Improve the food database / comparison with myfitnesspal food database

Hello Fitbit people 🙂

 

Why is the food database have such poor content?

 

I regularly travel between the UK and Russia and have found that the food database is not perfect for the UK and non-existent for Russia. Even in the countries I stop it in between UK and RU don't have a good food database.

 

As a result of this I've started using myfitnesspal to log my foods as so far it is 100% perfect.

 

Examples:

  • Last weekend I went to McDonalds in Moscow and had a Greek Mac. Does this exist in the Fitbit database? No. Does it exist in the myfitnesspal database? Yes, there is even a Belgian variant listed!
  • Recently I had a box of 3 KFC Chicken Strips. Does KFC Chicken Strips exist in the Fitbit database? No. Does it exist in the myfitnesspal database? Yes it does.

Come on Fitbit people, you sell fitness trackers and calorie counting is a huge part of that process. myfitnesspal don't and yet they can afford a much MUCH better food database.

 

Find out where they got their database from and buy and impliment the same. Please Man Happy

 

Moderator's edit: Labels

21 Comments
CMDH
Recovery Runner
Inputting todays protein shake makes me want to stop tracking food:<br><br>Trader Joe's Vitamin D Milk — not found in database<br>Trader Joe's Greek Style Nonfat Yogurt Plain — not found in database<br>Trader Joe's Fancy Berry Medley — not found in database<br>Garden of Life Raw Protein — not found in database<br>Trader Joe's Peanut Butter — incorrect potassium count<br>Zico Coconut Water — incorrect potassium count<br><br>That's the entire shake. Not one issue-less ingredient.<br><br>Nutrition is half the battle!! Maybe it's time to think about partnering with Fat Counter or other food tracking apps.
disassemblage
First Steps

I've been longing for them to figure out how to partner with MyFitnessPal's food database.  It's much more comprehensive. 

Michele-4444
Jogger

I also really like Calorie King database!  Why re-invent the wheel?

CMDH
Recovery Runner

Agreed!! A partnership seems SO beneficial. Why make this so difficult?

Kevalicious99
Tempo Runner

My Fitness Pal is the way to go when it comes to food logging. You can link it with your Fitbit account.

CMDH
Recovery Runner

I use Fat Counter and it's great. But I paid for a Fitbit, which claims it tracks food as well as steps, etc. Why should I have two apps that do what one says it will?

patti8555
Recovery Runner
I have linked my fitness pal with my Fitbit....l to do not like the food choices in the Fitbit menue
BMcc
Recovery Runner

I agree with all the above comments surely can't be that difficult to all share a common database.  Obv like everyone else I have linked to MyFitnessPal.  They must be getting good advertising revenues from us all!!

Status changed to: Reviewed By Moderator
LanuzaFitbit
Premium User
Fitbit Moderator
Fitbit Moderator

Nice suggestion, thanks for sharing. We look forward to hearing what other community members think.

daakrd
Keeping Pace

Same here. I have lots of difficulties keeping myself motivated to log food when I can't find any product I consume...

Amanarneja
First Steps

Ignore this comment. Was trying to comment on a different suggestion and was redirected here in error

Supersamx
First Steps
Food logging is a big part of my journey as food is my biggest weak point.
I bought the Fitbit to help track everything but it seems I can’t get an accurate idea of my data unless I used my fitness pal to log my food which completely defeats the purpose of buying the Fitbit, I bought the Fitbit as it advertised to be able to everything in 1 spot.
YojanaFitbit
Moderator Alum
Moderator Alum

Hi @Supersamx, thanks for explaining why you would like to have the option to improve the food database comparison with Myfitnesspal food database. Thanks for sharing your feedback. I've moved it into a similar request.  A lot of users are asking for this option, I hope we receive updates soon.

sthrh
First Steps
Please do a massive update on the food database. I've been a Fitbit owner since the One came out and have always found the food database lacking. I just used Noom for a couple of months and their food database is so much more complete and accurate. I want to go back to just tracking via Fitbit but it's so bad.
YojanaFitbit
Moderator Alum
Moderator Alum

Hi @sthrh, thanks for explaining why you would like to have the option to see improvements on Fitbit food database. Thanks for sharing your feedback. I've moved it into a similar request.  A lot of users are asking for this option, I hope we receive updates soon.

Kstenman
Jogger
Make more than us items available. MyFitnessPal has an extensive database. Cooperation maybe?
YojanaFitbit
Moderator Alum
Moderator Alum

Hi @Kstenman, thanks for explaining why you would like to have the option to improve US food database . Thanks for sharing your feedback. I've moved it into a similar request.  A lot of users are asking for this option, I hope we receive updates soon.

jlaughl
Jogger
Begging the developers at Fitbit to please improve the food tracking portion of the app. It is not only very clunky but the choices are very limited and do not include some of the most basic foods found 'out to eat". It also doesn't allow you to build your own meal and document calories, fat, carbs, protein...which would be nice.
YojanaFitbit
Moderator Alum
Moderator Alum

Hi @jlaughl, thanks for taking the time to share this suggestion about improving Fitbit food database. I've moved it into a similar request. You can learn more about how Fitbit decides what suggestions get released in our FAQs.

 

Thank you again for your participation in the Feature Suggestions Forums.

luketoms
Jogger

I agree, the UK Food Database Fitbit uses is very poor and - especially now being Google's go-to fitness suite - needs to be improved to bring it inline with MyFitnessPal.

 

The current database is just bonkers! If it does recognise a product by its barcode, the nutritional information is usually incorrect.

 

Nic_
Recovery Runner

There have been many posts over at least the last 7 years with people asking Fitbit to moderate the food database or at least allow us to flag incorrect entries. Some of the entries are ridiculously inaccurate. Fitbit didn't care then, they probably don't care now. The only way to manage your food database when Fitbit fails to is to create custom foods and find your own nutrition information. Either that, or as the Fitbit forum moderators suggest, use another app to log your foods. I don't know why a company would encourage their customers to leave and use a different company for a working product instead of fixing their own product, but I guess that's capitalism? 🤦‍:female_sign:😕

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