Looking for a cheaper diet app than WW or Noom? Try Healthi (formerly iTrackBites)

Diet apps and subscriptions like Weight Watchers (WW) and Noom are so expensive. And trying to diet by yourself can be a challenging situation.

If you are searching for a cheaper diet app, let us introduce you to Healthi (previously branded iTrackBites.)

Suggested reading:

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• How to cancel Weight Watchers subscriptions on your Apple iPhone or Android phone
• How to cancel Noom on your iPhone or Android device
• Want to be healthier? Listen to these 17 health and wellness podcasts
• The 9 best iPhone and Apple Watch apps for vegans and vegetarians

What is Healthi (formerly called iTrackBites)?

Healthi is a health, wellness, and dieting app for Android and Apple iOS devices that offers weight loss and management tips, plans, recipes, and inspiration. It also tracks your activity, food intake, and other health-related information.

Plus, the app offers all members access to its extensive and growing six million+ Food Library to track all the foods in a meal easily. 

Healthi offers a variety of meal and lifestyle plans to choose from like, limiting sugar, cutting down on carbs, portion control, and more. While most plans are available to free and paid members, there are a few limited to paid Pro members only. 

Healthi uses a point system to calculate your daily calories and nutrients!

Like the WW program, Healthi uses a point system to track your food and activity. Their point system is called bites.

The lower the BITE NUMBER, the more food is in line with your plan. And some foods, primarily vegetables without added sugar or oil, are even assigned no BITES (zero bite foods)! 

Bite values are customized for each plan

One thing that’s really important to know is that the BITE values differ depending on your chosen plan.

So if you are following the Sugar Smart plan, a food like Soy Milk maybe three bites in that plan but two bites in the better balance plan. 

And what’s a zero-bite food in one plan may not be a zero-bite food in another.

How Healthi assigns you BITES 

Healthi asks us to think of BITES like your savings account at the bank.

You get a daily BITES point allowance, a weekly extra BITES allowance, plus BITE points for activity if you allow Healthi to track your activity & exercise using data from Apple’s Health app or Fitbit (Pro feature only.)

How you spend your BITES each day is up to you and likely differs day-to-day.

If you have a special event or a big weekend planned where you know you’re going to eat a high-bite-valued food, you’ll want to ensure you have enough bite points banked for that food.

That may mean you are more active that week to earn more BITES or use fewer BITES throughout the week and bank them (save them) for the weekend’s event!

Once the event comes, you have the bites available to spend and debit from your savings!

These extra BITE allowances are calculated at the start of every week to account for your progress.

Don’t like tracking points and would instead simply track your calorie intake?

If you dislike the point system, you can switch to traditional calorie counting using the Calorie Command plan.

If you use MyFitnessPal, Healthi’s calorie plan is very similar to the basic, free version of MFP.

There’s a Healthi social and supportive community too!

The app also offers a community aspect, including a news feed and different groups to join.

Free members can read only. If you want to join the conversation and share your thoughts and experiences, you’ll need to upgrade to the paid pro plan.

You can also invite your friends to help you, and them stay motivated and on point with your wellness and weight loss journey!

When you sign up for Healthi, you also get a variety of email content from them, in addition to everything available in the app.

Healthi sends out newsletters about updated features in the app, blog posts, tips, and more.

Let’s take a deeper look at the free and pro versions of Healthi.

Healthi Free vs. Pro Version

Healthi Free Version

If you are the type of user who doesn’t need all the extra add-ons that most dieting apps offer, you’ll be satisfied with the free version of the Healthi app.

The free version includes the standard meal and activity tracking service and the awesome and convenient barcode scanner.

Free members can choose from most meal plans, including Sugar Smart, Conquer Cravings, Carb Conscious, and Calorie Command.

You also get limited access to their food guides and databases.

If you want access to things like the restaurant, snack, and beer guides or the recipe builder and online food database, you’ll need to pay a one-time fee of anywhere between $2-6. Or, of course, upgrade to the Pro plan (which might be cheaper in the end.)

Integrate with your activity tracker or apps

Getting your activity information into Healthi is much easier for folks using iPhones than Android. That’s because, at this time, you can only sync Healthi with your iPhone’s Health app data to track your activity information easily. And this integration is included as part of the free version!

Plus, if you use other fitness apps, like Strava, make sure you add those to Apple Health, too, so all that activity information flows to Healthi.

Android folks are out of luck with automatic activity integration in the free plan but can upgrade to the paid Pro plan to track steps automatically using the Fitbit app, even if they don’t have a Fitbit!

The good news is that anyone can manually add their exercises and other activities into the app using the track button and, choosing an activity, then entering the duration.

Want to track your Fitbit activity automatically in Healthi?

If you use a Fitbit, you’ll need the paid Pro version to get those steps automatically added to Healthi.

You don’t even need a Fitbit device to track steps. Install the Fitbit app and turn on Mobile Track to track your steps using your phone, or connect the Fitbit app to your favorite exercise apps!

