Cronometer alternatives
I really hate to say it but does anyone know any alternatives, something we can port our data over too?
The new design shows the direction this company is going in is really really awful and I need a tool for my health, not a phone app designed for a 2 year old.
Comments
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I found this site https://alternativeto.net/software/cron-o-meter/
And this one: https://justuseapp.com/en/app/1145935738/cronometer-nutrition-tracker/similar
And two programs: FatSecret and A Calorie Counter. They look kind of promising. But porting one's data over? I doubt it. We can export the data to a CSV file, convert it to an Excel spreadsheet, and keep records in Excel.
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I have just started testing mynetdiary since this morning. It seems OK so far. Adding food is much faster and easier for my usage. It still doesn't have everything all in one place like cronometer used to though.
I tried a few others but most can't come close to what cronometer offers. I looked at myfitnesspal and fatsecret but neither were better than cronometer even in its current state. I don't want to switch just because I am irritated. I want something that is an improvement over the current state.
There are still more on my list to try. I am still hoping cronometer turns this around though.
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The one thing I am looking for is mircronutrient data as the vast majority of my food is whole foods and I have a relatively low calorie intake. AND the ability to create and store recipes....The closest I used in the past was Diet Power but they did not do a good job of keeping up with databases.
I do agree a lot with evan5.
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Bummer. What are you envisioning the future of Cronometer is looking like at this rate?
The new design shows the direction this company is going in is really really awful and I need a tool for my health, not a phone app designed for a 2 year old.
I'm not seeing any missing features — just a different layout. So, it is still focused on health. It just looks different. What new part about it do you think is designed for kids?
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I'm not seeing any missing features — just a different layout.
The issue is usability is much worse. It now takes longer to do things and things that used to be done in a single place now require navigating all over the place. Additionally, it is very difficult to see what is going on visually because the contrast between various elements is much lower.
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OK, the contrast difference is very much an important deal. That's a basic web design accessibility rule. If you're having trouble reading content because of low contrast, Cronometer needs to get on that ASAP.
For things taking longer to do things, do you mean the desktop website or the phone app, or both?
For me, it takes the same amount of time to do things, such as log food/exercise/biometrics, etc. (single button click for any of these) or view my charts and micronutrients (also a single button click). I don't need to click any extra buttons to see these. Also, recipes were hidden behind a menu in the previous design (and they are hidden behind a menu in this design), and my nutrition report was hidden behind a button in the previous design, just as it is in this new design.
What are you finding is taking you longer?
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do you mean the desktop website or the phone app, or both?
The desktop website. That is where all the frustrations are coming from.
I have no major problems with the changes in the phone app. Those are all positive for me.
For me, it takes the same amount of time to do things, such as log food/exercise/biometrics
For me it takes longer to log things because there is much less on the screen so it takes much longer to find what you are looking for because everything takes longer to find.
The energy chart which I use constantly used to be on the diary page which is where I spend all my time. Now it is on a fairly useless dashboard.
On the diary page, much more was visible at one time prior to the changes. If you add a lot of food, all the metrics scroll of the screen.
The calendar which was once persistent is now a modal dialogue so if you frequent move around between days it is more time consuming now. Especially if you are just looking for something since the calendar is super-imposed over the diary.
Adding a custom food is an exercise in frustration. You need to scroll all over the place to find everything as you go through the label.
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hi guys, regarding the app:
you can just re-install the previous version of cronometer. in this thread I post all the steps how I did it.
(small mistake: please note that the link I provide is truncated. I cannot correct that post anymore. then in the next post I provide the correction: the full correct link.)all this is for Android. if somebody could post something for other platforms that would be much appreciated.
Let's send a message of peace to the embattled:
@Aaron and his team has received huge criticism for their new release. in fact, they got 100% refusals. I haven't seen a single positive comment. let's help them! they are in emotional distress. if we reinstall old versions, this is a positive way of saying that we love their app, which is the fruit of hard work of the last decade. I hope they will find peace of mind to reconsider their failed redesign and take a wise decision to revert and start listening to us, the users. we all had wrong decisions in our lives, at least I definitely had! and if one has invested much then it is emotionally difficult to concede the losses.
