I can’t remember where I read it. I thought it was Joel Spolsky but I can’t find the reference now. But wherever it was… it was an excellent description of why one shouldn’t talk about future software features. The quote he used was “Every word I say is a promise.” Meaning, when you start setting expectations, you have to live up to those expectations. So I try hard, generally, to be vague about future features until the feature is already implemented and headed to market. You never know what’s going to come up… what schedule pressures are going to hit, etc, and when that release date is creeping up on you, you have to ship. Sometimes that means removing features you’d planned on implementing in favor of a bugfix, and so on. So, remember, when I talk about new features, until it’s implemented, it’s always a “Maybe.”
We recognize that there are lots of opportunities for Edibles to improve.
Edibles has been available now for a little bit over a year. In that time, it’s feature set has grown significantly. The first version of it was little more than a list where you could simply jot down foods that you ate, now it includes things like weight journaling, exercise journaling, an online database containing over 500,000 foods, an online backup and restore. These features make Edibles one of the most powerful and reliable diet journals available for iPhone today. What’s more, is that we have managed to add all of these features while still maintaining the amazing streamlined data entry interface that our users have come to know and love.
All that said, we recognize that there is still room for improvement with Edibles. The calculator is too hard to configure and use, exercise journaling could be improved, and so on. Also, Edibles Online could use a lot of improvement to make it easier to sign up, and usability improvements.
We also need to be adding new features to Edibles. Features that enable users of edibles to collaborate more easily and that take advantage of the unique iPhone hardware to make achieving a healthy lifestyle as easy as possible.
I’m not going to attempt to address all of these concerns in this post alone. Instead, I’m going to try to make this a regular feature here on Edibles Nosh. I’m going to try to give you, our users, regular insights into what we consider to be the big things that we’re working on right now in Edibles.
I don’t want this to simply be a broadcast message. I want this to be more of a conversation. I’m going to talk about the things that I want to do with Edibles, and I would love to hear from you, the users, about what you would like to see in Edibles. By working together, we can take Edibles to the next level.
As a first installment, I would like to use my remaining time here to ask you, our users, what would you like to see in Edibles 3.0? What are some ideas you might have?
To get you thinking, I’ll toss out an idea I have. One of the truly “game changing” apps I have seen recently is Red Laser, which offers excellent barcode scanning capabilities. What’s awesome is that they have an SDK which we can license to add Barcode scanning to Edibles so that you could scan the barcode of a food you’re going to eat and have it automatically look up that food in the Edibles Online database. Would this be something users would use? I think I would, and it’s got a lot of “Wow” factor.
Feel free to use the comments below, or to email me at feedback@random-ideas.net to tell me what ideas you have!
Jiva DeVoe is Founder and Chief Software Craftsman at Random Ideas Software.
Comments:
Beyond just logging your food and exercise, many dieticians suggest logging how you feel before and after eating the food. Are you stressed -- and did youeatbecause of that? Did the food make you light-headed or hyper or sleepy or whatever? Etc. The other suggestion I have is a way tor ecord the time you ate the food. I'm hypoglycemic so I tend to eat a little bit every few hours. That's not obvious when I look at my compiled list. But that would be helpful. Thanks for asking, David
I think Edibles is one of the best iPhone apps I use. I can think of many features to add, such as the time logging mentioned which might be simplified into breakfast, morning snack, lunch, etc. Another is BP notation or possibly a diabetic version that would include blood sugar levels before and after meals. What is there now is a simple and easy to use so adding too many features might begin to detract from the overall interface which is now very nice. If there was one feature I would love to see it would be a carb calculation made on starch, fruit and dairy category items, or simply a carb count compiling. If it showed it in a red zone if I exceeded my count threshold for the time frame I would know to cut back on the next meal or snack.
I personally would like to be able to keep track of a little more than just calories. Some programs get too intense though so it would be nice to be able to choose maybe two or three other values but the key would be to make it a choice. For instance I would like to be able to track calories, fat & fiber, someone else might like to choose calories, protein, carbs & fats.
Since using edibles in September 2008, I have lost 90lbs. It has enabled me to stick to weight watchers plan and exercise. Bar code scanning would be amazing. Also, keeping the raw info and then converting on the fly would be great. For example 1 flatbread may be 1 unit, but 2 pieces may be 3 units. Thats really hard in the current setup. Keep it up!
