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Logging with photos

Sometimes describing a meal is more work than snapping it. Attach a photo in chat and Ember identifies what's on the plate, estimates portions, and logs it — with the photo saved on the entry so you can recognize it later.

How to do it​

  • In chat (iPhone and web) — attach a photo to your message. You can send it alone or with context: "lunch", "logged half of this", "the bowl on the left is mine".
  • On a food entry (iPhone) — the food editor also lets you add a photo directly to an entry with Choose Photo or Take Photo. (The web food form doesn't take photos — use chat there.)

The coach reads the photo, works out the foods and portion sizes, and logs the entry. If it saves the photo with the log, you'll see it on your dashboard.

Getting better estimates​

Photo estimation is genuinely useful but not magic — it's judging portions from pixels. You can make it much more accurate:

  • Add the context the camera can't see — cooking oil, butter, dressings, what's inside the sandwich, whether that's oat or whole milk.
  • Include the label when it's packaged — a photo of the nutrition panel beats any estimate.
  • Shoot from a helpful angle — slightly above the plate, decent lighting, the whole dish in frame.
  • Correct it in one sentence — "that was actually two cups of rice" and the coach updates the entry.

Privacy​

Meal photos are stored privately in your account and shown only to you and your coach. Deleting a food entry removes it from your log; deleting your account removes your photos with everything else — see Account & data.