Search Food
Search thousands of foods and brands, then choose a serving and quantity. Starting an online search requires Pro.
Best when you know the food or brand name.
Cholesterol TrackerBack to home Complete app guide
Everything you need
to track a meal.
This guide follows the app screen by screen. Start with the quick answer below, or use the contents to learn search, scanning, Quick Log, Diary, goals, Stats, reminders, and Health sync.
Show the logging steps
The short answer
To log a food and change Today’s total:
- Open Diary, tap the blue +, then choose Search Food.
- Type a food, press Search on the keyboard, and tap a result.
- Set Quantity, Serving, Date, and Meal.
- Check the cholesterol amount shown, then tap the orange Log Food button at the bottom.
- Return to Diary. The entry should appear under its meal and Today’s total should update.
Important: selecting a food, changing its serving, or tapping “Log More” does not replace the final save action. In the current app, use Log Food on the detail screen.
Choose a method
Four ways to add food.
All four methods create an entry in your Diary, but they start from different information.
Quick Log
Enter a food name and its dietary cholesterol directly in milligrams. No serving or macro data is required.
Best when the label already tells you the cholesterol amount.Snap Food
Photograph a meal or choose a picture, add optional details, and review the app’s estimate before logging.
Best when searching each ingredient would take too long.Snap Nutrition Label
Capture a nutrition label, review the extracted serving and nutrient values, and correct anything before saving.
Best for packaged food with a readable label.Where to find them: open Diary and tap the blue + button. Search Food opens all four choices near the top: Quick Log, Snap Food, and Snap Nutrition Label, plus the search field.
Method 1
Search and log a database food.
Use this when you want serving-based nutrition from a food or brand result.
- 1
Open Search Food
From Diary, tap the blue + and choose Search Food. You can also tap Add Food on a meal card.
- 2
Type and submit
Enter a food or brand in “Search for any food or brand..” and press Search on the keyboard. Online database search requires Pro; the app shows the upgrade screen if it is unavailable.
- 3
Choose the closest result
Tap a result to open Log Food. Review the food name and the highlighted cholesterol, calories, carbs, protein, and fat.
- 4
Set Quantity and Serving
Quantity is the number of selected servings. Use the stepper or type a decimal, then choose the correct serving from the menu. The nutrition values update when either changes.
- 5
Check Date and Meal
Date includes both day and time. Meal can be None, Breakfast, Lunch, Snack, or Dinner. Choosing a meal makes the Diary easier to read.
- 6
Save it
Tap Log Food in the bottom bar. The star beside it saves the food as a Favorite for faster reuse. Cancel closes the screen without logging.
Confirmation: after a successful save, the detail screen closes and a green “Food Logged” banner appears in Search Food.
Follow the screens
Reuse food without searching again
When the search field is empty, the app shows three lists:
- Frequent appears after the same food has been logged at least twice.
- Favorites contains foods you marked with the star (or heart in Quick Log).
- My Foods contains foods created through manual logging.
Tap any item, adjust its date, meal, quantity, or serving, and tap Log Food. This creates a new Diary entry; it does not overwrite the earlier one.
Method 2
Use Quick Log for a known mg amount.
Quick Log is the shortest path when you already know the dietary cholesterol value.
- 1
Open Quick Log
Tap the blue + on Diary and choose Quick Log, or open Search Food and tap Quick Log near the top.
- 2
Enter a Food name
A name is required. For example: “Scrambled eggs.” If the name is blank, the app closes without creating a saved entry.
- 3
Choose Date and Meal Type
Set when you ate it and optionally assign Breakfast, Lunch, Snack, or Dinner. Leave Meal Type as None to group it by time of day.
- 4
Enter Cholesterol (mg)
Enter the total dietary cholesterol for the amount you ate—not an LDL, HDL, or blood-test number.
- 5
Tap Log
The Log button is in the top-right corner. The heart beside it marks the food as a Favorite.
Quick Log does not calculate portions. If a label says 30 mg per serving and you ate two servings, enter the total you want recorded: 60 mg.
What to enter
Methods 3 & 4
Scan a meal or nutrition label.
Use the camera or an existing photo, then review the result before it becomes part of your Diary.
Snap Food
- 1
Take or choose a photo
Use the shutter button, or tap the photo-library icon. After choosing the image, crop it so the food fills the frame.
- 2
Add useful details
On the review screen, optionally describe portion size, ingredients, sauces, or brand. This context can improve the estimate.
- 3
Tap Scan
Use Retake if the picture is unclear. During analysis you can cancel. A slow connection prompts you to Retry.
- 4
Review what was found
Check the food name and cholesterol first, then calories and macros. Tap Log Food only if the estimate is acceptable.
- 5
Edit when needed
Tap Edit to change the name, cholesterol, calories, carbs, protein, fat, sodium, serving quantity, or unit. Tap Log in the top-right to save the corrected entry.
Snap Food, screen by screen
Snap Nutrition Label
This Pro feature follows the same camera, crop, review, and scan process. Keep the full Nutrition Facts panel sharp and well lit. On the Scanned Food screen:
- Confirm the food name and Cholesterol.
- Set Quantity to the number of servings eaten.
- Use Edit Unit if the extracted serving name or weight is wrong.
- Review calories, carbs, protein, fat, and sodium.
