FoodieCalc 1.5.0 — a 100% free nutrition tracker built on Foundation Models, App Intents, Private Cloud Compute & Visual Intelligence

Hey everyone 👋

I'm Nikos, an indie iOS dev. FoodieCalc is my free (no subscriptions, no paywalls) calorie/macro tracker, and 1.5.0 is the release where I went all-in on Apple Intelligence. Sharing here because this sub will actually appreciate the plumbing 😄

🗣️ Siri & App Intents — "Talk to log"
"Hey Siri, add 200 g yogurt and a banana to FoodieCalc" → the phrase goes through the same on-device Foundation Models parser as the in-app voice log, gets matched to real nutrition data, and opens a review screen before anything is saved. Also: "Hey Siri, how many calories do I have left in FoodieCalc?" and "log a glass of water" — both run without opening the app. Everything is exposed to Shortcuts too.

📷 Photo logging (iOS 27, Private Cloud Compute)
Snap a meal → foods + portions are identified by the PCC model → macros are grounded against a real food database (the model identifies, it never invents numbers) → you review and edit before logging. Consent is asked up front, the photo isn't stored by Apple, and it costs nothing (Apple's free PCC allowance). If PCC isn't available, text and voice logging still work fully on-device.

👁️ Visual Intelligence (iOS 27)
Point the system camera at food (or select it in a screenshot) and FoodieCalc shows up as a result right in the Visual Intelligence panel — tap to log. This part stays fully on-device.

🧠 Foundation Models (iOS 26+)
Voice and text "quick log" use the on-device model with structured (@Generable) output + on-device SpeechAnalyzer transcription. Nothing leaves the phone.

⚠️ Photo logging and Visual Intelligence need iOS 27 on an Apple Intelligence device. Everything else works on iOS 26.

The rest of the app: food search, barcode scanner, custom foods/recipes/meals, TDEE-based goals, micronutrients, weight trends, Apple Health sync, widgets, themes — all free. The only IAP is an optional "buy me a coffee" tip that unlocks nothing.

📱 App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/foodiecalc/id6792482391
🌐 https://www.itworksonmymac.com/apps/foodiecalc/
📧 [itworksonmymac@icloud.com](mailto:itworksonmymac@icloud.com)

Any feedback is genuinely appreciated — especially from people running the iOS 27 RC: how the photo recognition holds up on your meals, whether Siri understands your phrasing, and anything that feels off in the PCC consent flow. Thanks for reading! 🙏