LensFree AI Food Scanner & Calorie Checker
Snap a photo of your meal and get calories, macros, and ingredient details on the spot. No typing, no manual logging. Just point your camera and scan. Free to use.
Drop a food photo here or tap to upload
JPG, PNG, WebP, HEIC • Max 50MB • 1 free scan
Analyzing your meal with AI…
How the Food Scanner Works
Snap or Upload
Take a photo of your plate, meal, or snack, or pick one from your gallery. Good lighting and the food clearly visible makes a real difference in accuracy.
AI Analyzes the Meal
Each food item in the photo gets identified separately. The AI estimates portion sizes, matches them against a nutritional database, and calculates calories per item. The whole breakdown happens in seconds.
Get Calories & Nutrition
You get total calories, protein, carbs, fat, and often an ingredient list. No manual logging needed. Just a photo and a result.
What Is This Food? How AI Calorie Scanning Works
Think of your meal photo as a visual puzzle. The AI breaks the image into regions and figures out what's in each one: a piece of chicken, a scoop of rice, steamed broccoli, a drizzle of sauce. Each component gets matched against a database of known foods with established nutritional values. Portion size comes from visual cues: plate diameter, food volume, how items sit relative to each other. Then it's math: 150 grams of rice at X calories per gram, 80 grams of chicken at Y calories per gram. You get a calorie total plus a macro breakdown for protein, carbs, and fat.
AI Food Recognition
Behind the scenes, computer vision models trained on millions of labeled food images do the heavy lifting. The AI has learned the visual difference between grilled salmon and baked salmon, between a cup of pasta and a heaping plate. It handles cuisines from around the world: sushi, tacos, curry, stir-fry, pasta, salads. Distinct, well-lit food gets the most accurate estimates. Blended smoothies, casseroles, and heavily sauced dishes are trickier. The AI can't always separate individual ingredients. In those cases, expect a range or a best-guess estimate based on overall appearance.
Nutrition Estimates
Once the AI identifies "grilled chicken breast" and estimates 100 grams, it pulls standard macros from the same nutritional database. Protein, carbs, and fat are all calculated from typical preparation data. These aren't lab measurements from your specific plate. They're estimates. Good enough for daily awareness and tracking trends over time, but don't treat them as exact down to the calorie.
How Many Calories Are in This Meal?
That's the question that brings most people here. You sit down to lunch, snap a photo, and want a number. How many calories? A free AI calorie checker answers that in seconds. It's faster than typing each ingredient into a tracker, and it works even when you don't know exactly what's on the plate. Restaurant meals, office catering, a friend's homemade dish. You can scan all of it.
Accuracy and Limitations
Let's be honest: weighing food on a kitchen scale and logging it manually will always be more precise. But most people won't do that for every meal. It's tedious. An AI scanner sits in the practical middle ground: accurate enough for daily awareness, fast enough that you'll actually use it consistently. One thing to watch for: hidden oils, sauces, and dressings can add significant calories that the AI may undercount. Treat results as helpful estimates. Consistency matters more than hitting an exact number.
Food Scanner App
Lens App includes a free AI food scanner that handles any cuisine. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, desserts, beverages. Point your camera at it. The same app that identifies plants with the plant identifier also scans your meals. One download, multiple tools. On the web, you get one free scan per day. The mobile app for iOS and Android adds more daily scans. It works with restaurant meals, homemade dishes, packaged foods, and mixed plates. Clear photos in good lighting make a noticeable difference in how precise the estimates come back.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to count calories from a photo?
Use a free AI food scanner like Lens App. Snap or upload a photo of your meal, and the AI identifies each food item and estimates calories. You'll get a total plus a breakdown by item, usually in a few seconds.
Is there a free calorie scanner app?
Yes. Lens App is a free AI calorie scanner available on the web and as a mobile app for iOS and Android. One free scan per day on the web, with additional daily scans on mobile and optional unlimited access.
How accurate is AI food recognition?
Generally accurate for common, clearly visible dishes. Photo quality and lighting matter. Homemade meals, mixed dishes, and unusual presentations tend to return wider calorie ranges. Treat results as solid estimates, not exact measurements.
Can I scan any type of food?
Yes. Any cuisine works. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, desserts, beverages. Restaurant meals, homemade plates, packaged foods. Clear photos with everything visible produce the most accurate results.
How does AI estimate calories from a picture?
It identifies food items in the image, estimates portion sizes from visual cues like plate diameter and food volume, then matches each item against a nutritional database. Calories per item get summed into a total. The whole process runs on computer vision trained on millions of food images.
What nutritional info does the food scanner provide?
Calories, protein, carbohydrates, and fat are standard. Some results also include fiber, sodium, and an ingredient list. Detail level depends on how clearly the AI can identify and portion each item.
Is this food healthy?
The AI gives you nutritional data to help assess a meal, but "healthy" depends on your goals, diet, and context. Use the calorie and macro breakdown as a starting point. For specific dietary guidance, talk to a nutritionist or healthcare provider.
How many calories in a plate of pasta?
Roughly 400 to 700 calories for a typical plate with sauce, depending on portion size, sauce type, and add-ons like cheese or meat. A free AI food scanner can narrow that range by analyzing the actual portion and visible ingredients in your photo.
Can AI identify ingredients in a dish?
Yes. Visible ingredients like vegetables, proteins, grains, and sauces can be identified. Accuracy is higher when items are distinct and recognizable. Blended or heavily mixed dishes may get a general description instead of a full ingredient list.
What is the best food scanning app?
Lens App is a solid free option. It works on the web and as an iOS and Android app, handles any cuisine, and returns calories plus macros. It also doubles as a plant identifier, dog breed identifier, and reverse image search, so you get multiple tools in one app.