Calorie counter with a barcode scanner

The barcode is the fastest way into a diary: hold it once, and the name and nutrition values are there. Which makes it remarkable that this exact feature is getting more expensive.

At MyFitnessPal the scanner moved behind Premium in the first quarter of 2026, after fourteen years as a free core feature. In the reviews, that is the point where people start looking around.

Free and offline in zweitaps

Scanning costs nothing, permanently, without an account. And it works with no signal: 40,000 products ship inside the app. That is where most scanners give up — the place you scan is a supermarket, and the place with no signal is also a supermarket.

If the scan finds nothing and you do have a connection, zweitaps asks Open Food Facts (ODbL). If that finds nothing either, you enter the product once — after that it is in your list, two taps away.

What a scan does not solve

Loose fruit, restaurant food, your own casserole. That is what search, your own list — or a photo of the plate — are for.