A diet app with a buddy

Calorie tracking,
but it cheers
for you.

Kojo turns the weekly grind of "did I eat well today?" into a tiny game. Snap a meal to log it, watch the mascot run along your weekly progress bar, and unlock a sticker every time you hit a goal. Same calorie maths as the clinical apps — none of the spreadsheet energy.

AI snap-photo 3M+ foods Weekly mascot Adaptive macros
Get the app → See what's inside
3M+ food entries
1 friendly mascot
iOS + Android
Three tiny steps

Snap. Watch the mascot run.
Hit your week.

The fastest path between "I ate something" and "I logged it without thinking about it" — and a tiny celebration on the way.

STEP 01
📸

Snap or scan.

Photo the meal, photo the ingredient label, or scan the barcode. Kojo's AI parses it against the 3M+ food catalog and fills in calories & macros — no manual math.

STEP 02
🏃

Watch Kojo move.

Each log nudges Kojo further along the weekly progress bar. Adaptive macros recalculate from your weigh-ins so the target stays honest, not aspirational.

STEP 03
⭐

Unlock the sticker.

Hit the weekly mark — Kojo celebrates, the sticker lands in your diary, and the next week starts. Streaks, badges, end-of-week recap with the graphs that matter.

No. III · the killer feature

Weight loss as a small game you actually want to win.

Most calorie apps grade you with a number. Kojo's weekly bar turns that number into something visible: your buddy runs across the screen every time you log a meal under target, and waits at the weekly mark until you arrive. Hit the mark, sticker drops, week resets.

It's a stupidly simple loop. It's also the reason users keep opening Kojo on day 28 when they uninstalled MyFitnessPal on day 4. Logging is a chore. A friendly buddy running toward Sunday is not.

Who picks Kojo over the clinical apps

Four kinds of dieter
who give up on spreadsheets.

Kojo isn't trying to be Cronometer. It's the calorie app for the people who quit Cronometer on day five because it felt like homework.

α

The "tried them all" dieter

MyFitnessPal, Lose It, YAZIO, none of them stuck. The mascot loop is what finally keeps you opening the app past day five.

β

The gentle-progress fan

You don't want a 1200-calorie crash. Kojo splits a slow target across weeks and shows weekly milestones, not daily guilt.

γ

The visual learner

Numbers blur together. Graphs and mascot animations make it instantly obvious whether the week is on track.

δ

The quiet starter

You don't want a community feed or a coach pestering you. Kojo's "quiet encouragement" is what it sounds like — gentle, opt-in, optional.

The sticker pack

Six features doing
the heavy lifting.

A calorie tracker earns its spot on your home screen by stacking six small wins into one daily flow. Kojo's six.

No. 01 · the headliner

AI snap-photo logging.

Photo the meal — Kojo's vision pipeline recognizes the dish and returns calories, protein, carbs and fat. Photo the ingredient label instead — it parses the panel and fills in macros, weight, serving size. Either way: no typing, no searching, no digging.

No. 02

3M+ food catalog.

Curated, growing, with both branded and generic entries. Barcode scanner covers packaged foods worldwide.

No. 03

Weekly mascot bar.

Kojo runs across the week as you log. Hit the mark — sticker drops. The reason users keep opening the app.

No. 04 · pro moat

Adaptive macros.

Daily calorie and macro targets adjust as your body responds. Weigh-ins feed the model so the plan stays honest, not aspirational.

No. 05

End-of-day recap.

What you ate. What you missed. How today fits the week. One clean screen, no spreadsheet.

No. 06 · the soul

Quiet encouragement.

Kojo speaks up when you hit a streak, when a week closes well, or when you've been logging for the first time. No nag-notifications. No "Where have you been?" guilt screens. Opt-in, optional, gentle.

Where it wins, where it doesn't

Kojo vs the three other
calorie apps you've tried.

An honest table — including two rows where Kojo is genuinely the runner-up. Pick the app for what'll keep you opening it past week one.

Feature Kojo MyFitnessPal YAZIO Cronometer
Mascot-led weekly gamificationNativeNoBasic streaksNo
AI snap-photo loggingYesPremium onlyYesNo
Adaptive macro targetsYesManual onlyYesManual only
Food database size3M+14M+4M+~1M verified
Micronutrient depth (82+ nutrients)Macros onlySome microsSome micros82 nutrients
Intermittent fasting plansNoBasicFull 16:8 / 5:2Basic
Friendly tone (no guilt notifications)YesMixedYesNeutral
Privacy-firstYesAd-fundedYesYes
Free tier usable on its ownYesLimitedYesYes
Real users, real receipts

Three honest reads
(one isn't a rave).

We include one mixed review for credibility. Calorie apps are personal — too sensitive for a wall of five-stars.

