Carbs & Cals: Diet & Diabetes 4+

Type 1 Diabetic!

I have just recently downloaded this app, I also have the book which I use daily as a rough guide but seeing as my iPhone goes everywhere with me this app is helpful for when I’m out as some restaurants/cafes don’t have the carb information to hand (also it takes less time to work it out on the app rather than in my head/writing it all down). HOWEVER, as a Type 1 Diabetic, what would be REALLY great is if you can manually enter carbs. For example, the food packaging may say the carbs are 30g yet on the app they say something lower/higher, so I do tend to go by what is on the actual food packaging (unless I can not for the life of me work it out!).. It is a little frustrating as I can’t manually enter carbs or a certain food item (say Asda/Tesco’s own brand!), but other than that yes it is more handy for when you’re on the go/out!
I would honestly love an updated version, considering this app is advised for T1 Diabetes (who do carb control counting for insulin doses) by MANY doctors/nurses it needs to be updated regularly, at least every month or so!

Best of many options

Apps like this have become commonplace and there are hundreds of websites offering similar data. Carbs and Cals is by far the best of them, offering generic portion photography which is brilliant. We use it for carb counting and probably couldn’t live without it. That isn’t to say it’s faultless.

Other foot tracking apps contain far more branded food alongside barcode scanning (check out Fitbit!) C+C has restaurant food but no photos which in itself is ok, it needs more to make it truly useful as otherwise you can’t compare the meals. Eg prezzo pizza - they don’t offer carbs on their website so I went to compare it zizzi which must be similar but there are no pictures. Don’t get me wrong, if we were in zizzi I would be singing it’s praises for having their menu.

Carbs and cals could almost do with a second app or area just for collating branded food and restaurants.

Upgrade let’s you down! Lower your price to increase your profit? Read how…

As a Type 1 diabetic, I have had the app for many years, initially without any upgrade costs being required. The basic access to food carbs is undoubtedly a significant support for my condition - and the range has improved over the years. However, the annual upgrade cost is (in my opinion) is way too high.

Take note of an American business model that significantly lowered their price for their service, to encourage many, MANY more customers - their profits increased significantly due to far lower prices but far higher customer numbers. Therefore, a lower price can lead to a higher income! Why not try the suggested model and see?!

A significantly lower annual price would lead to a far higher customer take up (increasing company profit and more importantly customer satisfaction…I would have been upgrading and leaving a 5 star rating!). With a more reasonable annual rate, you would be receiving an ongoing 100% of a lower fee from far more people rather than 0% of your higher rate from many potential participants. It’s simple maths and definitely worth asking your customers’ opinion - I would definitely be ‘in the upgrade’, if the price was much lower. Why not ask your customer base what we think is a reasonable price to pay annually?

Reading the App comments, I can see others - sharing a lower star rating - feel the same. Why not consider a different business model to secure better business profits?

Developer Response ,

Hi there.

Thanks for the review and sharing your ideas around a new pricing model. We do reconsider our pricing model from time to time and will consider this when we get to it this year. Can you share which American business lowered their pricing, would be interesting to investigate?

Our current pricing was based on a customer survey, and we are below average in price for this type of app. However, we know we're not perfect, so will do our best to improve this while still being a sustainable business.

The app has been a big investment for our small business and it's important to strike a balance that works.