Edibles is extremely useful and I love it since it's helped me lose 40 lbs. I'm also encouraged by the effort to make it even more valuable. I love the idea of integrating the Red Laser technology to find out information about foods by simply scanning the bar code. Another option I'd like to see is to integrate with a nutrition application, like Nutrition Menu or to incorporate more information about Brand Name and restaurant foods. Right now I also use "Lose It" and "Nutrition Menu" to get information which I then back enter into Edibles. I'd also like to see the weight log graph based on actual date of weigh in instead of the current process which makes weighing once a week, once a day, or once a month all look like the same interval. (The abscissa is only singularly incremental rather than based on the date.) Thanks for a great App!
I really would like to be able to export all my calorie entries into an excel spreadsheet so that I can manipulate the data and see trends, create charts, generate mini-reports, compare certain weeks and months to others, etc. The fact that I can't extract the data I enter either from my IPhone or this website is extremely frustrating to me and makes me feel like switching to another application. I have been using this application every day since February, so I have a lot of data that I've entered. Why aren't you letting me export it? Along these same lines, you add chart features and report features for those interested in comparing certain months, weeks, and days against each other. For example, how many calories do I eat when I'm home on weekends vs. the work week? How many more calories do I eat on days when I eat out? Looking at the data this way could be very meaningful.
I, too would love to see a spot where I could notate my blood sugars and how much insulin I took. It could be as simple as a food item-type entry that just says Sugar 125, Insulin 12R 80L, or it could incorporate blood sugar graphing for different times of day, etc. I'd even be willing to pay extra to upgrade to a Diabetic version of edibles to get everything under one app "roof". Exercise would be great to have #minutes/#miles for us runners too! Just a couple of ideas, but the app is still great without any of this. Thanks for writing it!!!
Scanning a bar code for food,serving size,calories, nutrients,etc would make food entry easier and at times quicker. Also consider the ability to create a grocery list from my personal food bank. Shopping made easier too !
I love Edibles and have had it from the beginning. Comments: I found the online part difficult to sign on to, also. I think the food database looked and used much better before this last update converted it to being searchable. I'm a points counter with Weight Watchers and love the calculator feature. One improvement I'd like--make the weight tracker scale cover a larger weight range. Right now my chart moves from 124 to 129 and that's all I get on the vertical axis. If the vertical would cover a 10 or 25 pound range, my weight variations wouldn't look so severe. Thank you for your efforts and ingenuity! Keep it up.
Because my husband bought me an iPhone last Christmas and I discovered Edibles, I've lost 40 lbs this year! As I move into maintenance, I want to tweek my nutritional intake so will be tracking: POINTS CALORIES FAT FIBER CARBS SODIUM PROTEIN So would love an Excel Exporter. Bar code scanner would be nice too. Thanks for all you do and a great app!
All the above sound great, I love this app and like the others you have made tracking foods for weight-loss a dream for those of us who can't be bothered with the paper trackers. I can't express how much I love this app, with or without updates and have already lost 10Lbs this month using it! Thank you thank you!
Integrating with a scanning app would be awesome. I also like the idea of integration with Nutrition Menu or another program that gives restaurant information. I'm even willing to pay for the 3.0 upgrade. Keep up the good work.