Finally, with the free version, you can join some of the online groups and have access to read the Healthi news feed. But that’s pretty much all you get.

Healthi Pro Subscription

Now, if you want more features from your dieting app, you’ll be impressed with Healthi’s paid Pro membership subscription.

In addition to the standard meal and activity tracking service, you also get the voice tracking service. And you also get additional health information like a full breakdown of the foods you track, including macro tracking for protein, fats, carbs, and calories.

You can also access two additional diet plans: Better Balance and Keto.

Plus, you also get access to their full restaurant, snack, and beer/alcohol database and guides.

The Pro subscription also includes their recipe builder and the complete database. Plus, Healthi PRO members can access Healthi Meal Plans to create, add, share, and change Meal Plans at any time.

The Pro subscription also allows you to sync your Fitbit activity tracker to your Healthi account. You can export your Healthi data too.

If you enjoy being active in an online health and fitness community, you also get that access in the Pro version. Only Pro members can comment, follow, engage, interact, and participate in the app’s Community (free members can read only.)

You can post updates and leave comments on the message boards, interact with groups, and create content in your Healthi newsfeed.

The Pro subscription service costs $59.99 a year. However, Healthi does offer promotions when you first join. You can get the first year for 50% off. And throughout the year, Healthi offers promotions as low as $19.99/year–look for these specials around the holidays.

Healthi (iTrackBites) vs. Weight Watchers (WW)

Healthi and WW are very similar services. The Healthi app can track using food score values (points like WW) or calories. If you use or previously used the WW app, moving to Healthi is really easy (and vice-versa.)

Both offer a point system for food tracking that is pretty much identical. And both offer a barcode scanner–it’s even part of the free plan on Healthi!

There are different plans you can choose from on both apps. But the Healthi app Pro membership offers a lot more variety regarding their meal plan options. 

The main differences between these two apps are the fitness devices and apps they directly support, how much they cost, and the in-person workshops, one-on-one coaching, and guided support that the WW offers if you sign up for their Digital 360 or Unlimited Workshops + Digital plans.

The WW app also supports and connects to more fitness apps, trackers, and watches, including Apple Health, Fitbit, Google Fit, Withings, Misfit, Garmin, MapMyRun, or Daily Burn. Healthi currently works with Fitbit (Pro membership) and the Apple Health app (all members, including free.)

The pricing for WW is different for everyone, and it can range from anywhere between $25 to $60 a month, depending on which program you choose. While Healthi charges a flat rate of $59.99 per year (and half off for your first year.)

Although Healthi doesn’t have the in-person workshops, one-on-one coaches, and the robust community that WW offers in its app, there is a community section in the Healthi app with specific support groups. Healthi also has a Facebook group where users share their stories, helpful tips on how to use the app, and other things to help you stay motivated.

If you consider joining WW, but the cost keeps you back, you’re better off trying Healthi instead.

Healthi (iTrackBites) vs. MyFitnessPal

The wonderful thing about Healthi and MyFitnessPal is they offer free plans so that folks can use their services without a monthly or yearly membership fee.

We’ve used both apps and found a lot of similarities between MFP and the Calorie Command option offered by Healthi. Both offer a barcode scanner for the free plan members to scan the UPC codes of foods. And both have an extensive food database to select foods from, so you don’t need to enter label information.

The biggest plus of MyFitnessPal is that it integrates with many fitness devices and apps and does so for all members, free and paid. And MFP also calculates those macros for protein, sugar, fats, and carbs at the free level.

If you like a points plan and want to structure your dieting plan around a food model, like watching your sugar or carbs, then Healthi is the way to go, even at the free level. MyFitnessPal does not offer points or curated plans.

In terms of the price of the paid premium subscription, Healthi reigns as the most affordable, with the first year at $29.99, while MFP offers a yearly plan at $79.99 (and monthly at $19.99.)

Healthi (iTrackBites) vs. Noom

Now, Noom and Healthi do have plenty of differences. Noom is a unique dieting app.

It focuses primarily on calorie counting and the psychology behind dieting. But these two apps do share some similarities.

One thing Noom focuses on in its app is caloric density. They want their users to focus on eating foods with a lower caloric density and assign a color to different foods.

While this isn’t a prominent feature of Healthi, you can get the full caloric breakdown of everything you track with the Pro version, which is convenient.

But, just like WW, Noom is also very expensive. Noom costs $59 per month. For that cost, you get a full year on Healthi.

Final Thoughts

Healthi is an excellent option if you are searching for a dieting app or subscription at an affordable price.

You can use the free version without feeling so restricted. And if you want the extra features, the cost of the app isn’t so steep.

Like every dieting app, it all depends on how much effort you decide to put in. If you put in the effort, the better results you get.

After using Noom, WW, and Healthi, I think it’s clear that Healthi has the best overall value. I invested in the year-long subscription, and so far, I have enjoyed using it. 

To me, the Healthi point system is a little more forgiving compared to WW. But we’ll see how it goes!

Have you tried Healthi (iTrackBites) or any other diet apps that are currently available? Let us know your thoughts and tips below.