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User Guide
Onigiri tracks calories, nutrients, sodium, and water on iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Everything you log is stored in Apple Health on your device — no account, no servers, nothing to lose other than weight.
Contents: Getting started · Today · Logging food · Water · Foods & Meals · Goal · Calendar & streaks · Apple Watch · Widgets · Siri · Reminders · Settings · Backups · iPad · FAQ
On first launch Onigiri walks you through:
- Health access — Onigiri reads your energy burn, weight, and nutrition history, and writes the food, sodium, and water you log. Grant everything for the full experience; you can change it later in the Health app (Profile → Apps → Onigiri).
- A weight goal (optional) — a target weight and date. You can set or change this any time on the Goal tab, or skip it entirely.
- Water settings — your serving size and daily goal.
Until Apple Health has activity history, calorie budgets assume a 2,000 kcal/day burn; after a couple of weeks the app uses your real 14-day average.
Today is home: your calorie balance for the day, at a glance.
- The headline is either your ± kcal balance (burned minus eaten) or a countdown of kcal left toward your daily budget — pick in Settings → Appearance. It turns amber when you're within a snack of the budget and orange when over.
- Progress gauges (Settings → Appearance) wrap the headline in a ring showing how much of the day's budget you've eaten.
- Burned / Eaten appear as cards below or flanking the headline (Settings → Appearance → Energy stats).
- The tracked-metric row shows two metrics of your choice — sodium and water by default; any nutrient with a custom target and icon via Settings → Tracked metrics.
- The Daily goal card shows deficit banked vs. target (or budget left, in maintain mode) with your reward badge filling as you go.
- Details › under the headline opens the full nutrient breakdown for the day — macros, minerals, vitamins, and every logged entry.
Browsing days: swipe left/right anywhere, use the ‹ › arrows in the top bar, or tap the day title to jump to any date from a month grid. Logging while browsing a past day logs to that day — backfilling yesterday's forgotten dinner takes two taps.
The log lists the day's entries grouped by meal (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snack, Water). Tap a group to expand it, swipe an entry right to edit, left to delete — deletes offer a one-tap Undo.
Tap the + button (bottom corner) to open the Log sheet.
- Favorites / Foods / Meals scopes list your library, with your favorites and recent items first. Tap an item, adjust the portion (quarter-step ± or type any quantity), and log.
- Search is one field for everything: when AI is available the results lead with an "Estimate with …" row (tap it and the AI estimates the food you typed — "two eggs and a slice of buttered toast" works as well as a name), followed by your library, then the online food database. Tapping an AI estimate opens the full food form with every value editable; tapping an online result logs it and saves it for next time. See AI features.
- Scan Barcode, Label, or Food — one camera, three tricks: point it at a barcode for a database lookup, or tap the shutter to photograph a nutrition-facts label and Onigiri reads the numbers off the label itself. Great for foods no database knows. With AI available there's a third trick: photograph the food itself — a plate, a bowl, a salad — and Onigiri names the dish, lists the typical components it assumed (they land in the serving field, fully editable), and estimates the nutrition for your review. Nothing is logged until you say so. (With AI off the row reads "Scan Barcode or Nutrition Label" and works exactly as before.)
Online databases (off by default; Settings → Online Database): with online lookups off, search uses only your saved library and the scanner reads labels on-device. Turned on, barcode scans use Open Food Facts and text search uses Open Food Facts, USDA FoodData Central, or both — FDC needs a free api.data.gov key, stored in your device's Keychain.
Onigiri's AI is entirely optional and off by default — nothing AI-related runs until you turn on the switch (offered once during onboarding, always in Settings → AI), and the app works fully without it. Online lookups are a separate switch with the same stance: everything network-touching ships off.
What AI does, when it's on:
- Estimates from a description — the "Estimate with …" row atop search results: type what you ate in plain language, tap, review the estimate (calories, sodium, and the macros: fat, carbs, protein, fiber, sugar) in the full food form, and save or log.
- Meal names — building a meal suggests a short name from its foods.
- Label reading — labels are read by Apple's on-device text recognition first; the AI only fills values the local reader missed, from the label's own text.
- Identify Food — photograph a plate and the AI names the dish and estimates a typical serving, component by component.
Every estimate is clearly captioned ("AI estimate from … — review before saving.") and nothing is saved or logged without your review. Foods and meals created with AI keep a small ✨ next to their name — in the Food Library and on the day's log — so the provenance stays visible after saving.