★★★★★
"When I wanted junk food, Kojo helped me eat something healthy instead. I lost more weight than I expected — and actually had fun checking the app every day."
App Store review · iOS · US
★★★★★
"The mascot is cute but I wish there were more advanced macro options. As a serious lifter I'd love to see micronutrients too. Otherwise the daily flow is great."
Google Play review · Android · UK
★★★★★
"I bounced off MyFitnessPal three times. Kojo's the first one that doesn't feel like a punishment. The weekly bar is the smartest thing in this category."
App Store review · iOS · UK
From a small studio

Built by people who got bored
of clinical calorie apps.

Kojo is the work of Ikigai Development, a small indie studio. Friendly mascot, gentle copy, honest engineering.

Kojo started from a simple observation: most calorie counters are technically excellent and emotionally exhausting. The team at Ikigai Development built Kojo as the opposite — same nutritional engineering as the big apps, but wrapped in a mascot loop that makes opening the app feel like checking on a friend instead of confessing to a spreadsheet.

The honest tradeoffs that come with that. Kojo's 3M-item food catalog is solid but smaller than MyFitnessPal's 14M — fewer obscure restaurant entries, fewer regional supermarket private labels. There's no micronutrient depth: Cronometer remains the call if you're tracking 82 nutrients for medical reasons. There are no intermittent fasting plans, so if 16:8 is core to your protocol you'll want YAZIO instead. And the mascot is intentionally playful — if you'd rather a Bloomberg-terminal aesthetic, this is not your app.

In return, you get an app where the weekly loop genuinely works. Logging is fast because the AI fills the blanks instead of asking you to. The adaptive macro target adjusts when you weigh in, so you never end the week wondering if the plan was lying to you. The mascot keeps it light without being saccharine, and the end-of-day recap shows the week shape, not just today's number. Most importantly, it's the calorie app you'll still be using in month two — not the one you uninstalled after the third "you missed your goal" guilt notification.

If you've quit calorie tracking three times and want a fourth try that doesn't feel like a spreadsheet — Kojo is the bet. The studio behind it is Ikigai Development.

Asked & answered

Frequently asked,
honestly answered.

The questions worth answering before you install — including where Kojo is the wrong call.

Is Kojo free?
Yes — the free tier is usable on its own with calorie logging, the food catalog, barcode scanning, weekly mascot progress and end-of-day recaps. In-app purchases unlock the full AI snap-photo experience, advanced charts and longer history. Pricing varies by region; check current rates on the App Store or Google Play.
How does the AI snap-photo logging actually work?
Point your camera at the meal — Kojo's vision pipeline identifies the dish and estimates calories and macros. When something's missing or unclear, snap the ingredient label or nutrition panel instead — Kojo parses the text and fills in the numbers. No manual searching, no portion-size guessing required to get a usable log.
What is the weekly mascot game?
Every week your overall weight or maintenance goal is split into a smaller weekly target. As you log meals under target, the Kojo mascot moves along a progress bar across the screen. Hit the weekly mark, the mascot celebrates and a sticker lands in your diary. Miss the mark, the bar resets without drama — no guilt notifications, no "you failed" screens. It is the loop most users say is the reason they keep the app installed past week one.
How does Kojo compare to MyFitnessPal or YAZIO?
MyFitnessPal has a much larger food database (14M+ vs Kojo's 3M+) and is the better choice if you eat a lot of obscure restaurant or regional grocery items. YAZIO is stronger if you need full intermittent fasting plans (16:8, 5:2) and micronutrient depth. Kojo's edge is the mascot loop and gentle tone — it's the app for people who've installed and quit the bigger ones because they felt clinical.
Does Kojo track micronutrients?
No — Kojo focuses on calories and the three main macros (protein, carbs, fat). If you need to track vitamins, minerals or 80+ micronutrients for medical reasons, Cronometer remains the gold standard. Kojo is built for the people whose primary question is "am I on track for this week?" rather than "what's my B12 intake?"
Are my data and weigh-ins private?
Yes. Kojo states clearly in the App Store and Play Store listings that personal data stays private and secure. There is no public feed of weights or logs by default. If you want to share progress, that's an opt-in. The default experience is private.
Does Kojo work without an internet connection?
Partly. You can log meals offline against the cached food catalog, and logs sync next time you're online. AI snap-photo recognition requires a network connection. For travel in low-signal regions, plan on doing the AI snap when you have a signal and fall back to manual or barcode logging in offline mode.
What happens when I miss a weekly goal?
Nothing punishing. The bar resets, the mascot waits for next week, and the adaptive engine recalculates your target based on your most recent weigh-in. No guilt notifications, no streaks-broken screens, no "you let yourself down" copy. The whole product philosophy is gentle re-entry rather than punishment.
Who is Ikigai Development?
Ikigai Development is the small indie studio behind Kojo, publishing on both the iOS App Store and Google Play. The team's product philosophy is friendly, mascot-led, opt-in. It's not a venture-funded unicorn — it's a small team shipping a gentler take on a category dominated by clinical apps. The studio handle is in the App Store listing if you want to dig in.
The mascot is waiting

Quit the spreadsheet apps. Hit your week.

Download Kojo. Snap your next meal. Watch the buddy run.

Get the app → See how it feels