Alexa App??

meyerzone
meyerzone Posts: 1 Member
in Getting Started
I just joined yesterday. Trying to connect to Alexa and no luck. Amazon says this skill not currently available. Anyone know what is going on?

Thank you!

Replies

  • QuilterInVA
    QuilterInVA Posts: 672 Member
    Alexa cannot connect to MFP. There are only a limited number that do.
  • jseitzinger777
    jseitzinger777 Posts: 1 Member
    I'm surprised that more people are not asking for this fearture. HOW AWESOME it would be to say "Alexa ask My Fitness Pal to log Slimfast Keto Shake" and be done with it.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,957 Member
    But then you'd still potentially get the same *kitten* database entries as if you were logging by hand, with barcode scanner, or getting database entries from other countries with other nutritional values (or outdated stuff).
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,520 Member
    Agree with @yirara You’d never really have a handle on what you were logging.

    OTOH, Siri is awesome for stuff like “how many grams in a cup/tablespoon of…..”.
  • DonnMeindertsma
    DonnMeindertsma Posts: 2 Member
    I see this discussion on having an Alexa skill to log food didn’t get much traction. It should. Any idea whether something is in the works on this? “Alexa, log a 1 ounce bag of Ruffles chips for lunch.” 😉
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,520 Member
    Chips?

    Alexa, make that two, no three servings ……



    Or is that just me?
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,381 Member
    Speaking from career background in data management and systems design, plus 9+ years using MFP . . . I don't think this would work as well as a person might imagine.

    The crowd-sourced database is the tip of the iceberg.

    Might be close enough for some people, might be a good marketing point for MFP amongst the "gee whiz, magical computer interfaces, direct pipeline to Truth, AI knows all" starry eyed set.

    I don't even use the bar code scanning function here: Too unreliable in accuracy, among other issues.

    Of course, I could be wrong, also. :D;)
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,520 Member
    Isn’t (or wasn’t?) there a feature here where you could take a “scan” of your plate and it would calculate calories?

    I never even tried it. I would’ve wound up throwing my phone at the wall.

    The barcode scanning is maddening enough.

    Maybe I dreamt that. It sounds ridiculously awful in the cold light of day.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,264 Member
    springlering62 wrote: »
    Isn’t (or wasn’t?) there a feature here where you could take a “scan” of your plate and it would calculate calories?

    I never even tried it. I would’ve wound up throwing my phone at the wall.

    The barcode scanning is maddening enough.

    Maybe I dreamt that. It sounds ridiculously awful in the cold light of day.

    I remember reading about this feature and laughing.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,381 Member
    edited December 4
    springlering62 wrote: »
    Isn’t (or wasn’t?) there a feature here where you could take a “scan” of your plate and it would calculate calories?

    I never even tried it. I would’ve wound up throwing my phone at the wall.

    The barcode scanning is maddening enough.

    Maybe I dreamt that. It sounds ridiculously awful in the cold light of day.

    Still exists, looks like. On the app screen where one adds stuff to a meal, scroll over in the voice log, scan a barcode, etc. strip, and it's in there. (Yeah, looks like there's voice log now, too. Didn't try it. Don't use meal scan either: No way it's gonna work on most of what I eat. :D ) Premium only for meal scanning, not sure if that (and voice log) are only in Android, or also in Apple, because I only have Android. A very few features start in one of those but not the other, and I think there might be one involving a partner app that only works in one of the two.)

    elhy29ebvorg.jpg


  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,381 Member
    🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

    Oh, man. I was just making my dinner sandwich so I tried the meal scan. I gave it the advantages I could think of: Plain background, white plate, strong light, left the fold-over sandwich open to be more visible. This photo is as close as I can get it to the scan image:

    wewwxdvjr5nx.jpg

    This is what it offered me as a result, a pick list:

    4eioy8k6rod3.jpg

    It sort of recognized some things that are on there, sauerkraut, onion, generic cheese; or I could pick the generic sandwich, I guess. No other hint of the Ezekiel tortilla it's on, except "sandwich". Obviously no insight that the cheese is Jarlsberg Lite, so reduced calorie (and I don't have a clue what it's 0.1 "cake" of cheese is anyway, that has 180 calories?!?). Don't grimace when I say this, because I'm eating it and like it, you don't have to: There's baked tofu and dill mustard (no hint of either in the pick list, and the tofu is the most calorie dense component by far). 🤣

    Huge time saver, that?!?

    For funzies, I started my stopwatch when I actually logged it. (I have it saved as a Meal in MFP, but needed to adjust some details and sub one different ingredient once I logged it in my diary, even made some mistakes/typos while doing it, so it took longer than usual.) One minute, 31 seconds, starting from the diary page, including my mistakes. That's complete with all the specific correct brands, quantities, etc. ending up in my diary. 🤣 If I used that pick list, I'd still be noodling away at it, and I'd have to search some items entirely manually to get the right calories. 🤣 🤣 🤣

    If somebody else with premium wants to try out the new voice log, please go for it and report back. I don't have the patience, at least not right now. 😉🙄

Categories