MyFitnessPal Integrates AI for Personalized Meal Planning Following Startup Acquisition

MyFitnessPal to offer personalized AI meal planning after buying startup

MyFitnessPal, the food- and calorie-tracking app, bought an artificial intelligence startup and will soon debut AI-powered meal plans, a feature the company hopes will boost signups and subscriptions. The acquisition of meal-planning startup Intent closed last year for an undisclosed sum and has not been previously reported. MyFitnessPal began integrating Intent's software features into its own app last fall, CEO Mike Fisher said in an interview. The updated app will be able to generate personalized meal plans using an extensive recipe database while taking into account users' stated allergens, calorie targets, dietary and protein preferences, household sizes and other settings, he said. Users can sign up now for a waitlist to be notified about the launch, he said, adding that it will roll out more broadly in "late spring" as part of a new $99.99 "Premium Plus" annual subscription. It will be available starting in the U.S., UK, Canada, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. The move would help MyFitnessPal capitalize on a consumer shift to making more health-conscious choices, which has fueled the rise of weight-loss drugs and new product categories like healthful sodas and non-alcoholic wine. The spring launch would also coincide with a period when the app typically sees a "large jump" in subscribers, said Fisher, who expects the new meal-planning feature to lift registrations and paid subscribers by "several percentage points" apiece. Based in Austin, Texas, MyFitnessPal has more than 270 million users and is ranked third in the free health and fitness app category on Apple's U.S. App Store. It allows users to log daily consumption using 18 million items in its food database, and see how that aligns with their nutritional goals. The app currently provides nudges, say, if you're low on daily protein intake, or if you've consumed fatty content that exceeds your limit, but it does not actively provide tailored recommendations for what to eat. The deal marks MyFitnessPal's first acquisition since it was sold to private equity firm Francisco Partners by Under Armour for $345 million in 2020, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. More than 81% of MyFitnessPal users were interested in learning how to create healthier meals, and 84% wanted a meal-planning feature, Fisher said, citing a user survey the firm conducted. "We realize this is an area that we could better serve our customers and by doing so, help them achieve their goals," he said. Fisher, a former U.S. Army pilot, joined the company in January 2024 after serving in various executive roles including as chief technology officer at Etsy. While MyFitnessPal has historically worked with registered dietitians, it embarked on a search for technical expertise on meal planning after gauging user demand for such a feature. The firm approached Intent, a startup founded by Harvard graduates Will Sun and Peter Zhang in 2020. The app has a 4.8-star rating on Apple's App Store and saw exponential growth in its early years: Its monthly active users grew more than six times in 2022 from the prior year, according to data from Sensor Tower. Monthly active users rose to an average of more than 131,000 in 2023 before MyFitnessPal acquired Intent in June. The six-person staff at Intent has since joined MyFitnessPal's engineering, product and marketing teams and has been rebuilding their application inside the food-tracking app, Fisher said. Listening to customers through user surveys "helps guide our road map," Fisher said, adding that the company is focused on long-term growth rather than building features to push for a sale in the short term. "Things like this allow us to put more resources back in the company just a bit faster and better for our customers," he said.

MyFitnessPal to Offer Personalized AI Meal Planning After Quietly Buying Startup

MyFitnessPal, the food and calorie-tracking app, bought an artificial intelligence startup and will soon debut AI-powered meal plans, a feature the company hopes will boost sign-ups and subscriptions. The acquisition of meal-planning startup Intent closed last year for an undisclosed sum and has not been previously reported. MyFitnessPal began integrating Intent's software features into its own app last fall, Chief Executive Officer Mike Fisher said in an interview. The updated app will be able to generate personalized meal plans using an extensive recipe database while taking into account users' stated allergens, calorie targets, dietary and protein preferences, household sizes and other settings, he said.

