Camera

Complex plates are hard to type. A picture gives Buddy something concrete to estimate while you keep eating or parenting or commuting.

Packaged foods already have an identity. One scan should be enough to eat, remember, stock, or buy — without hunting through four screens.

Camera logging still requires human judgment. Recognition can miss sauces, oils, drinks beside the plate, or second helpings. Your confirmation protects honesty.

Library is for a photo already on the phone — when you forgot to log in the moment but still have the picture.

Mixed plates (buffets, shared tapas) need your portion story on confirm. The camera sees the table; you know your share.

Camera flow essentials.

1. 1

   Home: Voice speaks a meal. Photo is the camera for a plate. Library is a photo already on the phone. Scan opens Barcode and auto-reads. Text is typing. Receipt is a grocery slip.

2. 2

   Food / Receipt / Label wait for the shutter. Barcode auto-reads.

3. 3

   Flash is independent of the mode.

4. 4

   Review is a real crop — drag, resize, rotate, reset — on the full-resolution still.

5. 5

   Choose Eat (Foodiary), Remember (Quick Food), Have (Stock), or Buy (shopping list)

6. 6

   Plate photos stay eat + retake — a bowl is not a barcode

7. 7

   Confirm portions and missing fats/drinks before saving a meal

8. 8

   Edit later in Foodiary if you learn more

Make photo logging a tidy habit.

1. 1

   On Home, tap the button that matches the job: Photo, Library, Scan, or Receipt

2. 2

   Wait for the pack card, or capture before you destroy a plated meal

3. 3

   Pick one destination for a pack — or confirm Buddy’s plate draft

4. 4

   Add voice or text notes for oil, butter, dressings, beverages

5. 5

   Save; don’t double-log the same plate in Foodiary manually

How Buddy helps

Buddy recognises the pack once, then the existing Foodiary, Quick Food, Stock, and shopping list do the work. For plates you remain editor-in-chief at confirm.

Packaged foods

Point at barcode bars, a product QR, or printed EAN / GTIN. Barcode mode auto-reads. Buddy looks the pack up once and shows the same card. Then choose exactly one: Save to Foodiary (you ate it), Save as Quick Food (you eat it often — nothing logged today), Add to Stock (you have it), or Add to shopping list (you will buy it). Scan next keeps the camera up.

If there is no food match for this barcode, photograph the nutrition label or keep scanning. Do not invent a food. Unreadable label numbers stay unknown until you confirm. Receipt photos still use the receipt flow — Add to Stock there is the same Stock ledger as a cupboard barcode.

Labels and receipts

Packaged foods and receipts can be clearer than plated meals. When Buddy reads a label, still check serving size versus what you ate.

Privacy and sharing

Avoid photographing other people’s faces or documents. Meal photos are for your coaching loop.

When to prefer another mode

Dark restaurants and tiny labels frustrate vision. Switch to voice: name the dish and a fair portion. The goal is a saved honest row, not a perfect photo.

• “I photographed the salad and ignored the dressing boat.”

  Dressing may dominate energy. Log it explicitly.

• “I snapped after finishing and Buddy saw an empty plate.”

  Capture before or describe leftovers. Empty crockery teaches little.

• “Recognition was wrong so I logged nothing.”

  Edit the draft or switch to voice/text. The meal still counts.

• “I scanned a tin into Foodiary when I was unpacking shopping.”

  Have ≠ eat. Use Add to Stock for the cupboard, Save to Foodiary when you open it.