Calorie Apps That Know Taiwanese Food: Lu Rou Fan (2026)

November 11, 2026 · 6 min read

Of the 8 calorie app listings we read on the Taiwan App Store on October 31, 2026, three name Taiwanese dishes (Bao, Eatmoji and HowCal), and only two of them spell out lu rou fan, the braised pork rice (滷肉飯): HowCal and Bao. We read store pages only. No app was installed or tested, so this is not a ranking and not a verdict on accuracy.

If you live in or are visiting Taiwan, the odd part of calorie tracking is that you can type “lu rou fan” into most apps and still not know whether the app has ever heard of it. A store page cannot settle that, but it does show who bothers to name the food. We sorted the apps into three groups: group A names Taiwanese dishes on its page, group B only says “local” or “Taiwan” without naming a dish, and group C has no Taiwanese wording at all. For a wider look at Asian cuisines beyond Taiwan, see Best Calorie Tracking Apps for Asian Food; this page reads only the Taiwan storefront.

We make Bao, so we are not neutral, and we are not affiliated with any app in the table. That is why every cell below is something a store page says, with the date, and none of it is a verdict on how well an app works. We did not test the accuracy of any app, Bao included.

The three groups

• Group A, the page names Taiwanese dishes: Bao, Eatmoji, HowCal
• Group B, the page says only “local” or “Taiwan” and names no dish: none this time
• Group C, no Taiwanese wording: CaLoMei, Cofit, fatsecret, MyFitnessPal, WiseMeal

Apps are listed alphabetically inside each group, which says nothing about quality. Eatmoji’s page says “local foods” but also names bubble tea, so it sits in group A and group B stays empty.

The chart: 8 Taiwan App Store listings

Scroll sideways on a phone. Rows run group A first, then group C. Chinese text on the pages is translated here; the Chinese dish names are kept in parentheses so you can match them to a menu.

Taken from each app’s Taiwan App Store page and Apple’s public listing data, read on October 31, 2026. Prices and ratings change, so check the App Store before you decide. The Taiwan pages print only “$,” and Apple’s public data gives the currency as New Taiwan dollars. Prices are the range of plans on the page, which does not say which one is current. Bao’s own rating has only 10 ratings and HowCal’s has only 4. HowCal’s photo-logging line was rechecked on November 2, 2026.

What each store page says

Each paragraph below only restates that app’s own Taiwan store page. Where a page is silent on price, free version or photo recognition, we say so.

Group A: the page names Taiwanese dishes

Bao Free to download, with a 7-day free trial of Pro, then NT$150 a week, NT$320 a month or NT$1,990 a year. The page names braised pork rice, Taiwanese fried chicken, bubble tea, lunchbox and night-market snacks, and describes photo recognition of each dish’s calories, protein, carbs and fat, plus scanning a whole menu. Every number Bao shows is an AI estimate, not a lab measurement. To see how Bao handles a Taiwanese dish, read How Many Calories Are in Lu Rou Fan (Braised Pork Rice)? and the page on fried chicken cutlet.

Eatmoji Free to download, NT$220 a month or NT$990 a year. The page says the free version has unlimited access to the food database and Pro has unlimited AI scans. On photos it says “photo to calories in 1 second.” On Taiwanese food, it says the app collects “local foods and ingredients” and mentions bubble tea in another sentence; it does not mention lu rou fan.

HowCal 厚呷 Free to download, NT$60 a month or NT$390 a year, and the page does not say what the free version includes. It asks, in Chinese, whether you cannot find the calories for braised pork rice or bubble tea, lists egg crepe, lunchbox, snacks and hand-shaken drinks, and says its database covers dishes from Taiwan, mainland China, Singapore and Malaysia. For photos it says “photo and barcode scan to record quickly,” rechecked on November 2, 2026.

Group B: only “local” or “Taiwan,” no dish names

No app landed in this group.

Group C: no Taiwanese wording

CaLoMei 卡老味 Free to download; the page says the free version has 3 AI scans a day. Pro is NT$150 to NT$320 a month and NT$990 to NT$1,290 a year (7 plans listed). The photo line says it recognizes food from a photo and counts the nutrition. The Languages field lists Japanese, English and Korean, with no Chinese.

Cofit Free to download; the page says some advanced features need an in-app subscription, with plans from NT$300 to NT$5,999 (10 plans listed). Photo recognition is described as “AI meal recognition,” and the page also mentions human dietitian support. The Languages field lists only English.

fatsecret Free to download, with a premium tier sold separately, plans from NT$330 to NT$1,920 (9 plans listed). The page says “image recognition” and “use your camera to log your food and meals.” The Languages field lists Simplified and Traditional Chinese among 23 languages.

MyFitnessPal The page says it is free to download and use, and the Premium upgrade plans run from NT$300 to NT$2,690 (10 plans listed). The Taiwan page describes scanning barcodes with the phone camera; photo recognition of food is not on the page. The Languages field lists Simplified and Traditional Chinese among 20 languages.

WiseMeal Free to download, and the page does not say what the free version includes; plans run from NT$320 to NT$1,990 (10 plans listed). Photo recognition is described as taking one photo to see calories and nutrition at a glance. The Languages field lists Simplified and Traditional Chinese among 21 languages.

What we did not test

We did not download or run any of these 8 apps, and we did not compare accuracy, database size or how smooth they are to use. This page only says what each app wrote on its own Taiwan store page. A page that does not mention something does not prove the app lacks it, and a page that does mention it does not prove it works. For menu scanning in particular, see Can You Scan a Whole Restaurant Menu? Most Calorie Trackers Can't. The wider version of this comparison, which adds US storefront pages, is Best Calorie Tracking App for Taiwanese Food (2026).

Common questions

Which calorie app recognizes lu rou fan? We did not test whether any app recognizes it, so we can only say what the listings say. On October 31, 2026, the two Taiwan App Store pages that spell out lu rou fan (滷肉飯) were HowCal and Bao. Eatmoji’s page names bubble tea but not lu rou fan. The other five pages name no Taiwanese dishes.

What is the best calorie app for Taiwan? This page does not rank apps and we did not test any of them; we read store listings only. On October 31, 2026, the listings that name Taiwanese dishes were Bao, Eatmoji and HowCal. To choose, compare price, what the free version includes and the features you need on the App Store yourself. We make Bao, so we are not neutral.

Are there free calorie apps in Taiwan? All 8 apps show “Free” as the price on the Taiwan App Store and can be downloaded free, but all 8 also have paid plans. Listings that describe the free version: Eatmoji (unlimited access to the food database), CaLoMei (3 AI scans a day) and MyFitnessPal (free to download and use). Bao is free to download, with a 7-day free trial of Pro. The other listings do not say what the free version includes.

Which calorie apps count calories from a photo? Seven of the 8 Taiwan listings describe photo recognition or photo logging: Bao, CaLoMei, Cofit, Eatmoji, fatsecret (which says “image recognition”), HowCal (“photo and barcode scan to record quickly,” rechecked November 2, 2026) and WiseMeal. MyFitnessPal’s Taiwan page does not. Every number from a photo is an AI estimate, not a lab measurement, and that includes Bao.