Track alcohol in PlateLens
Every PlateLens account sees how much of a drink's calories come from alcohol. To keep count, turn on Alcohol tracking: PlateLens then shows the pure alcohol in each drink, your daily and weekly totals, the limits you choose, and an Alcohol gauge and an Alcohol card for Home. Tracking is free on every plan and starts turned off.
Turn alcohol tracking on
iPhone or Android
Open More → Alcohol, in Nutrition & Goals. While tracking is off, the screen shows a single panel: choose Turn on in settings and turn on Alcohol tracking. Adding the Alcohol gauge in Customize Home also turns tracking on when you save.
Web app
Choose Alcohol in Targets: the Alcohol page opens with its settings, where you turn on Alcohol tracking. Adding the Alcohol gauge with Customize beside Your day at a glance also turns tracking on when you save.
PlateLens records the alcohol of every drink you log whether tracking is on or off, so when you turn it on you also see the drinks you logged before. The settings stay open, so you can set your limits straight away. On the phone, once you close them, PlateLens offers to add the Alcohol gauge to Home. If Home already has eight gauges, it opens Customize Home so you can choose which one to replace.
Turning tracking off, with the same switch, hides the amounts, limits and notices again and stops the Apple Health export. Your drinks, limits and the gauge you chose stay exactly as they are.
Alcohol settings
The Alcohol settings hold the Alcohol tracking switch and, while tracking is on, your daily and weekly limits and Notices after logging. They end with the Help resources link. With tracking off, only the switch and that link remain.
iPhone or Android
Tap the gear (⚙) at the top of the Alcohol screen, with tracking on or off. The settings open in a sheet: the switch, then Limits, where Daily limit and Weekly limit each show the maximum that applies and open the limit editor, then Notices after logging and, on iPhone, Share with Apple Health. While tracking is off, the screen shows only a panel whose Turn on in settings button opens the same sheet. Tapping the Alcohol gauge while it reads Off, or the Alcohol card while tracking is off, opens the settings directly.
Web app
Choose Settings at the top of the Alcohol page, with tracking on or off. The settings open in a dialog: the switch, Notices after logging and your daily and weekly limits, which you keep with Save. Closing the dialog without saving discards a limit you were typing. While tracking is off, the page shows only a panel whose Turn on in settings button opens the same dialog. Alcohol in Targets, the Alcohol gauge and the Today card while tracking is off, Set personal limit in the gauge dialog and Alcohol settings in the Diary open it directly. Apple Health export is set on the iPhone.
What counts as alcohol
Only drinks count. A drink with an alcohol strength (ABV) of 0.5% or more is an alcoholic drink. Drinks under 0.5%, such as 0.0 beers and tonic water, count as drinks without alcohol. Some beers sold as alcohol-free, and some kombuchas, reach 0.5–1% and count as alcoholic drinks. PlateLens works out the pure alcohol from the same analysis that estimates the calories:
- A single drink, such as a beer, a glass of wine or a shot: the liquid you drank × its ABV ÷ 100 × 0.789 grams per milliliter. A 500 ml beer at 5% has 19.7 g of pure alcohol.
- A mixed drink, such as a gin and tonic or a mojito: the energy that its protein, carbohydrate and fat do not explain, divided by 7 kcal per gram, worked out once for the whole drink.
- A packaged drink scanned by barcode: its strength comes from the % vol declared for the product.
Food cooked or prepared with alcohol stays food: penne alla vodka, risotto or mussels with wine, tiramisu and cakes soaked in liquor show no alcohol. To include that alcohol in your count, log the liquor as its own drink, for example “a 30 ml shot of rum”.
A drink planned for a future Diary date counts from the day it happens.
No estimate, No data and No alcohol logged
No estimate
The drink is alcoholic, but its numbers do not agree: for example, a sangría whose carbohydrates already explain all of its calories, or a single drink without a known volume. PlateLens shows No estimate rather than a guessed amount or 0 g, and its calories stay as they were. To add the amount, open the drink, choose Edit Meal → Analysis error? Fix it and describe it with its size and strength, such as “a 250 ml glass of 7% sangría”. On the web, open the meal and describe it in Change the name, an ingredient, or an amount.
No data
Meals analyzed before PlateLens recorded alcohol, and copies of them logged again from Saved & Recent, have no alcohol data. They read No data, never zero. A day with no meals, or with only such meals, also reads No data. A correction with Fix it (on the web, Change the name, an ingredient, or an amount) analyzes a meal again and records its alcohol.
No alcohol logged
The day has meals with alcohol data and none of them is an alcoholic drink. It describes your Diary for that day.
When a total includes a drink with No estimate or a meal with No data, it reads At least, and the gauge and complications show ≥: the known amount is a lower bound.
Grams of pure alcohol
PlateLens shows alcohol in grams of pure alcohol. Grams measure the same thing in every country, unlike standard drinks or units, whose size changes from one country to another. Limits are set and stored in grams too.
