Apps for logging meals with a friend: Proud and 3 more

What is Proud?

Proud is a free iPhone app for logging meals with one person who is on your side. You take a photo of the meal in front of you, add a short note if you have words for it, and one buddy you chose sees it. They can send a Proud back with one tap. That is the whole loop, and Proud keeps it deliberately small.

Proud has no calorie counting anywhere in it: no calories, no macros, no weights, no BMI and no portion sizes. There is no feed, no followers and no algorithm deciding who sees you. Proud counts one thing, the days you showed up, and everything else is a meal and a person.

You pair with your buddy by six character code, invite link or username, and both of you have to agree. Nobody is ever matched with you automatically, and either of you can unpair at any time. Proud is built by one person, Theo Apteker, and launched in December 2025.

Why people choose Proud for logging meals with a friend

Most apps that let you share a meal were built for something else first. Proud was built for this, so the sharing is the app rather than a setting inside it:

• The friend is the point. In Proud, every meal you log goes to your buddy. There is no step where you decide who might see it, because the answer is always the same one person.
• Nobody else is watching. Proud has no feed, no followers and no public profile. No stranger can find your account, and your buddy cannot invite a crowd.
• You both have to agree. Pairing in Proud needs a yes from both of you, and either of you can unpair whenever you want.
• A reply that takes one tap. Your buddy sends a Proud back without having to find the right words. Proud also lets you add a short note when you do have words.
• No numbers to compare. Proud shows no calories or amounts, so there is nothing to measure each other against. The Proud streak counts days, and with Proud Plus you can declare up to two rest days a week.
• Private by design. Every photo in Proud is scanned for safety before your buddy sees it. Proud carries no advertising and does not sell data.
• Free where it matters. Logging meals, pairing and sending Prouds cost nothing. Proud Plus is $19.99 a year with a three day free trial, and Proud runs on iPhones with iOS 15.1 or later.

Proud and the alternatives at a glance

What makes a good app for logging meals with a friend?

A good app makes the sharing easy and keeps control of it with you. The questions worth asking are who exactly can see a meal, whether the friend has to do anything to take part, and whether the app adds numbers or a crowd you did not ask for. The apps below answer those in quite different ways, from one chosen person to a whole follower list to anyone holding a link.

The apps, Proud first

1. Proud: one friend, chosen by you, and nothing else

Proud is the app where logging a meal with a friend is the whole design. You log a meal, your buddy sees it, and they send a Proud back. Pairing needs a yes from both of you, so nobody is added to your plate without agreeing, and the pair is exactly two people.

Proud suits people who find that eating regularly is easier when somebody notices. It has no group, no community, no leaderboard and no strangers. There are no calories, macros, weights or portion sizes anywhere in the app, and no setting that turns them on. Consistency shows up as a streak of days with room for rest days, and Proud Plus adds Bloom, the full Learn library, Mend a day and a Home Screen widget.

Proud is free to use on iPhone with iOS 15.1 or later. It is not on Android, and it works for exactly one friend at a time.

2. See How You Eat: a photo food diary you can share

See How You Eat is a photo food diary. Its App Store listing says you can log meals in two taps, set meal reminders, and that it is "Simple to share your food logs with your coach or friends". It describes itself as a way to track meals and eat regularly "without calorie counting", and it offers 14 day challenges.

Sharing here is an extra on a personal diary. The listing and its version notes describe sending the diary to a coach, dietitian, doctor or friend, rather than a built in buddy who sees every meal. It is free to download and then runs on a subscription with a seven day free trial, with several plan prices on its listing. It needs iOS 15.0 or later and comes in 13 languages. Its privacy label lists purchases, contact info, identifiers, usage data and other data under data used to track you.

Good fit if you already work with a coach or dietitian and want one diary to show them, with a friend as an occasional extra.

3. SpoonMe: a food journal with a feed

SpoonMe is a food journal that is also a social feed. Its listing describes taking pictures of your food, saving recipes into cookbooks, planning meals for the week with people you share plans with, and following friends to see what they are cooking. Posts can be limited to followers or shown to everyone, and a public profile shares posts with the wider SpoonMe community.

SpoonMe says it is not a calorie tracking app, "although you can track your calories", so figures are one tap away. It is free to download and describes itself as a one time purchase app; its listing shows a lifetime purchase at $29.99 and family plans. Its privacy label lists no data used to track you. It needs iOS 17.0 or later.

Good fit if you want to swap recipes and meal plans with several friends and are comfortable with a feed.

4. FoodView: a photo diary you share by link

FoodView is a photo food diary built to be quick. Its listing says there is no calorie tracking, barcode scanning or manual data entry, and that the photos are saved to the cloud and can be shared with friends and professionals through a link. It adds that photos "are not sent anywhere unless you share them" and that there are no ads.

Anyone holding the link can see what you shared, so it works as a way to show someone a stretch of meals rather than a back and forth with a friend. The app is free with no in-app purchases listed, needs iOS 15.0 or later, and its privacy label lists no data used to track you. Its listing says a diary can help when talking with doctors, dietitians or other health professionals.

Good fit if you want a simple photo record that you hand to someone now and then.

Price, side by side

Proud is free to use. The core loop of logging a meal, pairing with a buddy, keeping a streak and sending Prouds costs nothing, and Proud Plus is $19.99 a year with a three day free trial.

FoodView lists no in-app purchases. SpoonMe is free to download and lists a one time lifetime purchase at $29.99 alongside family plans. See How You Eat is free to download, then asks for a subscription after a seven day trial, with several plans on its listing.

Prices are set through the App Store and can differ by country. Check the listing on your own phone before you pay for anything.

Privacy, side by side

The App Store privacy label is the one place every app describes its data the same way. On 19 October 2026, Proud, SpoonMe and FoodView listed nothing under "Data Used to Track You". See How You Eat listed purchases, contact info, identifiers, usage data and other data there.

Who sees your meals is the other half of privacy. In Proud exactly one person sees them. SpoonMe can show posts to followers or everyone, FoodView shows them to whoever has your link, and See How You Eat shares with whoever you choose to send the diary to.

When Proud is the better choice

Proud is the better choice if what you want is one friend who sees your meals every day and nobody else. The other apps here let you share a meal; Proud is the one where sharing with a chosen person is the entire app.

Proud is also the better fit if you:

• want no calorie or macro figures anywhere, not even behind a setting
• want a friend to reply with one tap, and a streak that counts days with room for rest days
• want no feed, followers or link that others could pass around
• have an older iPhone, since Proud runs on iOS 15.1 or later

When the other apps are the better choice

Each of the other three is the better choice for a different kind of sharing. If you work with a coach or dietitian, See How You Eat is built to hand a diary to them. If you want a circle of friends swapping recipes and meal plans, SpoonMe is made for that and Proud deliberately is not. If you only want a quiet photo record to show someone now and then, FoodView does that for free.

They are also the better fit if you:

• want to share with more than one person, since Proud pairs exactly two
• want recipes, cookbooks or shared meal plans in the same app
• want calorie figures available, which SpoonMe keeps as an option
• want a diary you control without a second person involved at all

If logging with someone feels hard

Some people find that sharing meals, even with a friend, brings up more than they expected. If that sounds familiar, you do not have to sort it out alone. A dietitian or therapist who works with eating can help, and the resources at the bottom of this page are there any time you need them.