It didn't take long - MyFitnessPal rolls out its first paid offering!

Options
13

Replies

  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    Options
    never paying- I see absolutely no need. what so ever.

    also- lame for them to add things we've been asking for for years- and only make them available to premium- I may quit if they continue to offer me the premium EVER time I go onto the site. annoying.
  • dutchandkiwi
    dutchandkiwi Posts: 1,389 Member
    edited May 2015
    Options
    If they would offer a service of $9.99/year to free the app of advertising I'd happily pay for that. The offering as it presents itself at present, not worth the money as they are features I do not need anymore.
    Would possibly have been different when I started. I now have a perfectly easy to use work around through my own spreadsheets.

    Totally agree with @rainbowbow Would also reconsider if the food database was cleaned up, used grams and oz consistently for all foods and verified.
  • WaterBunnie
    WaterBunnie Posts: 1,370 Member
    Options
    A lot of people expect something for nothing not recognising that people are being paid to keep this site developing and consistent. A diet club would have a weekly cost. I've found this site better than any diet club I've tried. Has to be paid for somehow - ads or subscription - at least we have a choice!
  • Snow3y
    Snow3y Posts: 1,412 Member
    Options
    Does it cook the food for you too?
  • rachael00679
    rachael00679 Posts: 186 Member
    Options
    I am staying with the free version. I would rather spend my money on things like dinner dates with my fella, a nice new dress, movies with my kiddies. If they cut functionality I will go elsewhere. I have a program in chrome that sods the pesky ads off already. :)
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    Options
    WaterBunnie wrote: »
    A lot of people expect something for nothing not recognising that people are being paid to keep this site developing and consistent. A diet club would have a weekly cost. I've found this site better than any diet club I've tried. Has to be paid for somehow - ads or subscription - at least we have a choice!

    they need a new tech team because this site does not work smoothly .. the number of glitches and basic programming issues are phenomenal

    they can't even put in an adequate spam filter
  • csman49
    csman49 Posts: 1,100 Member
    Options
    i cant help but think that if it was $0.99 per year, the majority WOULD pay it.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    Options
    WaterBunnie wrote: »
    A lot of people expect something for nothing not recognising that people are being paid to keep this site developing and consistent. A diet club would have a weekly cost. I've found this site better than any diet club I've tried. Has to be paid for somehow - ads or subscription - at least we have a choice!


    The revenue is in the database exploitation, not the user facing experience. That's what UA have purchased.

    That said, the freemium model does seem to be in decline, althogh it's clear that MFP as a company has been pretty fragile for some time now.
  • _m0lly
    _m0lly Posts: 900 Member
    edited May 2015
    Options
    winsjess632 wrote: »
    I actually don't get bugs or pop ups or anything on my version of MFP, and I'm happy with what I've seen from the free version. I guess if you're someone who's really into this and dedicated I think that's not too bad of a price. If you pay for Netflix a month ($8 or more) then it's not that much of a difference and this will actually make you feel good whereas Netflix is going to make you chubby

    Sorry, I just got stuck on the 'Netflix is going to make you chubby' fact. Omg haha
  • smantha32
    smantha32 Posts: 6,990 Member
    Options
    rainbowbow wrote: »
    Lastly, there's the issue I have with the problems currently associated with MFP. Let's be honest... The number of duplicate food entries, entries with inaccurate calorie information, inaccurate macro/micro nutrient information, and seemingly NO quality assurance to verify makes the "We want to offer them a way to make custom reports, to dig deeper into the nutrient density of the food, and to customize the measurements used to plan their meals." idea completely null and void. How are they planning on cleaning up the database to make these features actually usable as a sell-able feature?

    W

    Don't forget the search engine that brings up everything BUT what you're searching for.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 17,959 Member
    Options
    _m0lly wrote: »
    winsjess632 wrote: »
    I actually don't get bugs or pop ups or anything on my version of MFP, and I'm happy with what I've seen from the free version. I guess if you're someone who's really into this and dedicated I think that's not too bad of a price. If you pay for Netflix a month ($8 or more) then it's not that much of a difference and this will actually make you feel good whereas Netflix is going to make you chubby

    Sorry, I just got stuck on the 'Netflix is going to make you chubby' fact. Omg haha

    Depends which episode of Game of Thrones I'm watching ifyaknowwhatimean *nudgenudgewinkwink*
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    Options
    Marbella29660 wrote: »
    MarciBkonTrk wrote: »
    emdeesea wrote: »
    I'll continue to use it as long as it's free and I don't have bugs. I'm not paying for anything. I'll log my calories on paper if I have to. I'm sick of being nickel and dimed to death.

    I hear ya! I will keep using the free version but if it gets neglected because of the fee for service version I will just start using my Fitbit completely. It has all of the same features and it's free. There is a premium version but I'm happy with what the free offers. Does MFP offer a trial period? Of course it's been my experience that the free version is very limited and when you try to use a premium feature you are informed that you have to purchase it to get that feature.

    I've been logging with fitbit (for free) ever since Under Armour paid out for the MFP database. I have to say it's a nice change, both web and mobile versions work seamlessly and it has none of the buggy problems I used to experience here.

    In general I'm not against paying for an app but it has to work before you'll see my money. Whatsapp is a good example of that, for 3 years it just did what it was supposed to, no issues, no bugs. So after years of free use I had no qualms paying for a product / service that I knew worked. I couldn't say the same for MFP, so switched to an alternative.