Engines (Settings → AI → Engine):
- Apple Intelligence (default) — runs on the iPhone itself, on supported models. No data is sent to third parties — everything remains on the device.
- Anthropic or OpenAI — bring your own API key; the model name is editable. Keys live in the device Keychain, never in backups or exports, and are sent only to their own provider.
- Local AI — any OpenAI-compatible server you run (Ollama, LM Studio — Gemma, Qwen, or any model), by URL, with an optional token and a "model accepts photos" switch for photo identification.
Whatever the engine, the on-device first stages always run locally: label text recognition, the food-photo screening, and barcode scans (which never use AI at all). With a remote provider, only the text you typed, the label transcript, or the photo goes out — under your key, to that provider alone. Details in the Privacy Policy.
Water lives on Today: the hydration row shows progress toward your daily goal, and one tap on it logs a serving. More ways to log a serving:
- Long-press the + button (enable in Settings → Water)
- The water widget on your Lock Screen
- The Control Center button
- The watch app's Log water button
Serving size and daily goal are in Settings → Water.
The Foods tab is your personal food database.
- Favorites / Foods / Meals scopes, searchable, sorted by ranked (favorites first, then recency), recent, or name.
- Add a food with the + button: type the numbers, scan a barcode, label, or (with Apple Intelligence) a photo of the food itself, or search the online database from inside the form. Onigiri spots duplicates by barcode and offers to update the existing entry instead of creating a twin.
- Star a food to pin it to Favorites — on the phone and the watch.
- Meals bundle foods with quantities ("Chicken & rice" = 1 chicken breast + 2 rice bowls). Logging a meal logs every component in one tap. Meals can be favorites too.
Everything in the library syncs to the watch automatically.
Two modes:
- Lose Weight — set a target weight and date. Onigiri computes the daily deficit needed and your calorie budget (average burn minus deficit). The chart shows your weigh-ins (from a smart scale or manual Health entries), their 7-day average, and — once a downward trend exists — the date you'll hit your target at the current pace. A Last 30 days row compares what your logged deficits predicted against what the scale actually did.
- Maintain — eat what you burn. The budget is your expected daily burn; any deficit earns the day's badge.
Budgets are honest: they never assume less than what you've actually burned today, so an active day's budget grows with you. Aggressive plans (over 1,000 kcal/day deficit or under 1,500 kcal/day budget) get flagged — the fix is a later target date, not eating less.
Weight comes from Apple Health when available; enter it manually otherwise. Removing a goal never touches your logs.
The Calendar tab is the month at a glance:
- Days that met their goal earn your reward badge (the onigiri — or pick a trophy or any emoji in Settings → Appearance).
- The header counts badges this month and your current streak. Tap Details for month stats: days tracked, goal-met rate, total deficit, and the scale change over the month.
- Days are judged by the goal that was in force on that day — moving your goalposts today doesn't rewrite history.
- Days below a calorie threshold (Settings → Data → untracked threshold) count as untracked rather than failed — a forgotten logging day breaks the streak, but doesn't pretend you fasted.
- Tap any day for its full nutrition breakdown; tap View day to open it on Today for editing.
The watch app stands alone — it reads and writes the same Apple Health data, and your food library syncs from the phone.
- Home: your balance (or kcal-left) headline, the day's gauge, and a one-tap Log water button.
- Log: favorites first, then recents — tap to log a food or meal. Tap an entry in the day list to adjust its calories with the crown or ± buttons, or remove it.
- Metrics: sodium, water, and your custom tracked metrics.
- Complications: calorie balance, water, streak, and a summary — for every watch face family, including corner and inline.
Logs sync between phone and watch through Apple Health itself — typically within seconds in both directions.
Home Screen / Lock Screen (iPhone & iPad):
- Today (small/medium/large) — the balance ring, burned/eaten, your tracked metrics, and a Log button that deep-links into the Log sheet.
- Gauge — the day's progress ring, small and glanceable.
- Month Stats — goal-met days and streak; tapping opens the Calendar.
- Water and Streak — lock-screen accessories.
- Control Center — a log-water button.
Widgets refresh within seconds of a log — including logs made on the watch or in other Health apps.
Log and check your day by voice — no setup needed, the phrases work once the app has been opened after install. The first time you use one, Siri may ask to turn on Onigiri's shortcuts — tap Turn On.
Logging:
- "Log water in Onigiri" (or "log a glass of water in Onigiri") — logs your standard serving.
- "Log meal name in Onigiri" — any saved meal, by name: "Log chicken and rice in Onigiri."
