Policy

Editorial policy

Last reviewed October 22, 2026

The rules behind every page in the edition: where facts come from, how health topics are handled, and what happens when something changes or turns out to be wrong.

Facts, features and prices

App features, plans and prices come from each company's own website, help pages and app-store listings. Prices are US prices with the date they were checked. When a company does not describe something in a way we can confirm, tables show a dash, and the text says "not confirmed" rather than guessing. We never infer that a feature is missing because a page does not mention it.

Health information

Guides explain general practice for healthy adults and cite public-health sources (such as the U.S. Dietary Guidelines and FDA labelling rules) or published research where they make a specific claim. They are not medical advice. Pages that touch on weight loss point readers with diabetes, a history of disordered eating, pregnancy or other medical conditions to a clinician.

Rankings and reviews

The 2027 ranking and the reviews use the weighted criteria on how we rank. Rankings are editorial judgments built from published features, plans and prices. We do not publish ratings, reviews or test results that we did not produce, and we do not accept payment for a position.

Updates and corrections

Pages show a publication date and an "updated" date. We update prices, plans and features during the year when they change, and every change after publication is listed with its date on the corrections page. A change in the order of the ranking is always explained there.

Images

Photographs and illustrations on this site are generated images made for the edition. They show food and everyday scenes, not real app screens, and they never display app logos or interfaces.

Links

Links to apps go to each company's own website or app-store page. App names and trademarks belong to their owners.

Advertising and affiliate links

This site carries no advertising and no affiliate links, and it sets no tracking cookies. A link to an app's website earns us nothing when you click it or subscribe. Our privacy page describes the little data the hosting provider keeps.

What we cover beyond the ranking

The ranking is one page; most of the site is the material that makes a ranking useful. Our guides cover the practical skills of tracking (restaurants, recipes, labels, portions, alcohol, weekends) and the nutrition behind it (calorie needs, protein, fiber, calorie density, weight fluctuations, plateaus), as well as when tracking is not a good idea and how to protect your data. Our reviews cover eleven apps, and our comparisons set apps side by side, including pairs that do not involve our top pick.