-> peace and love and revert to what was good. -
@lolinda How to you roll back to a previous version of the desktop webpage. That is where most of the negative comments are arising. I hardly even use the phone app.
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Hi @jocoyn
generally, it is absolutely possible to access previous versions of websites, because Google keeps cached old copies of everything. so I invite you to try this:
https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/1687222?hl=en
but that has a catch: if you do what they recommend and you simply Google for "cronometer", then you will get to an elder copy of the login page. and after logging in, Crono will take you to the current version of the diary. that's of course not what you want. so, I recommend you to Google for https://cronometer.com/#diary
and get the cached version of that!having said all the above, the likelihood that this works is still not very big. I don't know how much you are into tech, but the problem is, that Crono is a complex website (has a lot of content which is dynamically loaded from the server).
but if I would be you I would just try and let's see what happens
I cannot try myself for you, because I am on my phone and getting google cached version works to the best of my knowledge only on computers (mac / PC). -
Trustpilot:
your better bet of getting back aspects of the old website is to leave a review on trustpilot! do you know it? On trustpilot you can leave reviews for every website that exists, Crono included:
https://www.trustpilot.com/review/cronometer.com
you will see there also my review
if we complain here in the cronometer forum, you see what happens! not much: the boss and owner of cronometer, Aaron, has already answered the many complaints by saying that he won't revert to the good previous version but only do minor changes. in total there are maybe 100 posts of complaints on different threads... and in spite this will not revert. but all these hundred complaints are ineffective, because they are visible only within the cronometer forum but not visible to the outside. trustpilot is visible to the outside and fully independent! complaints there have a much bigger lever to affect what you want: help Crono to change into a good direction!but I say a thing in favor of Aaron: he is a nice guy, I did have email exchange with him. And he respects freedom of speech. he has the power to delete all my posts here. he never did. and last but not least, in spite of the catastrophic new design, cronometer has a wonderful functionality that is miles ahead of all the competition, it is his baby, his work of the last decade. for these reasons, I decided to soften my critical review on trustpilot. normally, such a disaster update like this one would make me produce a 1* review. I improved it to 2**. and if things develop in a good direction I will give them the 5*, which was what they have well deserved before this catastrophe. shame on me that I have never posted that five star review before, but I promise that I will do it once this catastrophe is resolved!!
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So I really have struggled with this. Moreso the new functional issues with the recipes (stated in the other thread) but the truth of the matter is the ONLY alternative I have ever tried that comes remotely close is Diet Power.
Cronometer is leagues ahead in customization ability (like DRIs, for example). I was excited when the import recipe feature was added. I am confused as to why the recipe management is now so much more primitive.
I left Diet power for Cronometer because DP had not done a great job keeping up with the database and I see now that it is "for sale" but still out there free to try. There was no associated app.
But in any regard I think this is the only thing out there that (1) references multiple databases (2) tracks a full spectrum of micronutrients and (3) offers DRI and profile customizations.
Still very frustrated.
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Oh I see, I am not the only one then..... Fell off the good habits of tracking for a while then came back only to find all jigged around (not a huge problem in itself) but I agree the contrast onscreen is lacking and I mainly see a sea of white with very weak grey.....
I used to use the 'import recipe' from a link a lot, it saved me a lot of time entering items, only had to tweak and fix occasional issues, but that seems to have gone while the useless 'ask for suggestions' remains, carrying on suggesting the exact same food it always has for the past three years.... and the ask the Oracle, which is just a gimmick: for exaple, I checked for 'food high in potassium', limiting to maximum 25 results, and the firs ten results I get are 'leavening agents', 'baking powder', 'sparkling water alternatively sweetened', 'coffee, reduced caffeine'. 'hearts of palm, raw', 'Pepsi, zero sugar', 'clam juice' (clam juice???? is that a thing?), 'cream of tartar' and 'coffee prepared from grounds'...... mmmm.... better invite friends over for dinner too....
It looks like the developers are pushing towards an 'app' experience and expect - like most everybody else, that we'll all use the app instead of a PC or laptop in the future... but the thing is I can't see very well so phone apps are really a struggle for me, whereas I find my way a little more easily on the larger screen.
But hey, I guess, I can always go back even to pen and paper if needed, I guess that'd save me some money too :-(
