MyFitnessPal running into issues on Windows Phone but an update is nigh

By Daniel Rubino
published

MyFitnessPal (www.myfitnesspal.com (opens in new tab)) as a service is top notch.  If you’re into keeping track of what you eat and the calories you consume, then it’s indispensable, especially since it combines so nicely with our favorite activity tracker Fitbit. But as a Windows Phone app, it leaves a lot to be desired, as can be seen by the pitiful user ratings in the Store. Sure, it looks great, but problems with stability and the scanner keep it from being truly useful.

Some people have complained that they can’t find the app in the Store (we had no such issue) but the good news is an update is coming soon. Version 2.1.2 is currently in beta testing and at least according to one representative, it’s aimed directly at stability:

“…this version is focused heavily around resolving issues our members have been experiencing with the barcode scanner and the app continuously loading.”

Likewise, the MFP staff confirmed the news today via their Twitter account, noting:

“Our apologies, we are currently working on an update and hope to have it available soon. Thank you for your patience.”

Since the MFP team is evidently beta testing the app, an update to resolve current issues should not be too far off. Considering the last major update was in December, it is certainly long overdue. You can find the current version of MyFitnessPal here in the Store.

Do you use MyFitnessPal? How has your experience been?

Via: Reddit

Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007 when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and for some reason, watches. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.

60 Comments
  • Yei...i love updates :)
  • Cant wait...love the app, but its buggy as hell...that infinite loading bug really destroys the experience :|
  • Yep, this.
  • Ditto
  • Yep. Complained about on their facebook about a week ago. They said to contact support if I needed help. I said I don't need help, your app is broken. Get you dev team to fix it. Then we get this update. Yep. You are welcome guys. :p haha
  • This guy is the hero we need, but not the one we deserve.
  • Update needed, I still use but live with all the problems, glad to see update coming
  • What's that Lumia feature called❔❔
  • Resuming.... ?
  • No, the low power sensor,, SENSOR CORE!.. that's it... nevermind.
  • Use MFP daily but the app is frustrating. Always crashes freezes to the point I use the spare phone (android) to scan my ingredients and use on most days. The WP app needs to be uninstalled and reinstalled every 2-3days in my case. Hopefully the new update won't be too long and fixes it all
  • I use it, but only the web version. I used to use the app as well until it started glitching, and when that happened it led me to use the web version less too.
    I actually emailed them last week about the app, and received a long email response asking for details about my phone and errors, and they seemed genuinely interested in trying to correct the situation. So happy to see them working on an update. The bar code scanner is an awesome function and I really miss it.
  • Yes... If it wasn't for the barcode scanner I'm not sure if I would've kept using this app.
  • It's a canned response and they don't seem to follow up after you reply to that long, seemingly thoughtful email.
     
