Frequently Asked Questions

Look for the chat bubble in the bottom right corner of any page! Our support team is available through live chat to help you with any questions. You can also email us at support@eatomate.co.uk or visit our Support Center. The chat bubble is always there—just click it to start a conversation with our team.

Go to Settings → Household → "Invite Member". Enter their email address and they'll receive a magic link to join your household. They'll be able to track their own meals while sharing the same pantry and subscription. Each additional member costs £4.99/month. All household members can see shared meals and pantry inventory, but personal meals remain private.

This is a common situation! Go to Settings → Household → "Advanced Household Management" → "Merge Households". Enter the other founder's email address, and the system will check if the merge is possible. Both household founders will need to consent to the merge. Your accounts, pantry data, and meal history will be combined into one household. Note: Both households must be in TRIAL or ACTIVE status to merge.

Founders can split households by going to Settings → Household → "Advanced Household Management" → "Split Household". Select which members will leave to form a new household, choose who gets the pantry inventory, and confirm. All leaving members must consent to the split. If you're not the founder and want to leave, contact your household founder—only founders can initiate splits.

Yes! Children can absolutely use Eatomate through our helper relationship feature. Parents or guardians can track meals and nutrition on behalf of their children. Here's how it works: Add your child as a household member in the app, set up a parent-child helper relationship, and when scanning meals, use the account selector to choose who the meal is for. All meals are recorded to your child's account, giving them age-appropriate nutrition tracking with parental oversight. This is especially useful for children under 13 who may not have their own smartphone, or for parents who want to maintain visibility into their child's nutrition.

Eatomate supports helper relationships for exactly this scenario! Any household member with the app can track meals on behalf of someone without a smartphone. Common use cases include: elderly parents (adult children can track meals for parents who don't use smartphones), young children (parents can track nutrition for kids without devices), caregivers (track meals for anyone you're caring for), and spouses (help each other with meal tracking). When you scan a barcode or log a meal, simply use the account selector dropdown to choose which household member the meal is for. All nutrition data remains private to the user, even when tracked by a helper. To set this up, add the person as a household member and establish a helper relationship with the appropriate permissions (track meals, scan barcodes, view data).

Week 1-2: Weigh each meal type 3 times to calibrate your Gaussian portion models (mean ± std dev). Week 3+: The app predicts your top 10 likely meals at each meal time. 90% of the time your meal is in that list—just tap it (1 second). The calibrated portion is automatically applied. 9% of meals need a quick search (3 seconds), 1% need weighing (novel items, 30 seconds). Average: 1.5 seconds per meal. Physics-based reconciliation then corrects Gaussian estimates to ground truth (~95% accuracy by Week 4) using mass conservation when pantry items expire.

Weekly nutrition reports achieve 95% accuracy (95% confidence interval, 2σ) after just 4 weeks of using Eatomate. This is research-grade accuracy validated through Monte Carlo simulation with conservative parameters including hybrid restaurant meal errors (systematic + random). The system starts at ~85% in Week 1 and improves as it learns your specific recipes and cooking patterns. All measurements track weight in grams with statistical confidence intervals. Bayesian combination of multiple measurements (weight entries + pantry reconciliation + historical learning) progressively reduces uncertainty via Central Limit Theorem (CLT: σ/√N). Ready meal users (Mindful Chef, HelloFresh, Gousto) get instant 95%+ accuracy by scanning barcodes—no learning period needed with our 2M+ product database.

The accuracy percentage shows how accurate your total weekly nutrition intake is, not individual meals. It uses statistical error propagation with the Central Limit Theorem: when you track multiple meals per week, random errors cancel out through Gaussian distribution. Example: If 10 meals each have 5% individual error, your weekly total accuracy is 98.4% (5% ÷ √10 = 1.6% error). More meals = better weekly accuracy! Home meals use quadrature sum (errors add as √(Σe²) ÷ √N) because pantry reconciliation validates them. Restaurant meals use simple averaging since there's no ground truth. Barcode-only meals start at 99% (1% database nutrition error). The system aggregates over 1 week to give you honest, real-time accuracy without overhyping long-term CLT benefits.

Traditional apps require 2-3 minutes of manual searching and portion guessing per meal (42-63 min/week). Eatomate achieves 1.5 seconds per meal average (1.6 min/week total)—that's 30× faster. How? Week 1-2: Calibrate each meal type with 3 weigh-ins to learn Gaussian portions. Week 3+: Single-tap from predicted top 10 list (90% of meals). Physics-based reconciliation uses mass conservation (consumed = purchased - remaining - waste) to learn YOUR recipes (not generic) and correct Gaussian estimates to ground truth. Achieves ~95% accuracy by Week 4. Other apps guess portions; Eatomate measures ground truth.

