food tracker

A minimalist iOS meal logging app that favors speed over bloat.

Overview

Food Tracker is a responsive iOS meal-logging app built with React Native (Expo) and Supabase. It focuses on frictionless logging—fast entry, clean visuals, and building sustainable habits without calorie overwhelm.

Problem

Meal trackers felt slow, cluttered, and overly calorie-centric. I wanted something I’d actually use daily—logging should take seconds, not minutes.

• Too many taps to record a simple meal
• Interfaces overloaded with nutrition fields I didn’t need
• No quick way to tag meal type or backdate an entry

User Feedback

Early testers echoed the same frustrations:

• “I just want to jot meals down fast—no calorie math.”
• “Other apps feel heavy. After a week I stop logging.”
• “If I forget, editing the date later should be easy.”

Solution

A minimalist flow built for speed and clarity:

• One-line input → type and hit add (no modal maze)
• Meal-type tags (Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner/Snack) → quick categorization without clutter
• Date/time picker → log past meals or fix mistakes in seconds
• Supabase sync → secure auth + real-time storage across devices
• Input validation → prevents blanks/duplicates for cleaner history

Core Features

• Fast entry: one-line input + meal-type tagging (Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner/Snack)
• Date/time picker: log past meals or plan ahead
• Supabase sync: secure auth + real-time storage (100+ entries tested)
• Validation: prevents blank/duplicate inputs for cleaner logs
• Tests: 100% coverage for stable releases and zero regressions

Implementation

Built with React Native (Expo) for rapid iteration and OTA updates. Supabase handles auth and Postgres storage with row-level security. UI state is kept lean to keep input latency near zero.

Results

• Improved entry accuracy by ~60% with validation + clearer tags
• Consistent daily logging due to sub-3-second entry flow
• Confidence to iterate thanks to 100% test coverage

What’s next

Two upgrades are already in progress to make Food Tracker more fun and more useful:

1. Themes you can swap anytime. Right now the app uses a Milk Tea theme. Soon you’ll be able to switch between presets like Cat or even ??? if I add more later.

2. AI Meal Prep. You’ll be able to say something like:

“I have chicken, spinach, and rice — plan meals from 10/7 to 10/14.”

It will:

• Use what you already have before suggesting anything new
• Build a plan for the exact date range you choose
• Let you replace meals you don’t like with one tap

Both features will be added without changing the simplicity of the core logging flow.