Carbon - Macro Coach & Tracker

I really wanted to like this app. I like the team behind it and it’s a great idea backed by science but it falls short. The food database used doesn’t have the scanned product a lot of the time. You might argue that if you are that dedicated to change your diet then entering manually shouldn’t be an issue. But paying a monthly fee I would expect the database to be more complete. The nutrition label scanner is a good idea but again it picks up wrong a lot of the time and requires correction. I was also coming to the end if the week and had been ‘saving’ my calories to have a relaxed weekend. I went to check the app to see how much of my weekly calories were remaining to eat over the weekend. The app couldn’t tell me the total calories used to date that week or how many were left. This is something very basic that would take the user time to calculate but could be done instantly by an app. Overall good idea but it’s just not worth that monthly fee to me with these limitations.

It’s a nice idea but it just doesn’t work. Pretty much every barcode I scan is not recognised. Searching by name rarely turn up the correct result. I have no problem with these functions on My Fitness Pal. Considering that carbon is double the cost of MFP, this is disappointing. Customer service couldn’t help me and refused to refund. I foolishly paid for a year up front. This app has been around for a few years now and the basic functionality still isn’t there. Don’t waste your money.

I’d imagine this is better for people in the US as the UK and Swiss Barcodes and produce don’t seem to work as well and so whilst I love Layne and his work, I will head back to MyFitnessPal.

Really easy to use, cheaper than the equivalent MyFitnessPal and I love the week to week adjustments to always keep you on track!

I’m in the UK and it has most items in its database. If there’s an item that it doesn’t recognise then I just use the free version MyFitnessPal to get the macros for the amount of grams I have weighed. I really like the user interface design and how easy it is to add foods that I’ve eaten on previous days.

Paid for this app and tried to join the online community. Answered the basic questions as requested e.g. “where did you hear about the app?” but told I couldn’t join with no reason given. If you’re looking for support/to be able to use the full features of this app (something that is crucial) I’d seriously suggest using a different app that you’re going to get your money’s worth from.

This has all the elements you you to effectively lose weight. The macros it set for me have worked really well, helping me lose fat whilst maintaining muscle mass, strength and energy. I genuinely thought it had set my calories per day as too high but it’s been spot on!! Highest recommendation.

I’m a coach that’s tried all the apps for both me and my clients. Carbon is the boss 💪🏼

Great app. Clean, easy to use and good science backed data. But for users outside of US it suffers a fatal flaw. The food database they use is FatSecret and locked to US foods only. Meaning the bar scanner fails 90% of the time. You can enter it manually but that becomes a pain after a while Even entries that are in the database are incorrect - as US versions often have different nutritional values then elsewhere. Hopefully a version update will add support for non-US food databases.

I always felt tracking macros would feel obsessive and be a frustrating task, and as I’ve always found it easy to stay at a weight I’m happy with I didn’t feel it was necessary, bur after starting to make great progress at the gym, I started to wonder if it could be worth the effort. When searching for the best app I then heard the makers of this app were interviewed by Andrew Huberman that was enough of a recommendation for me to try it. On my first day I hit all my macro targets and realised this was not only simple to do but it was actually a lot of fun. Two months on and I would never go back to not using this app. The difference in my look is clear to see and I’m constantly receiving flattering compliments at the gym. I’m eating better, I’ve stopped drinking other than the occasional social occasion and I feel so much better for this new lifestyle thanks to this app. 10/10.