The best bloating and IBS tracker apps, honestly compared
Pick by problem, not by feature count
| If your problem is... | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| "I have just been diagnosed and I do not know where to start" | Cara Care | Structured multi-week program plus unlimited chat with a registered dietitian. The only one here with a qualified human in it. |
| "I want a serious analytical diary and I am on Android" | mySymptoms | Mature, deeply customisable, configurable 1 to 72 hour analysis window, both platforms. |
| "I want something free and simple that I will actually keep using" | Bowelle | Free, well designed, minimal friction, 250,000+ downloads. |
| "I need to know if this product in my hand is safe" | Fig | Barcode scanning against 2,800+ dietary needs across 100+ grocery chains. |
| "I will only stick with it if it takes ten seconds" | Tummy | Photograph the plate, get a bloat score. The lowest-friction option here, and friction is what kills tracking. |
| "I have done the diets and still do not know what my triggers are" | Minthe | Published statistical method, correction for testing many foods at once, and a guided test to confirm each suspect. |
The one that is right for most people is probably not ours
Worth saying plainly, since we are the ones writing.
If you have recently been diagnosed and are overwhelmed, you do not need a statistics engine. You need someone qualified to tell you what to do next, and Cara Care sells that for less than a private dietitian charges for one session. If your budget is zero, Bowelle is free and good. If the thing stopping you is that logging feels like work, Tummy asks less of you than we do. If you are on Android, Minthe does not exist for you at all.
Minthe is aimed at a narrower person: someone who has already tried low FODMAP and elimination diets, improved somewhat, and still cannot say which specific foods matter. That is a real and common situation, and it is a different problem from getting started.
The full comparison
| Cara Care | mySymptoms | Bowelle | Fig | Tummy | Minthe | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platforms | iOS, Android | iOS, Android | iPhone | iOS, Android | iPhone | iPhone |
| Free tier | Limited | Logging free | Fully free | Yes | Yes | Logging free |
| Paid | ~$8-10/mo | Subscription | - | ~$50/yr | Subscription | $6.99/mo, $39.99/yr |
| Dietitian access | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Barcode product lookup | not verified | not verified | not verified | Yes | not verified | Label reading only |
| Logging speed | Moderate | Slow, detailed | Fast | n/a | Fastest | Moderate |
| Symptom analysis | Yes | Yes, configurable | Trends | No | Bloat score | Yes |
| Method published | not verified | not verified | not verified | n/a | not verified | Yes |
| Confirmation testing | not verified | not verified | not verified | n/a | not verified | Yes |
| Maturity | Established | Long established | 250k+ downloads | 1M+ users | Since Feb 2026 | New in 2026 |
Checked August 2026. "Not verified" means we could not confirm it from public sources, not that the feature is missing. Apps change frequently.
What matters more than the app you choose
-
Whether you log for long enough
Two to three weeks minimum before any conclusion is possible, because every useful question is comparative and needs your own baseline. Most people stop before this. No app compensates for it.
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Whether the treatable conditions have been excluded
Celiac serology while still eating gluten, and fecal calprotectin. No tracking app can detect either, and both change everything if positive. See which gut tests are worth it.
-
Whether you reintroduce
Restriction is a diagnostic phase, not a destination. The people who end up worst off are usually those who cut foods out and never systematically put them back.
-
Whether you know your red flags
Blood in stool, unintentional weight loss, difficulty swallowing, persistent vomiting, or new persistent bloating from around age 50 mean stop tracking and get assessed. See the red flag list.
Already using one of these?
Switching is a different question from choosing. These cover what actually transfers, what does not, and the cases where staying put is the right answer.
- Cara Care alternatives, sorted by the reason people leave: cost, stability, or wanting analysis rather than a program.
- Bearable alternatives, for when a general symptom tracker is not specific enough about your gut.
- Monash FODMAP alternatives, including the free lookup tools, and when to just buy Monash.
The other roundups
Each of these sorts the category on a different axis, because ranking the same apps four times in the same order would be one page with four URLs.
- Best IBS apps, sorted by learn, treat or measure.
- Best low FODMAP apps, sorted by where the data comes from.
- Best food diaries, sorted by how much work they are.
How apps get on this page. They have to be live on the US App Store, be findable by someone searching for this problem, and do the job the page is about. We include apps that beat Minthe, and we say where they beat it. No app pays to be here and there are no affiliate links on this page.
What changed in this update. Added Tummy, which now holds the top US App Store slot for the main bloating searches. Added a logging-speed row, because friction turned out to be the axis that separates these apps in practice. Restated the maturity row now that Minthe has launched.
Minthe is a wellness and self-tracking tool, not a medical device. It does not diagnose or treat any condition and isn't a substitute for professional medical advice. If you have red-flag symptoms such as blood in your stool, unintentional weight loss, difficulty swallowing, persistent vomiting or a fever alongside gut symptoms, see a clinician rather than tracking them.
Frequently asked
What is the best app for bloating?
There is no single answer, because these apps do different jobs. For guided support from a registered dietitian, Cara Care. For a mature analytical diary that also runs on Android, mySymptoms. For a free and genuinely simple diary, Bowelle. For checking whether a grocery product is safe, Fig. For the fastest possible logging, Tummy. For statistical trigger identification with a confirmation step, Minthe, which we make. Pick by which of those describes your actual problem.
Which is best if I am on Android?
Cara Care, mySymptoms or Fig. Bowelle, Tummy and Minthe are all iPhone only, so they are not options for you regardless of anything else on this page.
Which is best if I want to spend nothing?
Bowelle is free and complete. Fig and Tummy both have usable free tiers. mySymptoms and Minthe let you log for free but charge for the analysis, and Cara Care’s free version is limited. If cost is the binding constraint, start with Bowelle.
Can I trust a comparison written by one of the apps?
Only if it concedes things, and you should check that it does. This page names Cara Care as the better product for anyone who wants a dietitian, mySymptoms as more mature and more flexible than Minthe, Bowelle as better for anyone who wants free and simple, Fig as doing something Minthe cannot do at all, and Tummy as both faster than Minthe and longer established. If those concessions were not here, you should discount the whole page.
What actually determines whether tracking works?
Logging consistently for long enough to establish your own baseline, which for most people means two to three weeks before any conclusion is possible. This matters more than which app you pick. The most common reason people never identify their triggers is not choosing the wrong app, it is stopping in week two.