mealtexter Documentation

Everything you need to know about tracking meals with a simple text message.

Create an Account

Getting started with mealtexter takes about 30 seconds. No app to download, no password to remember.

  1. Subscribe — Visit mealtexter.com/pricing and choose a monthly or annual plan. You will be redirected to a secure Stripe checkout page.
  2. Complete payment — Enter your payment details. Once payment succeeds you will be redirected back to mealtexter.
  3. Text your first meal — Send a text message describing what you ate to your mealtexter phone number. Your account is automatically created and linked to your phone number the first time you text.
Your phone number is your account. There is no username or email — everything is tied to the phone number you text from.

How It Works

  1. You send a text message describing what you ate to your mealtexter number.
  2. mealtexter's AI reads your message and identifies each food item, quantity, and preparation method.
  3. Nutrition is estimated with calorie ranges, protein, carbs, and fat.
  4. The results are saved to your account, linked to your phone number.
  5. Depending on your reply mode setting (configurable on the dashboard), you may receive a confirmation reply with the full breakdown.

That's it. No scanning barcodes, no searching a database, no portion-size guessing games. Just text what you ate in plain English.

Log Your First Meal

Send a text describing what you ate. Be as casual or detailed as you like:

chicken burrito and a coke
2 eggs, toast with butter, black coffee
large pepperoni pizza 3 slices
salad with grilled chicken and ranch

mealtexter will parse each item, estimate calories and macros, and save the meal to your daily log.

Logging Meals

Any text message that is not a recognized command is treated as a meal. Just describe what you ate in natural language.

Tips for better accuracy:

  • Include quantities when you know them (2 eggs is better than eggs).
  • Mention preparation methods (grilled chicken vs fried chicken).
  • You can log multiple items in one message (burger, fries, and a milkshake).
  • Brand names work too (Big Mac and a medium fry).

SMS Commands Reference

mealtexter's SMS interface is focused on meal logging. Advanced features like setting goals, logging weight, configuring notification preferences, and viewing weekly summaries are available on the web dashboard.

TextDescription
(any food description)Log a meal — just describe what you ate
/todayDaily calorie and macro summary
/undoRemove the last logged meal
/dashboardGet a login link for the web dashboard
/help or /?Quick command reference via SMS
STOPOpt out of all SMS messages
STARTOpt back in to SMS messages

Any message that does not match a command is treated as a meal and logged automatically.

Logging In to the Dashboard

The web dashboard lets you view your meal history, trends, and settings from a browser.

  1. Request a login link — Visit mealtexter.com and enter your phone number, or text dashboard to your mealtexter number.
  2. Check your texts — You will receive an SMS with a one-time login link. The link expires after 15 minutes.
  3. Open the link — Tap the link to sign in. Your session lasts 7 days before you need to log in again.
mealtexter uses passwordless authentication. There is no password to create or remember — you verify your identity through your phone number every time.

Dashboard Features

Today View

See your calorie progress ring (based on your custom goal), today's meals, and macro breakdown at a glance.

History

Browse every meal you have logged, with pagination. Tap any meal to see individual items and their nutrition data. Edit meal text and re-parse to correct entries.

Trends

View daily and weekly bar charts of your calorie intake plus a macro breakdown showing protein, carbs, and fat over time. Log your weight and track it on a chart over 7, 30, or 90 days.

Settings

Change your reply mode, calorie goal, protein goal, summary notification preferences (daily, weekly, or off), and timezone from the settings page.

Subscription & Billing

mealtexter offers two subscription plans:

PlanPriceDetails
Monthly$9.99/monthBilled monthly, cancel anytime
Annual$99/year$8.25/month effective, saves $20.88/year

Both plans include unlimited meal logging, AI-powered nutrition estimates, daily and weekly summaries, the web dashboard, weight tracking, and custom calorie goals.

All billing is handled by Stripe. mealtexter never sees or stores your credit card details.

Cancel Your Account

You can cancel your subscription at any time. There are no cancellation fees and no lock-in period.

Cancel via the Dashboard

  1. Log in — Visit mealtexter.com and sign in with your phone number.
  2. Open billing — Go to your account settings and click Manage Subscription. This opens the Stripe billing portal.
  3. Cancel — In the Stripe portal, click Cancel plan. Your access continues until the end of your current billing period.

What happens after cancellation

  • Your subscription remains active until the end of the current billing period.
  • You can continue logging meals and using the dashboard until that date.
  • After the period ends your account moves to an inactive state.
  • Your data is retained — if you resubscribe later, your history will still be there.
Cancelling your subscription does not delete your data. If you want your data removed, contact support.

SMS Opt-Out

To stop receiving text messages from mealtexter, text any of the following standard opt-out keywords:

STOP
STOPALL
UNSUBSCRIBE
CANCEL
END
QUIT

To opt back in later, text START, YES, or UNSTOP.

Opting out of SMS does not cancel your subscription. To stop billing, follow the cancellation steps above.