take a photo of it, and let an AI meal logger fill in the numbers. In Protocol you can say it, type it, snap your plate, snap a label or menu, scan a barcode, or tap a saved food, all from one screen. Most meals take a few seconds instead of a dozen database searches.
How does AI meal logging work in Protocol?
You describe or photograph what you ate, and Protocol breaks it into foods with portions and estimates calories, protein, carbs, fat and fiber for each one. You review the estimate, correct it in plain words if needed (“I only ate half”), and tap Log meal. Nothing is saved until you confirm it.
How accurate is AI calorie counting from a photo?
Photo estimates are estimates. They are good at identifying foods and reasonable at portions, and weakest on what the camera can’t see, like cooking oil or sauces. Protocol shows a confidence level on every estimate and lets you add a note such as “cooked in olive oil” to close that gap. Nutrition labels and barcodes are not estimated: they use the exact printed values.
Can I log food by voice?
Yes, on iPhone. Tap the mic in the meal composer and say what you ate, for example “two eggs, a slice of sourdough and a latte with oat milk.” Protocol turns it into an itemized entry with macros.
Can Protocol scan barcodes and nutrition labels?
Yes. Scanning a barcode logs packaged food with its label values and lets you pick ½ to 3× servings. If a barcode isn’t recognized, snap the nutrition label once and Protocol remembers it for every future scan. Product data comes from Open Food Facts and from labels you have scanned.
What nutrients and macros does Protocol track?
Calories, protein, carbohydrates, fat and fiber for every meal and every day, plus water. Protocol does not track detailed micronutrients like sodium or vitamins yet.
How does Protocol set my calorie and protein targets?
Protein is set per pound of bodyweight by goal: about 1.0 g/lb to lose fat, 0.9 g/lb to build muscle and 0.8 g/lb to maintain. Calories start from your estimated daily energy expenditure (the Mifflin-St Jeor equation times your activity level), then adjust by goal: about 500 kcal under to lose fat, 300 over to build muscle. You can edit any target.
Is Protocol’s meal logging free?
Yes. The free plan includes 5 AI meal logs a day (photo, voice, text, label or menu), plus unlimited barcode scans, saved foods, food search and manual entry. Protocol Pro makes AI logging unlimited and adds the coach. Pro is $12.99 a month or $99.99 a year.
Can I log meals on the web?
Yes. The web Meals page has food search, manual entry and your saved foods and meals, and everything syncs with the iPhone app. Photo, voice, label, menu and barcode logging are on iPhone.
Does Protocol work with Apple Health, MyFitnessPal or Cronometer?
Protocol reads calories, protein, carbs, fat and water from Apple Health and writes the meals you log back to it. MyFitnessPal and Cronometer connect through Apple Health, and a meal that shows up in both places is only counted once.
How is Protocol different from a regular calorie counter?
Most calorie counters start with a search box: you rebuild each meal one ingredient at a time. Protocol starts with the meal, from a sentence, a photo, a label or a barcode. And logging is not the end: your meals feed a daily Fuel ring, a protein streak, a 7 PM heads-up when a protein streak is at risk, and a coach that reads your food alongside your sleep, recovery and training.
Do I need to weigh my food?
No. Describe the portion the way you would say it (“a cup of rice”, “a palm-sized chicken breast”) or let the photo estimate it. If you do weigh food, include the grams and Protocol uses them.