MyFitnessPal is going to let AI play your nutrionist

MyFitnessPal, a popular, free food logging app, is getting into AI, specifically letting AI plan your meals for you. Following an acquisition of a startup called Intent, MyFitnessPal is adding an AI-generated meal planning feature for subscribers. The meal plans the updated MyFitnessPal app will be able to create take into account subscribers' "goals, preferences, dietary habits, and routines," according to MyFitnessPal, via information the app already has on you, and what looks like a survey. The feature will also be part of an end-to-end experience. Any plan the app creates can be automatically translated into a grocery list for the next time you're at the store, or an order to a grocery delivery service if you'd prefer to do as little as possible. Given the sheer number of recipe and diet videos you can stumble upon across social media, trying to simplify the process of planning what you're going to eat makes sense. Using AI to do it does seem like it could have some unintended consequences, though. Knowing AI's ability to hallucinate, even if MyFitnessPal isn't generating recipes from scratch, it still feels like you could end up with some oddball meal combinations or incorrect grocery lists. The only way to know for sure is to try the AI meal planner for yourself, and if you're interested, you can already sign-up for a waitlist so you're able to try it out as soon as its available. MyFitnessPal says meal planning will officially launch in the spring in the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and require joining a new $99.99 annual subscription tier called "Premium+" to use.

MyFitnessPal enlists the help of AI to cook up personalized meal plans for you

In addition to meal planning, it appears the AI will also be used to streamline meal logging, automatically create grocery lists, and simplify ingredient ordering with an add-to-cart function for major e-retailers. "This integration allows us to offer a unique experience where we are able to not only enhance our existing platform but also attract new users who see meal planning as a crucial step in their health journeys," said Mike Fisher, CEO of MyFitnessPal.

AI meal planning is coming to MyFitnessPal, but you'll have to shell out for it

Use Samsung's AirTag rival with any Android phone using this app Summary The popular food tracking app MyFitnessPal has acquired AI meal-planning startup Intent and will soon launch a 'Premium Plus' subscription with personalized meal plans based on user preferences, dietary restrictions, and calorie goals. Beyond personalized meal plans, the Premium Plus tier will also offer automated grocery lists and a more efficient method for logging food intake, plus ingredient ordering from major e-retailers. This new tier, launching later this spring, will be priced at $100 per year, a $20 increase over the current Premium plan. If you actively work out, are trying to lose weight, ensuring that you're getting the right amount of macro and micro nutrients, or just simply trying to log your eating habits, you've definitely heard of MyFitnessPal. The app is the cream of the crop when it comes to food and exercise tracking, offering free and paid plans with varying functionality. With its free version, users get to log and track their weight, food, and exercise, track their daily steps, try out meal plans, and more. Its paid plans, on the other hand, include advanced features like barcode scanning, custom macro tracking, no ads, custom workouts, and a lot more. Related Best nutrition and diet tracking apps on Android in 2024 You are what you eat Posts The application was acquired by private equity firm Francisco Partners back in 2020, from Under Armour, with Francisco Partners now making acquisitions of its own too. In a bid to bolster the app's AI offering, MyFitnessPal has acquired AI meal-planning startup Intent. The previously undisclosed acquisition reportedly closed last year for an undisclosed sum, while Intent's suite of features began making their way to MyFitnessPal in the fall of 2024 (at least on the back end). The new AI-powered features will be offered under a new 'Premium Plus' plan later this spring, and users can currently sign up for a waitlist to be notified. Premium Plus comes at a $20 premium Source: MyFitnessPal The new AI plan will be available in the US, UK, Canada, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, at least initially, boasting the ability to generate personalized meal plans while taking the user's calorie targets, dietary and protein preferences, household size, and allergens into consideration. Elsewhere, the plan will also unlock automated grocery lists to simplify shopping, offer a more streamlined way of food logging (unclear how), alongside ingredient ordering in partnership with "major e-retailers." According to the report, the app typically sees a "large jump" in subscribers every spring, which could be the reason why the app is currently holding back on the features. Once available, the new Premium Plus plan will reportedly set users back by $100 annually. For reference, the app's current 'Premium' plan costs $80 annually.