Do I need a food scale to use FORM?

No. Scan a plate, barcode, or menu, or type the meal. You can still edit portions if you want more control.

No. They are estimates. Edit the card when you know better. Always check labels for allergens.

Download is free. Scanning and analysis require a subscription billed by Apple or Google.

Log a meal without a food scale

Point the camera at a plate, a barcode, or a restaurant menu. Protein, carbs, fat and energy land on a card in seconds.

A food scale is accurate when you cook at home and have time. Most meals are not that. They are a plate in front of you, a packaged item, or a menu you did not write.

FORM is built for those meals. Scan first. Edit if you need to. The card is the record.

Plate, barcode, menu, or type

Plate: photograph the meal. FORM estimates portions and macros.
Barcode: packaged food, scanned, not typed from a 12-digit code.
Menu: restaurant list on paper or screen. Pick the dish.
Text: describe what you ate when a photo will not help.

The magic moment is the card

The reason people download a scanner is the first successful card. Photo, then protein, carbs, fat and energy on one screen. That is the moment to reach as fast as the product allows. Settings can wait. Long goal quizzes can wait.

Scanning and analysis require a subscription. Download is free. The scan is the product you pay to keep.

Estimates, then judgment

A photo is not a lab. Mixed plates, sauces, and oils hide. FORM can be wrong. You can edit the card. You should still read the label for allergens. The job of the scan is speed with a number you can live with, not a certificate.

Busy days

Travel, office lunches, late training sessions: you will not weigh the rice. You will take a picture or point at a menu. That log still feeds the ring. A missed log is an open ring you cannot close later with a guess you never made. Scan while the plate is there.

After the card

The meal sits on the day with training and rest. Macros are not a separate app. They are fuel for the same ring. If you came from a spreadsheet or a database-only tracker, the habit to unlearn is searching a food name for two minutes. The habit to build is: camera, card, done.