How It Felt vs
How It Felt vs Ate (AteMate).
Ate — the photo-first food journal a lot of people found when they wanted to stop counting — has been rebranded as AteMate and grown into a broader health journal: an AI coach, automatic food recognition, sleep, movement, hydration, and calories and macros as optional tools. How It Felt went the other way. It stays a mindful eating journal and nothing else: no calories at any setting, no AI, no account, and your entries stay on your device.
What each app optimises for
AteMate (Ate)
Seeing food, sleep, movement, mood and hydration in one place, with an AI coach reading the patterns back to you.
How It Felt
One meal at a time — how it felt, emotionally and physically, with nothing interpreting it for you.
Side-by-side
| Feature | AteMate (Ate) | How It Felt |
|---|---|---|
| Calories and macros | AteMate (Ate) Optional — offered as learning tools, not daily targets | How It Felt None, at any setting |
| Photo entries | AteMate (Ate) Yes — the meal is recognised automatically | How It Felt Optional — no recognition, no naming the food |
| On-track / off-track tag | AteMate (Ate) Yes | How It Felt No — no good/bad framing |
| Emotional check-in | AteMate (Ate) Mood note alongside an entry | How It Felt 21-emotion grid, every entry |
| Hunger / fullness | AteMate (Ate) Yes — as customisable reflection questions before and after a meal | How It Felt Yes — sliders for both, every entry |
| AI coach | AteMate (Ate) Yes — the paid Coach tiers | How It Felt No — no AI, no advice |
| Sleep, movement, hydration | AteMate (Ate) Yes | How It Felt No — meals only |
| Mindful eating timer | AteMate (Ate) Not a listed feature | How It Felt Yes — breathing-paced |
| Account / data location | AteMate (Ate) Account required; they don't document where entries are stored | How It Felt No account; entries stay in a local database on your device |
| Languages | AteMate (Ate) 12, including JA, KO, RU, TH, VI | How It Felt 6 — EN, DE, ES, FR, IT, PT |
| Pricing | AteMate (Ate) 7-day free trial, then subscription; no ads, no free tier | How It Felt Free forever; optional Supporter tier |
When to pick which
Pick AteMate (Ate) if…
- You want food, sleep, movement, mood and hydration in one journal.
- An AI coach reading your patterns back to you sounds useful rather than intrusive.
- Automatic photo recognition and cross-device sync save you real time.
- You want it in Japanese, Korean, Russian, Thai, or Vietnamese — we don't have those yet.
- An on-track / off-track frame is something you've found helpful rather than stressful.
- One caution first: if you have a history of disordered eating, calorie and macro features, on-track tagging, and having your patterns scored may not be safe for you — it's worth talking to your clinician before you start.
Pick How It Felt if…
- You want depth on meals specifically, not breadth across every habit.
- You'd rather not categorise meals as on-track or off-track.
- You don't want calories available even as an option — the temptation is the problem.
- No account, no cloud, and no subscription are the point for you.
Verdict
AteMate is the broader tool — more of your life in one place, a coach to interpret it, sync across devices, and a subscription to match. How It Felt is the narrower one: meals only, nothing interpreting you, your entries staying on your device, nothing to pay. (The free tier does show ads and send anonymous usage and crash diagnostics — the contents of your entries are never part of that.) Choose by whether you want a journal that talks back, or one that just holds what you noticed.
Frequently asked
Isn't Ate the app that doesn't count calories?
That was its original pitch, and it's still not a calorie tracker in the MyFitnessPal sense. Since rebranding to AteMate it does offer calories and macros — but framed as optional learning tools rather than daily targets you have to hit. How It Felt has no calorie feature at all, at any setting.
Does How It Felt have an AI coach?
No. Nothing reads your entries, scores them, or tells you what a pattern means. The entries are yours to look back on — the app doesn't have an opinion about them.
Are entries also photo-based in How It Felt?
Photos are optional and never analysed. Each entry is built around hunger, fullness, an emotion (or several), and optional sense notes — a photo or short text note can accompany those if you like.
Can I sync between devices?
No. Data lives on the device, in a local SQLite database (Drift). You can export to CSV or PDF whenever you want, but there's no cross-device sync — that's the trade for having no account and no cloud.
What does each one cost?
AteMate is subscription-only after a 7-day free trial, with higher tiers for the AI coach — check the App Store or Google Play for current pricing in your region. How It Felt's full journal is free forever, with an optional Supporter tier that removes ads and unlocks the full affirmation library and extended export.
Sources and review date
Comparison claims are based on the public product information linked below and the How It Felt feature set on this site.
Last reviewed: April 30, 2026.
Learn the concepts
Plain-language explainers behind the comparison.
Try How It Felt
A calmer way to be with food.
Free, no account, all data on your device.