- Tap Log in the top-right only after checking the extracted values.
Scans are estimates. Glare, a cropped label, handwriting, sauces, and hidden ingredients can change the result. Correct the values before logging.
Snap Nutrition Label, screen by screen
Diary
Understand Today’s screen.
Diary is the source of truth for what has actually been saved.
Logged
The sum of dietary cholesterol from all entries on the selected day.
Remaining
Your daily goal minus the amount logged. The gauge shows your progress toward the goal.
Meal cards
Saved foods grouped under Breakfast, Lunch, Snack, Dinner, or a time-of-day heading.
Add Food
Opens Search Food and starts a new entry. It does not edit the meal card itself.
View another day
Tap the calendar button near the top of Diary. Pick a date and tap Done, or use Today and Yesterday. The total and meal cards change to that selected date.
When Meal is “None”
The entry is still logged. The app places it into a time-based section: Morning, MidDay, AfterNoon, Evening, or Late Night, based on its saved time.
Manage entries
Edit, repeat, or delete a logged food.
Start from the Diary entry you want to change.
- 1
Tap the food in Diary
Open the relevant meal or time-of-day card and tap the row with the chevron.
- 2
Make your changes
For a database or scanned food, change quantity, serving, date, meal, or Favorite, then tap Update. For a Quick Log, change the name, amount, date, meal, or Favorite and save the update.
- 3
Log the same food again
On an existing database-food entry, open the ellipsis menu and choose Log Again. This creates another entry using the displayed values.
- 4
Delete an entry
Use the ellipsis menu and choose Delete, then confirm. Quick Log entries have their own edit screen with delete controls.
Changing the date moves the entry. If you update an item from Today to yesterday, it disappears from Today and is included in yesterday’s total.
Daily target
Change the goal behind the gauge.
Your goal controls Remaining and the progress display; it does not block logging above the target.
- 1
Open the goal editor
On Diary, tap Adjust Daily Goal in the cholesterol summary card.
- 2
Enter a value in mg
The value must be greater than zero. The app shows its built-in Optimal, Moderate, or High intake label.
- 3
Tap Save
The Diary gauge and widget refresh with the new target.
Choose a personal target with a qualified clinician. The app’s ranges are general informational labels and are not medical advice.
Stats tab
See patterns across time.
Stats summarizes saved Diary entries; it does not import blood cholesterol measurements.
- Choose Week, Month, or Year.
- Use the left and right arrows to move to an earlier or later period.
- Average is the total divided across every day in the selected period, including days with no logs.
- Total is all dietary cholesterol logged during the period.
- Highest shows the day with the largest logged amount.
- Days Logged counts days whose total is above zero.
- Turn on Daily Average to draw the average line. Touch or drag across the chart to inspect a day.
Settings
Reminders, appearance, Health, and support.
Open the Settings tab from the bottom navigation.
Notifications
Create repeating reminders with the + button (requires Pro). Swipe a reminder left to remove it. If permission is denied, use the Settings button to open iOS Settings.
Dark Mode
Switch the app between light and dark appearance.
Health Sync
Tap Grant Permission to let Cholesterol Tracker write logged dietary cholesterol to Apple Health. If the permission prompt no longer appears, manage access in iOS Settings or Health → profile → Apps and Services/Data Access → Cholesterol+.
Contact Support
Creates an email with the app version in the subject. Copy the Customer ID shown in Settings when the issue involves a purchase or subscription.
Health sync is optional. Diary entries are stored and counted in the app even if you do not grant Apple Health access.
Troubleshooting
Find the exact point where the flow stopped.
Start with the symptom that matches what you see.
Today still says 0 mg
- 1
Confirm the food appears in the Diary. Choosing a result or serving does not save it; you must tap Log Food (or Log in Quick Log/scanner edit).
- 2
Open the entry and check its Date. An entry saved for another date is counted on that date, not Today.
- 3
Check the displayed Cholesterol value before logging. Some foods or scanned results contain 0 mg.
- 4
For Quick Log, enter a Food name. The app does not save a Quick Log with an empty name.
I cannot find the food
- 1
Use the keyboard’s Search button after typing the full food or brand name.
- 2
Try a simpler phrase, such as “fried egg” instead of a complete meal description.
- 3
Use Snap Food, Snap Nutrition Label, or Quick Log when no suitable database result exists.
The amount looks wrong
- 1
Check both Quantity and Serving. For example, 2 × 1 egg is different from 2 g.
- 2
For scans, tap Edit and correct the food name, cholesterol, serving quantity, unit, or other nutrients before logging.
- 3
Food scans are estimates. Use a package label or trusted food database when precision matters.
The food is under the wrong heading
- 1
Edit the entry and select Breakfast, Lunch, Snack, or Dinner in Meal.
- 2
If Meal is None, the app groups the entry by its time as Morning, MidDay, AfterNoon, Evening, or Late Night.
Food
Dietary cholesterol
The milligrams recorded from foods in Diary. This is what the app totals and charts.
Lab test
Blood cholesterol
LDL, HDL, and triglycerides measured by a healthcare professional. The app does not measure or predict these values.
Still need help?
Send details we can act on.
Include the food name, logging method, serving and quantity, selected date, cholesterol shown before saving, and a screenshot of the Diary afterward.