Hi! I want to be able to use Edibles for something simpler than counting calories, fats, of carbs - I want to use it to count servings! The Edibles app would meet my diet and fitness tracking needs if I could customize a list of the different categories of foods I eat each day: e.g.fruits, vegetables, dairy, protein, bad carbs, good carbs, bad fats, good fats, supplements, water, alcohol. I would then be able to assign the number of servings of each - a minimum number for wholesome foods, a maximum number for junk foods. Then, throughout the day, I would simply enter the number of servings I eat. When I reached the desired number of servings of good foods, an indicator would turn green. When I exceeded the allowable servings of bad foods, an indicator would turn red. A separate field would be needed to record the number of 15 minute periods of exercise I completed each day. This is really not very different from what Edibles does now, except that what needs to be added is a way to flag consumption of bad foods - tracking them separately from wholesome foods helps motivate me to eat less of them. This system works for me and is sustainable - unlike counting calories which I simply can't keep up. For an example of how this works, check out the iFitOne app for Windows Smartphones: http://www.handango.com/catalog/ProductDetails.jsp?storeId=2218&deviceId=1892&platformId=110&productId=221388. Edibles for iPhone could be so much more elegant if it could incorporate the same kind of serving tracker. Thanks for taking users' suggestions! Heather
I love Edibles! I believe it is one of the best apps available. I strongly prefer the look and function of the food database before the last update. I was so happy to find that, through the settings, you could choose the more streamlined "compact food list". I think the app is nearly perfect, as is. I love the fact that you can customize the food list with the foods that you use and not overload it with those you do not use. My hope is that you do not try to make this app all things to all people and therefore lose the basic design, which is incredibly valuable, and user friendly! Minimally, please continue to allow people to revert back to the current format. Thanks so much!
Hi I'm relatively new to Edibles though my partner's been using it for a while and now I'm using it too can't think why I struggled for so long with the other apps I've tried. Firstly, reading the comments so far I hope it's OK to add a nervous request - if you are contemplating adding any/all of the suggested fields (mood/meal category/blood sugar/blood pressure/the ability to log more than one value/etc) please can you ensure each and every one of them can be turned on/off via the settings page. I love the simplicity of Edibles. A barcode scan to enter food would indeed be cool. And here are my suggestions: 1. If it's not too tricky, it would be useful to be able to edit entries (particularly the food list) from within Edibles Online. 2. The app to be able (optionally) to link to your edibles group members. I've created a group for my partner and I. It would be great if I could, eg, 'send' him tonight's supper entries so that he knows what he's got spare during the day - or if I can see what he's eaten, I can plan a supper that's 'in budget'. Also, it would be great to see his progress within my app (and vice versa of course!). I know all of this is on Edibles Online - and thank you for that, it's great - but it would be fantastic if it was possible to make it sync in the app too. Essentially though - thank you for a well designed, easy to use, motivational app. My weight's heading in the right direction and I'm feeling great!
I love the suggestions made by others too. I was thinking that adding a feature which would allow us to add measurements of neck, chest, arms, waist, hip, thighs, and calfs.
I would really like to know how much sugar is in the items that I am eating. I agress with Steve add measurements. A list of the most common fitness excerises. I am still happy but that's is my wish list.
Hello -- I'm glad I can track food types -- fruit, vegetables, water, etc. -- this isn't possible in many apps. I'd like to be able to choose to see "today's log" as the main screen (and to be able to log foods from there). For me, it would be handy to see today quickly, and to see the categories eaten easily, so I can gauge how I'm doing on my fruit, vegetable, etc. goals. Thanks.
I just started using Edibles as a replacement for a program I've been using for many years on my Palm. So far, I like the program - just need to learn all the features. One thing I would like to see is an additional calculator/formula area to calculated WW activity points. Thanks.
I have a few suggestions. The first is to have a calorie burning calculator for activities instead of entering in the entire shot. The next suggestion would be on the day's summary, have a sum that adds the number of calories you've burned with how many calories you have left in your calorie account, as it were, in order to show the true amount of calories you can consume that day. It's a bit of a let down when you see you've consumed 1600 calories and are therefore 100 calories over even though you've run 5 miles that day. As far as a food database goes, you could make it downloadable in its entirety instead of having to do a bit at a time. Thanks!
I love love this app!! Very happy with it except for a few tweaks. What I would really love to see is a Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner instead of putting all the foods in one lump sum. Food database would be an extra big plus. It is a great app even without all these fun little extras.
*Breakfast, lunch, dinner would be nice *Barcode would be GREAT *removing food items from list via iphone would be nice too. I love this app so don't change too much. Thank you, thank you thank for creating this for us. I am a Weight Watcher gal.
Hi, I don't know how hard it would be or if the APIs for the app/scale are out, but I think it would be awesome if the app could be integrated to work with the Withings WiFi Body Scale. I mean just being able to hop on the scale and have the weight automatically sent out and entered into the log in Edibles would be super great. FYI Cheers, Adan