Yes, for best accuracy. You can scan grocery receipts or scan individual barcodes to track your pantry. Your first receipt requires manual barcode matching (~100% initially, but as our user base grows, network effects will reduce this to ~10% for new users). Week 4: 95% auto-matched as intelligent caching learns YOUR specific shopping patterns (fuzzy trie with OCR-aware edit distance). Week 8: 100% auto-matched—zero manual scans needed for your regular groceries.

For items without barcodes, search for the item by name in our database and select the best match from the results. Then weigh the item on your kitchen scale and enter the weight in grams. The system matches against 50K+ recipes and 100K+ alternative names to find accurate nutrition data. This works for fresh produce, bulk items, and anything else without a barcode.

Eatomate automatically detects duplicate receipts by comparing store name, receipt number, purchase date, total amount, and line items. If you try to scan a receipt that may have already been scanned, the system will show a warning popup asking "This receipt may have already been scanned. Do you want to scan again?" You can choose to proceed if it's actually a different receipt, or cancel to avoid adding duplicate items to your pantry. This prevents accidental double-counting of groceries and maintains accurate pantry inventory.

Yes! When adding a meal, uncheck the 'from your home pantry?' checkbox (located at the top of the meal entry screen), then search for the dish in our database of 100K+ recipes and restaurant dishes. If you weigh it (takeaway container on scale), you get ~70% accuracy. If you don't weigh it, Mistral AI estimates a typical portion size, giving ~50% accuracy. This is lower than home cooking (95% via pantry reconciliation) but still useful for occasional restaurant meals.

Yes! The meal planner suggests mathematically-optimized meals based on your pantry inventory and preferences. It prioritizes ingredients expiring soon to minimize waste. For batch-cooked meals, you log each portion when eaten by searching and entering the weight. Reconciliation automatically validates that all logged portions sum correctly to the actual pantry depletion from when you cooked the batch.

The system will still match your search to our database of 100K+ recipes and common ingredients, but accuracy may be lower (~85% vs 95% weekly) without pantry reconciliation. You can manually add items or the system will prompt you when it detects missing ingredients during reconciliation.

Yes, but accuracy will be significantly lower (~70-80% vs 95% weekly). The reconciliation engine requires pantry data to work. You can manually add items, but receipt and barcode scanning is the fastest way to build your pantry.

When adding the meal, uncheck the 'from your home pantry?' checkbox (located at the top of the meal entry screen), then search for the meal in our database. If you can weigh it (e.g., takeaway container on a scale), you'll get ~70% accuracy. If you can't weigh it, Mistral AI estimates a typical portion size, giving ~50% accuracy. Lower than home cooking (95% via pantry reconciliation) since the system doesn't have access to their pantry, but still useful for tracking.

Yes! Scan snack barcodes when you buy them. For individual items without barcodes (fresh fruit, coffee, etc.), search for them in the database, weigh, and enter the weight. The system tracks everything from full meals to single items.

Week 1-2 (Calibration): Each person weighs their own portion 3 times to learn their individual Gaussian portion sizes. Week 3+: Each person single-taps their meal—the system auto-applies their calibrated portion (e.g., Dad: 350g curry, Mom: 250g curry, Kid: 150g curry). Reconciliation ensures all portions sum to the actual total consumed through pantry depletion tracking.

Staples (rice, dal, flour, pasta, etc.) don't expire quickly, so they need periodic rescanning to maintain accuracy. The system prompts you to rescan staples after 7+ days if they've been consumed by >20% and have >30 days until expiry. This quick rescan updates the remaining quantity and improves accuracy for meal predictions. You'll see an unobtrusive "Improve accuracy" banner showing how many staples are ready to rescan—tap it to weigh them again. This takes seconds and unlocks easy accuracy wins without the hassle of tracking every meal ingredient.

No! You only weigh 3 portions per meal type during the first 1-2 weeks to calibrate your portion sizes. After that, 90% of your meals are single-tap selections from a predicted top 10 list. The system learns your typical 202g chicken breast or 300g curry portion and applies it automatically. You only weigh again when trying a completely new meal or when intentionally recalibrating portion sizes for behavior change.

About 1.6 minutes per week total (96 seconds): Meal logging: 31 seconds (21 meals × 1.5 sec average), Receipt scan: 5 seconds (Mistral AI auto-maps items), Pantry maintenance: 60 seconds (reweigh ~5 staples/week). Compare to competitors: 42-63 minutes/week (2-3 min per meal × 21 meals). Eatomate is 30× faster because of single-tap meal logging, expiry-based auto-reconciliation, and network-effect receipt mapping.

After calibrating your portion sizes (3 weigh-ins per meal type), the app predicts your top 10 likely meals based on time of day, eating history, pantry inventory, and preferences. 90% of the time, your meal is in that list—just tap it. 9% of the time you search manually (3 seconds). 1% of the time you weigh a novel item (30 seconds). Weighted average: 1.5 seconds per meal.

