Many questions and few answers when it comes to data protection
For the use of idoplanta It is necessary to create a personal profile, for which we recommend using an email address to save as much data as possible. Much personal data is often transmitted through existing profiles with third-party providers, such as Google, Apple or Facebook, who have no role in the use of these and other applications.
Which should go without saying, but hasn’t proven to be the case in multiple application tests: idoplanta After successful registration, you will be sent a verification email in which you must confirm that your email address is correct. This is nice. What is least pleasing are the application provider’s data protection conditions, which are not completely transparent. While the version we tested (v1.7.1 for iOS) provides detailed information about system and personal data usage, certain functionality, such as the use of third-party AI software – more on that in a moment – isn’t even mentioned. Considering that full use idoplanta requires registration, microphone and camera approval and personal data about eating habits and consumption is also collected, we would like to have more specific information about the planned use of advertising and (optional) emails and push notifications. Although we did not notice any advertising content in the app environment during the two test days (with the exception of some references to external offers such as Chefkoch.de and links to selected online media), in the interest of consumer ease of use, We would like to see larger versions of the app in future versions of Clarity.
(Almost) everything for a climate-friendly and energy-conscious diet
idoplanta At the beginning, a brief user profile is created, in which the climate goal and basic nutritional habits are recorded. Depending on your ambition and lifestyle, emissions reduction targets vary from the level needed to achieve the the two-degree target set in the Paris Climate Agreement (minimum), up to the ideal case, in which you, as an individual, eat so sustainably that, theoretically, you achieve the result that is lower than that desired by many climate researchers 1.5 degrees of global warming by 2100 compared to the pre-industrial era could achieve. The prerequisite for this, of course, is that hundreds of millions of people living in industrialized countries act in a similar way. And that you are willing to eat exclusively plant-based foods based on renewable raw materials.
Regardless of whether you are vegan, vegetarian or flexitarian Lifestyle is the central function of idoplanta a calorie and CO2e emissions tracker that uses easily understandable statistics to show you whether your eating habits are keeping your physical energy balance in balance and contributing significantly to climate protection. The current state of the emissions balance is shown in the form of an illustrated footprint, which increasingly loses its green color as we overload our CO2e budget and our calorie credit throughout the day. We can do this by entering the foods and drinks consumed, or accessing the extensive collection of recipes idoplanta resort, cook again and enter the dish (or serving size) in the “Tracker” menu item. You can specify in grams how much of the dish was consumed, after which the application calculates the emission value (in g CO2e) and the energy value (in kcal).
Like most recently in the apps we tested Kuri and cooking leftoversthat also address climate-friendly nutrition are also included idoplanta modern AI tools are used. Here are the Whisper and ChatGPT apps from software company OpenAI. After releasing the smartphone’s microphone, the user can describe the food or dishes they recently consumed, from which the application generates an overview of what was said in table form. Missing information must be added manually if the text is not precise enough. For example, you can idoplanta or the OpenAI software does not assign emission and energy values to the statement “Five shortbread cookies” but assigns emissions and energy values to the spoken input “30 grams of shortbread cookies.” If you don’t want to do the conversion yourself, the app also provides portion size suggestions for different foods. The app suggests 15g as a unit for caramel sweets, for apples you can choose between 130g and 200g, and potato dumplings are divided into weight classes 126g, 167g and 300g. This may not match reality in grams, but should be sufficient for CO2e and calorie monitoring in most cases.
The devil is in the details
Other points of criticism are more serious, although none of them are as important idoplanta take away the right to exist. As promising as the attractively illustrated recipes listed in the app are, it’s difficult to cook them without cooking instructions. For the latter you will have to exit the app and switch to the Chefkoch.de offer. Wait here again Marketing cookies and other potentially consumer-unfriendly content. The relevance of the application for those interested in sport and fitness, which was prominently advertised by the supplier (advertising text: “The application for climate-conscious athletes”), also seemed neglected to us. Although the calculation of caloric energy intake is mostly error-free and presented in an appealing way, tips on how to create a nutritional plan or more information about individual nutrient needs can be found at idoplanta but no. After all, when used regularly, the app offers a good overview of the medium and long-term energy and climate balance, which can be viewed weekly, monthly or individually.
A comparatively small negative point is the not yet fully developed AI-based food record. We don’t blame the app for struggling with portion sizes of non-standard foods like crackers or lettuce. But the reasons why foods talked about are often incorrectly attributed to food entrees idoplantadatabases were not always understandable to us. Even when the snack or meal had a clear name, a different food appeared below our quote, which was correctly (!) reproduced in text form. The cow’s milk became coconut milk, the brioche knot became a cheese roll and the aforementioned potato ball became a soy ball. Fortunately, the app allows you to register foods and dishes almost as conveniently using a text search and the built-in product scanner. Both work quite reliably and can usually find the product you are looking for in the extensive database. This can usually be compared with similar items from other manufacturers in order to switch to alternatives with better emissions and nutritional values if necessary. Information about food, ready meals, drinks and snacks that are not yet included can be added by consumers themselves and will be published in the application after editorial review by the supplier.
Conclusion
idoplanta It scores points with its intuitively understandable handling and a well-balanced amount of functions that do not overload or leave anything to be desired – except perhaps for relevant information for athletes on sensible nutrition. We expected this to be behind the somewhat hidden “Info Hub” menu item, where, however, you can only find a few (useful) blog entries about eco-friendly lifestyles. There is still room for improvement in terms of content and technology. It would be desirable for the supplier to provide the information mentioned in the test Childhood illnesses will be addressed in future versions. However, the biggest problem for us, from a consumer protection point of view, is the non-transparent data policy, which leads us to idoplanta I currently cannot recommend it without reservations.