What Is the Foodie App?

This app signals when it's horizontal—but otherwise, it's just a camera app

by
Brad Puet
Writer
Brad Puet has written for the Huffington Post and other outlets about music and photography. His commercial photography has appeared in the Washington Post, VICE, and Slate.
our editorial process
Brad Puet
Updated on May 14, 2020

The Foodie app, originally developed by Line, is now owned and managed by Snow, Inc. Once upon a time, Foodie brought a bit of value to people eager to snap their meals. Now? Not so much.

What We Like

  • Free app.

  • Simple to use.

What We Don't Like

  • Editing features are less robust than what iOS offers.

  • Requires unnecessary permission grants to use.

Foodie is fundamentally a camera app. It offers a handful of onboard filters, but these filters aren't as full-featured as the standard iOS tools. The only material benefit is that the photo frame flashes yellow when it's optimally placed to take a picture of a meal.

It doesn't achieve this goal through complex image-recognition. Instead, it's tied to the onboard gyroscope. When the phone is perfectly level, it flashes. You could take a picture of the tiles on your kitchen floor with it.

Foodie app screenshots

Foodie doesn't link to any social networks or offer value-added features that might warrant using it over the iOS Camera app, or Snap or Instagram cameras for that matter.

In addition, the app requests location, camera, and photo library access. The terms of service state that location data transmits to the company's servers.

Our verdict? If you find utility in a camera app that signals when it's horizontal, you might get some value out of it. Otherwise, skip it.