No! Mistral AI automatically maps receipt line items to our ingredient taxonomy. The first time ANY user scans a receipt item (e.g., 'Tesco Whole Milk 2L'), Mistral maps it once and saves it to our database. All future users get instant mapping via network effects. By month 12, 95%+ of common items are pre-mapped, requiring zero manual work.

When you weigh the same meal 3 times (e.g., chicken breast: 195g, 210g, 200g), the system calculates your mean portion (202g) and standard deviation (±8g). This creates a Gaussian distribution for real-time meal logging estimation. BUT HERE'S THE KEY: These are just initial estimates. When pantry items expire (e.g., chicken package finishes), reconciliation uses physics (mass conservation) to calculate the TRUE consumption and retroactively corrects all historical meals with ground truth. Gaussian portions enable fast logging; reconciliation delivers research-grade accuracy (95%).

All features are included during your 14-day free trial. No credit card required. Cancel anytime with no penalties.

Yes! Add or remove household members anytime. Changes take effect immediately.

We accept all major credit and debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Amex) through Stripe. We do not store card details—Stripe handles all payment processing securely.

No. All plans are month-to-month or annual (prepaid). Cancel anytime with no penalties. Annual plans can be refunded within 14 days of the annual subscription payment.

Refunds are provided on a case-by-case basis within 14 days of payment. Contact support@eatomate.co.uk with your reason and we'll work with you.

Your subscription remains active until the end of your billing period. After that, you lose access to the Service but can re-subscribe anytime to restore your data (we retain your records for 90 days). This is different from deleting your account—canceling just stops payment while keeping your data safe for 90 days.

We don't offer subscription pausing. You can cancel your subscription anytime and re-subscribe later to restore your data (kept for 90 days after subscription ends).

Not currently. However, our household plan (£4.99/month per additional member) is already significantly discounted. Annual plans save 50% vs monthly.

Your subscription remains active until the end of your billing period. After that, you lose access but we retain your data for 90 days. Re-subscribe within 90 days to restore everything. This is subscription cancellation (90-day retention), not account deletion (30-day grace period).

Receipt scans (stored for 30 days then automatically deleted), barcode data, pantry inventory, meal logs, and nutrition history. We also collect account info (email, name, height/weight for calculations). See our Privacy Policy for complete details.

No. We do NOT sell your personal information to anyone. Your data is used only to provide the Service and improve prediction accuracy.

Data is stored on secure servers in the EU (GDPR compliant). All data is encrypted in transit (TLS) and at rest (AES-256). Receipt scans are deleted after 30 days.

Yes. Settings → Account → "Delete Account". You'll have a 30-day grace period to cancel the deletion. After 30 days, your personal data is permanently deleted per GDPR requirements.

CANCELING SUBSCRIPTION: You stop paying but your account remains. We keep your data for 90 days so you can re-subscribe and restore everything. DELETING ACCOUNT: You want to permanently leave. Your account enters a 30-day grace period, then all personal data is permanently deleted per GDPR. Cancel = pause with 90-day data retention. Delete = permanent with 30-day grace period.

No. All meals are private. Other household members cannot see your logged meals. Each member has their own accuracy calibration.

30 days maximum. Receipt scans are automatically deleted after 30 days for privacy and storage efficiency.

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iOS: iPhone 6S or newer with iOS 11+. Android: Most devices from 2018+ with Android 7.0+. Camera required for barcode and receipt scanning. A kitchen weighing scale is recommended for precise meal logging. Web dashboard works on all browsers.

Yes! All plans include CSV data export. Settings → Privacy → "Export My Data". You own your data and can take it anywhere.

No. Eatomate is NOT a medical device and does not provide medical advice. Always consult healthcare professionals before making dietary changes.

We do not offer API access. However, you can export your data manually (Settings → Privacy → Export My Data) for use in other applications or spreadsheets.

You can continue logging meals offline. They'll be queued and synced automatically once you reconnect. Barcode scanning and receipt OCR require internet connectivity.

The web dashboard works on any device for viewing analytics, managing settings, and exporting data. The mobile app (iOS 11+ or Android 7.0+) is recommended for meal logging, barcode scanning, and receipt scanning.

A kitchen weighing scale is highly recommended for precise meal logging. Any digital kitchen scale that displays weight in grams will work. The scale provides exact portion sizes, which is how Eatomate achieves research-grade accuracy.

The app uses approximately 500MB for the application and cached data.

Error bars show the uncertainty in your nutrition measurements using 2-sigma (95% confidence interval) ranges. For example, '250g ± 5g' means we're 95% confident the true value is between 245g and 255g. Different meal types have different uncertainty: Barcode scans are most accurate (±1%), home-cooked meals with weighing are moderate (±30%), and restaurant meals without weighing have higher uncertainty (±50%). This research-grade statistical approach honestly reflects real measurement limitations rather than showing false precision. The error bars get smaller as the system learns your specific cooking patterns through Bayesian reconciliation.