- "Log food name in Onigiri" — any favorite or recent food: "Log protein shake in Onigiri."
- The generic forms work too — "Log a meal in Onigiri" makes Siri ask which one.
Asking about your day:
- "How many calories do I have left in Onigiri?" — Siri speaks your remaining budget ("You have 320 calories left today") or how far over you are, with a summary card.
- "How much water have I had in Onigiri?" — your progress toward the day's water goal.
- "How much sodium have I had in Onigiri?" — today's sodium against your limit, and whether you're over.
- "How much protein / carbs / fat / saturated fat / fiber / sugar / cholesterol / caffeine have I had in Onigiri?" — any macro, by name. If the nutrient is one of your Today tracked metrics, Siri answers against its target ("You're at 32 of 120 grams of protein"); otherwise you get the plain total.
Describe a food (iPhones with Apple Intelligence):
- "Describe a food in Onigiri" — Siri asks "What did you eat?"; answer in plain language ("half a cup of rice and a fried egg"), Siri reads back the estimate, and nothing is logged until you confirm. Hands-free logging for foods that aren't in your library.
On Apple Watch, the same logging and ask-back phrases work from raise-to-speak — no phone needed.
Names don't have to be exact — "the chicken rice" finds "Chicken & rice." New and renamed foods and meals become sayable automatically.
The same shortcuts appear in Spotlight (type "log water"), the Shortcuts app — where the Log Water action also takes an ounces amount for automations ("at 10 PM, log 20 ounces") — and can be assigned to the Action button. Apart from Describe a food, none of this requires Apple Intelligence — it works on any iPhone that runs Onigiri.
Settings → Reminders, three independent nudges, all computed from your actual day:
- Meals — a nudge if you haven't logged by mealtime.
- Water pacing — checks at 11 AM, 3 PM, and 7 PM, and only nudges while you're behind pace on your water goal.
- Streak — an 8 PM warning when today's goal isn't met yet and a streak is on the line.
Reminders that no longer apply (you logged; you caught up) simply don't fire. Tapping one lands you in the right place to act on it.
- Appearance — headline style (kcal balance / kcal left), progress gauges, energy stats layout (cards / beside balance), food & water icons, reward badge (onigiri, trophy, or any emoji).
- Tracked metrics — the two Today-row slots: sodium and water by default, or any nutrient with a goal or limit, custom target, and icon.
- Water — serving size, daily goal, hold-the-+-button logging.
- Sodium — daily limit (colors sodium across the app), shown or hidden.
- Reminders — see above.
- Online Database — the online-lookups switch (off by default), and the text-search source: Open Food Facts, USDA FoodData Central (bring your own free key), or both.
- AI — the master switch for every AI feature, and the engine: Apple Intelligence (on-device, default), Anthropic, OpenAI, or a Local AI server. See AI features.
- Data — export/import your library as JSON, automatic backups, untracked-day threshold.
- Reset — library, goals, settings, or everything. Apple Health data is never touched by any reset.
- Logs live in Apple Health — Onigiri's resets and even deleting the app never remove them. Health data is yours, exportable from the Health app itself.
- The library (foods, meals, goal, water settings) is backed up automatically to the app's Documents folder — visible in the Files app, five most recent kept. Settings → Data can export/import the same JSON anywhere, and imports are additive (nothing is overwritten or lost).
On iPad, Onigiri uses the width: Today lays the summary beside the log, and the tab bar can become a sidebar. All four orientations and every multitasking mode (Split View, Slide Over, Stage Manager) are supported.
Why does my budget say 2,000 kcal? Apple Health doesn't have activity history yet (new device, or energy sources not granted). The budget uses your real 14-day average once it exists.
Why can't I log? If Health write access is denied, every log fails — Today shows a hint when this happens. Fix it in the Health app: Profile → Apps → Onigiri.
A barcode isn't found. Open Food Facts is community-built; niche products may be missing. Photograph the nutrition label instead (or, with Apple Intelligence, the food itself) — or add the food by hand and scan the barcode into it, and it'll match forever after.
The scan row doesn't say "or Food" / photographing food does nothing. The food-photo trick needs Apple Intelligence (Settings → Apple Intelligence & Siri — supported iPhones only, and the on-device model must finish downloading). Without it, barcode and label scanning work exactly as before.
Do I need an account? No. There's nothing to sign up for, and no way for anyone — including the developer — to see your data.
Is this medical advice? No. Budgets and projections are informational estimates computed from your own numbers. Consult a professional before making significant dietary changes.
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