1500cals iOS App Launched!
New iOS App
Very excited to announce 1500cals for iOS is now available via Test Flight! I previously wrote about my journey to lose 50kg (110lbs) last year, the tools I used and then about the new app I was building to help plan meals and track exercise.
I built this app for myself as I really wanted to use all the great features in Rails 7, Stimulus and Hotwire.
The other key piece in the modern Rails “One Person Framework” ecosystem is Turbo Native which provides a framework to very simply build native iOS and Android apps on top of a Rails app. Turbo Native also includes the much anticipated Strada which helps construct native controls based on simple HTML you already have.
This is really key to 1500cals since I was able to hook in to Apple Health and automatically sync steps and workouts from my iPhone and Apple Watch using the native app. A game changer as you can see below, all my steps and runs are tracked against the meals and snacks I planned and ate, to show my net calories for each day.
Fun fact: my blog post about Strada on this very site was featured in @dhh’s Rails World 2023 keynote talk in Amsterdam!
Be an iOS App Beta Tester
If you want to try thew app out and hopefully give me some feedback, you can download it via Apple’s Test Flight HERE.
Test Flight is how Apple lets developers off beta versions of their apps. You’ll need to download the Test Flight app to install
1500cals, but it’s very straightforward and easy to do.
UPDATE 1500cals is now available in the App Store! Get it here: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/1500cals/id6470238113
You can also join the fun via the web site 1500cals.com but you need to manually enter exercise data unless you use the iOS app and connect with Apple Health.
Let me know how you get on!
If you do want to try it out, please do and let me know what you think. I’ve been using this for 6 months and I can honestly say its transformed how I manage my diet and exercise, and been really fun. The main challenge is it requires a bit of effort to add your meals - which I think is key rather than just copying recipes - but once you do that and add around 7-10 meals you love, thats it, you can use the app to effortlessly plan and track your calories. Let me know! How can I make it better, what didn’t you understand, did you find any bugs or have any issues etc.
You can find all my contact details here