- PlateDiary
- Features
- Private food diary
Features · Privacy
A food diary that stays on your phone.
Where you eat, who with, and how often says a lot about you. A food diary shouldn’t need an account, a server copy or a reason to trust strangers with it.
Free on iPhone and Android. No account, and it works with no signal.
In short
A private food diary keeps your meals, photos and notes on your own device, with no account to sign into. PlateDiary works that way: no sign-in, your library lives on your phone, capture and browsing work offline, and backups go to your own iCloud Drive or a Google Drive file you pick.
Checked
A checklist
What “private” should mean for any food diary.
Before you trust an app with years of meals, check it against this list — it applies to every journal app, not just ours:
- No account required. No email, no password, nothing to leak.
- It works offline. If capture needs a server, your diary lives on that server.
- You can export everything, any time, for free.
- Backups go somewhere you control.
- A plain list of what connects, and why.
- AI is opt-in, with a clear line on what it sees.
- “Delete everything” really deletes everything.
No account
No account, ever.
There’s no PlateDiary sign-up. You open the app and start. Your photos, saves, notes, tags, places and companions are stored on your phone, not in a PlateDiary cloud — there isn’t one. No ads, and no selling your personal data.
Offline
Works in airplane mode.
Capture, the cut-out, naming, browsing, moments and the map all work with no connection. The cut-out runs on your phone, so even a photo in a tunnel becomes saves straight away.
Backups
Backups you hold.
- A daily backup on your phone, keeping between one and ten (five by default).
- Back up now whenever you like, and Export a full zip of your diary — never behind Premium.
- Restore from a backup file.
- On iPhone, a safe copy goes to your own iCloud Drive, on by default, keeping the two newest.
- On Android, a safe copy overwrites one Google Drive file you pick. It’s off until you pick one, and there’s no Google sign-in inside PlateDiary.
The short list
What connects, and why.
“Nothing ever leaves your phone” would be a nice line, and it wouldn’t be true of any app that sells subscriptions. Here is the honest list:
| When | What it’s for | |
|---|---|---|
| Usage and crash diagnostics | When the app runs | Knowing what breaks and what gets used, with a device identifier |
| Purchases | When the app runs | Checking your plan with your app store |
| App updates and notifications | When the app runs | Fixes, and notes you’ve allowed |
| GIF search in Share Studio | When you search | Finding a GIF; picked ones are kept on your phone |
| Font downloads | When a Premium member picks a new face | Fetching that font once |
| Invites and feedback | When you tap | An invite code, or a note you chose to send |
| PlateDiary AI | Only when you use it | Small pictures of cut-out dishes, or the few rows a question needs |
AI
PlateDiary AI is opt-in.
PlateDiary AI never runs on its own until you choose it. A read sends small pictures of the cut-out dishes, with the place’s name as a hint — never the table photo, faces, or your location. Ask PlateDiary looks things up on your phone and sends only the few rows a question needs. Nothing is stored on the server, and offline, the AI simply says it’s offline while everything else works.
Danger zone
Delete everything means everything.
Settings → Danger zone removes your diary from the phone — saves, photos, notes and the words written for your stories. If you have a safe copy in iCloud Drive or Google Drive, that file is yours to keep or delete.
Questions
Questions people ask.
Does PlateDiary need an account?
No. There’s no sign-up and no sign-in. Your diary is on your phone.
Does it work without internet?
Yes. Capture, cut-outs, naming, browsing, moments and the map all work in airplane mode.
Where are backups stored?
On your phone daily, and as a safe copy in your own iCloud Drive (iPhone) or a Google Drive file you pick (Android). You can also export a zip any time.
Does PlateDiary AI see my photos?
Only if you use it. A read sends small pictures of the cut-out dishes with the place’s name as a hint — never the table photo, faces, or your location — and nothing is stored.
What happens if I lose my phone?
Restore from your iCloud Drive or Google Drive safe copy, or an exported zip, on your new phone. Without a backup, the diary goes with the phone, because there’s no server copy.
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