    These days I flitter in an out of MFP, as I do like reading the fights in the forums, their hilarious and always make my day. We're an opinionated bunch but that's what make's the world go round :)

    Me too! I've transitioned to Fitbit food diary but it's hard to leave this forum :D
  • LTR70
    LTR70 Posts: 1 Member
    Options
    I'm guessing this service is only available to Americans?
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
    Options
    MeanderingMammal wrote: »
    WaterBunnie wrote: »
    A lot of people expect something for nothing not recognising that people are being paid to keep this site developing and consistent. A diet club would have a weekly cost. I've found this site better than any diet club I've tried. Has to be paid for somehow - ads or subscription - at least we have a choice!


    The revenue is in the database exploitation, not the user facing experience. That's what UA have purchased.

    That said, the freemium model does seem to be in decline, althogh it's clear that MFP as a company has been pretty fragile for some time now.

    Care to elaborate? I havent really paid that much attention to it and mostly use the logging function, which has been v useful.
  • Allelito
    Allelito Posts: 179 Member
    Options
    Alatariel75 wrote: »
    _m0lly wrote: »
    winsjess632 wrote: »
    I actually don't get bugs or pop ups or anything on my version of MFP, and I'm happy with what I've seen from the free version. I guess if you're someone who's really into this and dedicated I think that's not too bad of a price. If you pay for Netflix a month ($8 or more) then it's not that much of a difference and this will actually make you feel good whereas Netflix is going to make you chubby

    Sorry, I just got stuck on the 'Netflix is going to make you chubby' fact. Omg haha

    Depends which episode of Game of Thrones I'm watching ifyaknowwhatimean *nudgenudgewinkwink*

    Heeey.. GoT isn't on Netflix! :wink:
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    Options
    999tigger wrote: »
    MeanderingMammal wrote: »
    WaterBunnie wrote: »
    A lot of people expect something for nothing not recognising that people are being paid to keep this site developing and consistent. A diet club would have a weekly cost. I've found this site better than any diet club I've tried. Has to be paid for somehow - ads or subscription - at least we have a choice!


    The revenue is in the database exploitation, not the user facing experience. That's what UA have purchased.

    That said, the freemium model does seem to be in decline, althogh it's clear that MFP as a company has been pretty fragile for some time now.

    Care to elaborate?

    On which bit?

    There is a large user base, across both MFP and Endomondo, adding to the cohort brought in with the MapMyFitness acquisition. There will be some duplication of users across all three, but that shouldn't be a dignificant factor.

    The database, particularly when conjoined with the endomondo and MMF databases can be exploited to determine quite a lot of useful information about behaviours, trends and preferences. Slicing and dicing in a range of different ways can then allow that information to be resold. Or just give the customers access to the database to slice and dice as they want to. Data about consumers is big business.

    One of the biggest issues with MFP is the quality of the food database that we, as consumers, have access to. UAs customers needn't be too worried about that as they can do their own analysis of the customer data, recognising that there are weaknesses in our experience, but accounting for that weakness in their own analysis.

    Even the choice to pay for the premium service is useful data, given that it's got limited utility for many. What is it about those that are prepared to pay that differentiates form those who'll give their data as payment?

    As far as Freemium is concerned, a number of freemium businesses are sunsetting their products. We're reaching a stage where people will buy a service without the need to hook them in the same way. So it'll be interesting to see what my last point around data causes the business to do with the free (data funded) service cf the cash+data funded services.

    I'd contend that MFP reached the limit of their ability to sell the business to business capability in my first couple of paragraphs. UA have the scale and capacity to manage that, and conflating the data with exercise data from MMF and Endomondo allows greater leverage opportunities.


  • FitPhillygirl
    FitPhillygirl Posts: 7,124 Member
    edited May 2015
    Options
    Im not curently counting my calories at this time. That said, I've looked over some of the recent changes that were made and the free version of the App is just fine for my needs and I'm not seeing anything extra that I would need to pay for..... I don't see anything wrong with MFP offering Premium features as it is good to have choices. MFP members just have to decide whether they really need these features and if it would be worth paying for them.
  • AmazonMayan
    AmazonMayan Posts: 1,168 Member
    edited May 2015
    Options
    It's wayyyyyyyyy overpriced.

    The changes I've noticed since it was offered to me, and no I've not paid a dime, aren't worth $10 a month. Maybe a one time $10 fee for anyone needing extra info (useless to my weight loss), but monthly? Never.

    The verified entries are already disappointing me.....solids measured in cups...really? Maybe it changes to weighed entries if you pay lol

    Eta: zucchini is where I first noticed ridiculous "verified" entries. I saw 2, 1 has cooked zucchini, quantity 1 squash....really? Zucchini comes in many sizes and who cares if it's not a big calorie item. Some people have to keep calories very close to exact as possible. Another zucchini is for a cup.
  • papagiancola
    papagiancola Posts: 7 Member
    Options
    I'm trying out premium but at $9.99 a month it is too expensive. The yearly price is better as it comes out to just over $4 a month. Still expensive, in my view it should be $1 or $2 a month at most. So far I'm not seeing the real benefit of the premium plan, I may end up canceling.
  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
    Options
    I'd also like to mention that if the fee were something much more reasonable (like 9.99$ per YEAR as an other suggested above) I'd be more than happy to support MFP so that it can keep going. Dont get me wrong, i understand the cost of building, integrating, hosting, monitoring, a huge website like MFP is probably expensive.

    But if they had a lower price point i believe MORE users would pay and they'd make more overall. They could even host something like a Donation season to raise benefits to provide users a better experience. In these two scenarios i'd feel less jaded.

Categories