  • I did the same thing around Christmas of 2013. They sent me the same respone and said "we are working on it". Meanwhile 7 months later...
  • That pic makes me miss the Cyan option Nokia used to have. Screw the carriers, Nokia!!! Long Live Cyan!!!!   P.S. Before anybody tells me that is a white Lumia with a cyan case...I know. But I still wish I had a cyan color option.
  • I had a black Lumia 920, ordered the cyan OEM housing off eBay for 20$ with all the tools, it arrived and it took 7 minutes to install my phone in it. Now my phone is cyan and I have to carry around spare underwear because it is just so amazing to look at everytime I take it out of my pocket :)
  • So. Talk to your Pal, if he or she has issues. It might help. ^o^
  • Wow! I've been using this app for two weeks and love it! Glad to see an update coming soon. Hopefully I wont have to reinstall the app every couple of days now :-))
  • Thank the stars!!! I really depend on this app, but the performance has been extremely poor for far too long. Glad to see the devs are finally addressing the issues.
  • The app-breaking bugs go away when you reinstall, but it seems to only last a day, which then you need to reinstall again. It gets annoying. Can't wait for the update!
  • I use it everyday and its a wonderful app but the bugs and issues kill it for me. I uninstall/reinstall the app at least once every five days.
  • Finally! I used to use this app all the time, but now it seems like it feels like problems and bugs are all over it. I don't know how so ma,y features just stop working like they did for this app. I've wanted to use it, but ultimately stopped because so many functions stooped working. Glad to hear I'll be able to use it again.
  • The MFP experience is terrible on WP! The search function is just plain pitiful. Can I get type-ahead, please?? Posted via the WPC App for Android!
  • I love MFP, but its been hit or miss on WP8, so an update is most def welcome!!
  • Good to see MFP is finally addressing the 'endless loading' issue. So frustrating, having to uninstall and reinstall in order to 'fix'. Surprised it's taken so long, unfortunately, but at least they're getting to it. Maybe they can give us a Windows 8.1 version soon too. (web site is 'okay'). I can say that in Canada, doing a search for 'MyFitnessPal' didn't return any results this morning (when I had to do the uninstall-and-reinstall thing) - I had to go through my app history to find it.
  • Patience? I complained about this months ago to them. They told me it was do to the variations in WP devices and how difficult it is to account for them all. That's a lazy answer. They never had such an issue on android. They're no better than most devs. They treat WP as an unloved stepchild... We'll eventually fix it but, no rush whatsoever!
  • This. Its been happening over a year!!
  • Made my day and it's 0:42 mind you! ^_^
  • It's about time. Their last update was supposed to fix the loading issue but never really did. Glad to see my email complaints(as well as those of others) was not done in vain. Otherwise, a great service/app. Regarding the barcode scanning, is this just limited to scanning to MFP from the Lumia 1020? Even the Bing barcode scanning doesn't work well with this phone. Hope the cyan update addresses this.
  • I agree!!! I emailed them weekly for the last four months.
  • Very hopeful for an update. When working, the app is actually pretty great. Very nice summary live tile, plus a secondary tile that links right to the meal section.
  • I stopped using it months ago when my complaints about these very issues fell on deaf ears.
  • I guess the complaints finally reached critical mass. We'll see when the update comes out if they actually fixed it, of course. :)
  • I've been begging these guys for months now... Lets hope the update fixes all the issues.
  • I call BS on the update as they have been saying this since January... YES JANUARY...  Microsoft should have removed them from the store till they fixed their crap or rolled back to the previous version that worked.  I wish there was a viable alternative as I would switch just to give them the finger.
  • Why remove them from the store when you can give them a rating that reflects the quality of the (cr)app? Make them accountable.
  • They told me over 6 weeks ago that they were beta testing an update via twitter. I think they're blowing smoke at this point.
  • About time! I've been using MFP since January. When it works its fantastic, but some days I have to reinstall the thing multiple time to log my meals.
  • Biggest problem with them is not the app or the service.  I give out unique email addresses when registering software and I started getting spammed on that address several weeks ago - and they're obviously the only ones that had the address.  Deleted the address and uninstalled the app. Don't really care how good the product might be - their security sucks.
  • Guess I should be happy, but app experience has been so lack luster on WP for so many official apps. Much needed. Just stopped using this app all together.
  • Bing health and fitness ftw!. I know some of you will say it lacks some features, but at least it works flawlessly on both my 925 and 520
  • Sounds like the devs need to download My (App) Fitness Pal to keep track of the comments they're consuming... /dad joke
  • The app had been unstable for a long time. I always have to use my ipod version instead.
    I have emailed support and provided them screenshots and data a few times so it is good they are acting on the issues.
    Still frustrates me that the iTunes versions get updates nearly every week & we get one a year!
  • They've been saying coming soon since January, believe it when I see it...
  • Have faith, brother..
  • I use it, but for the last six months I have only used it for browsing my data entries, since it has been way to unstable and unusable. MyFitnessPal support has been helpful, but they needed help solving the problems that occurred.
  • Bing Health & Fitness is a fantastic app why would anyone use anything else.
  • I really like Bing Health, but they need to expand their Food Database greatly.  Also, they need scanning of labels, which I can't currently find in their app.
  • FINALLY
  • Wonder if there going to fix the app crashing everytime or guess that's not an issue
  • Yeah yeah
  • Glad to hear. Believe before the last update it worked perfectly fine. Can't wait to begin using it again once the updates come along.
  • I am excited for an update but skeptical about it coming soon. I use this app daily and become increasingly frustrated with each uninstall/reinstall.
  • Same here. I have tried all the other apps. Bing is decent but the database just isn't there. If myfitnesspal didn't have such a great database I would have dropped them months ago. Instead I do the uninstall/reinstall shuffle every 2-14 days, depending on how well behaved the app decided to be in that time.
  • FINALLY!!!!!!11111111
  • I am testing the beta app, but have found it just as buggy as the current production version. They are still working on it (I hope) and no sign of improvement yet from my testing.
  • is there any word on a fix yet??? sick of installing and reinstalling
  • WPCentral literally covered this exact same storyline two times in the last three months. Not holding my breath. May 26, 2014 - Reported an update was coming soon. http://www.wpcentral.com/myfitnesspal-running-issues-windows-phone-updat...   June 19, 2014 - Same report.... http://www.wpcentral.com/myfitnesspal-recognizes-beta-failure-says-new-u...   Here we are, Aug 5, 2014 - Coming soon.   Screw off. I been using a different calorie counter. But I did love fitness pal and want it to work, especially since Fitbit is finally on board with WP and they have a partnership with FitnessPal
  • They have a beta that works well now. They said they were going to release it to non-beta, but I don't know if they have. This was about a week ago. I am hanging on to the beta until I hear the production instance has been updated.