Tech can give you a helping hand when it comes to eating healthily, and it all comes down to loading your phone with the right apps. As well as those that count calories and scan barcodes, we've also picked out apps that focus on mindful eating, plus nutrition trackers, healthy recipes, and those that chart your water intake and digestion. Browse our selection here, and while you're focusing on how tech can help with your wellbeing, check out our pick of seven free fitness apps [1] and 21 mindfulness apps [2], too.
YouAte Food Diary with Photos
The free YouAte Food Diary with Photos is a visual way to enhance your self-awareness of your food intake and hunger cues through mindfulness.
Available on iOS [3].
MyFitnessPal
The free MyFitnessPal helps you do all sorts of things with its food database, barcode scanner, recipe importer, restaurant logger, calorie counter, nutrient and water tracker, and food diary.
Available on iOS [4] and Android [5].
Am I Hungry?
The Am I Hungry? app is your "Mindful Eating Virtual Coach" to guide you through a Mindful Eating Cycle to help you be more aware of your decisions in relation to food.
Available on iOs [6] (£2.99) and Android [7] (£2.35).
Cara Food, Mood, Poop Tracker
The free Cara Food, Mood, Poop Tracker was developed by doctors to help you learn more about your digestive health by monitoring and tracking food, "poop," stomach pain, and stress, and finding the connections between mind, gut, and wellbeing.
Available on iOS [8] and coming soon to Android [9].
Change4Life Food Scanner
The free Change4Life Food Scanner will show you how much sugar and salt is in your food by scanning the barcodes, and will also show you which snack choices are healthier.
Available on iOS [10] and Android [11].
Change4Life Smart Recipes
Use the scanner alongside the free Change4Life Smart Recipes to get inspiration for healthy meals for your family.
Available on iOS [12] and Android [13].
Argus Calorie Counter & Steps
The free Argus Calorie Counter & Steps doesn't just count those two aspects, but also includes a sleep and heart rate tracker as well as meal plans and recipes for keto, paleo, vegan, and more dietary requirements.
Available on iOS [14] and Android [15].
Fooducate Nutrition Tracker
The free Fooducate Nutrition Tracker helps you track all sorts of things related to your eating and weight loss, including hunger, calories, exercise, macros, mood, and sleep.
Available on iOS [16] and Android [17]
Spark Recipes Healthy Recipes
The free Healthy Recipes app from Spark Recipes gives you access to more than half a million recipes from this huge healthy eating website.
Available on iOS [18] and Android [19].
My Water Balance Daily Drink Tracker Reminder
The free My Water Balance Daily Drink Tracker Reminder provides you with a water requirement calculator, shows stats on graphs, and gives you motivational awards as well as tips and reminders to make sure you're drinking enough.
Available on iOS [20] and Android [21].
Eat Slowly
The free Eat Slowly app acts as a training tool to help avoid overeating by encouraging you to enjoy your food as you slow down, giving your brain the time it needs to acknowledge that your stomach is full.
Available on iOS [22].
Lifesum
The free Lifesum is a food diary, meal planner, and diet tracker in one, with tips to help you achieve your healthy eating or weight loss goal and a barcode scanner for calorie counting, a macro tracker and calculator, and a food journal log.
Available on iOS [23] and Android [24].
MyPlate Calorie Counter
The free MyPlate Calorie Counter comes from Livestrong.com and gives you a barcode scanner, an 8-week meal plan, workouts, details on macronutrients, and trackers for weight and water intake.
Available on iOS [25] and Android [26].
See How You Eat Food Diary
The free See How You Eat Food Diary gives you somewhere to store photos of your food so that you can track your meals visually, encouraging awareness of eating habits and reminders for healthier, regular eating.
Available on iOS [27] and Android [28].
SideChef Step-by-step Cooking
The free SideChef helps you to cook healthy meals even if you're a novice with step-by-step photos, instructions, and voice commands.
Available on iOS [29] and Android [30].
MindFi
The MindFi app includes a section on mindful eating in its bite-sized, three-minute, open-eyed meditation sessions, as well as sessions on nature, social media, and work too.
Available on iOS [31] and Android [32].
YAZIO Calorie Counter App
The free YAZIO Calorie Counter App provides a calorie table with over two million foods, has a barcode scanner, and tracks nutrition, steps, calories, and activities.
Available on iOS [33] and Android [34].