Set a daily or weekly limit
Both limits are optional, take one decimal and can be 0. On the phone, choose Daily limit or Weekly limit in the Alcohol settings: the settings close and the Alcohol limit editor opens. You can also choose Set personal limit or Change personal limit in the … menu of the gauge detail. On the web, set them in the Alcohol settings, which the gauge dialog also opens. Choose Save to keep them, and leave a field empty to remove that limit. A value outside the accepted range keeps Save unavailable until you correct it. Past days are compared with your current limits.
Your limit
A limit you set appears as Your limit. With a limit of 0, any alcoholic drink is over it.
Reference
Without a daily limit, the gauge uses a Reference as its maximum: 20 g a day when the sex in your profile is male, and 10 g a day when it is female, other or not set. These figures are the low-risk drinking limits published by Spain's Ministry of Health in 2020. The reference is a point of comparison, not a safe amount, a recommendation or your limit; setting your own daily limit replaces it.
Weekly maximum
Without a weekly limit, the week is compared with seven times your daily limit or the reference, and says so, for example “7 × your daily limit: 140 g”. Weeks run from Sunday to Saturday, as in Diary, Balance and reports.
Below 80% of the maximum, amounts stay neutral. From 80% up to and including 100%, PlateLens shows Close to your limit in amber; above 100%, Over your limit in red. Against the reference, the wording names it, for example Above the reference. A total that reads At least can still be close to or over your limit, and is never described as within it.
The Alcohol gauge
Add Alcohol from the Health group of the metric editor, on mobile or on the web. It is free on every plan and uses one of the eight gauge places. Saving it turns tracking on; removing it later keeps tracking on.
The gauge shows today's amount with your maximum beneath it, such as 39.4 g and of 20 g, rather than a percentage. The ring fills toward the maximum and takes the color of its state. With tracking off, the gauge reads Off and opens the Alcohol settings so you can turn tracking on.
On mobile, tap the gauge to open the Alcohol breakdown, laid out like the detail of every other gauge. It shows today's amount against your maximum, the same ring as the Alcohol screen's Day tab, with a segment for each drink, and the drinks that contributed, each with its amount and share; a drink with No estimate is listed without a share. When the week has alcohol data, it also shows the week so far against your weekly maximum. Tap a drink to open it. The … button next to Close has About Alcohol, which opens this guide; Set personal limit, or Change personal limit once you have a daily limit, which opens the limit editor; and See all in Alcohol, which opens the Alcohol screen on that day.
On the web, the gauge opens a dialog with the day's total, your maximum and its state, each meal's contribution and the week so far. Set personal limit or Change personal limit opens the Alcohol settings, and See all opens the Alcohol page on that day. Both name the maximum they use: Your limit, or Reference while you have no daily limit.
The Alcohol card on Home
Home can also show an Alcohol health card, which you arrange with the other cards in Customize Home or, on the web, in Settings → Home. It starts at the end of your card list. With Automatic, it appears while alcohol tracking is on, including days without drinks. Always show keeps it on Home with tracking off too: it then reads Alcohol tracking is off, shows no amounts and opens the Alcohol settings, where you can turn tracking on. Choosing Always show does not turn tracking on. Hide removes it only from Home.
iPhone or Android
The card shows today's amount against your maximum, such as 12.4 g / 20 g, with a bar that fills toward the maximum in the color of its state, never a percentage. One short line beneath it names your maximum, Your daily limit or Daily reference, or shows the state when you are close to it or over it. A drink with No estimate makes the amount read ≥.
Below, a strip over the photo shows the days of this week: a thin bar on each day with alcohol, in the color of its state and lighter when its total reads At least, a small ring on a day with no alcohol logged, a dash on a day with no data and a dot on the days still to come. Today's initial is in bold. Beside the strip is the week's total against your weekly maximum, such as 86.9 of 140 g, with the maximum's name, such as Weekly reference, or the week's state. Tap the card to open today in the Alcohol screen; + opens the usual log menu so you can log a drink.
Web app
On Today, the card shows today's amount against your maximum with a bar in the color of its state, your limit or the reference, and the week so far. Open Alcohol opens the Alcohol page on that day. With tracking off, Turn on in Alcohol opens the Alcohol settings so you can turn tracking on.
The Alcohol screen and page
iPhone or Android
More → Alcohol has four tabs, Day, Week, Month and Year, and each one starts with a chart. The arrows move to the previous or next period, and the gear (⚙) at the top opens the Alcohol settings.
- Day: Drinks opens with a ring that measures the day against your daily maximum. The whole ring is always your maximum: it starts and ends at the top. Each drink fills a segment in a neutral shade, clockwise from the top, with a small gap between drinks. Over the maximum, the drinks fill the whole ring and the amount past it is a second lap in red, laid over the first and starting again from the top; from twice your maximum, the whole ring is red. The centre shows the day's amount with your maximum beneath it, such as 32.4 g and of 20 g; the amount turns amber when you are close to your maximum and red when you are over it. A drink with No estimate has no segment, and the amount reads At least. A day with no alcohol logged shows the empty ring at 0.0 g, and a day with no data shows a dotted ring that reads No data. One line under the ring names your maximum, Your daily limit or Daily reference, or shows the state when you are close to it or over it. Each drink follows with its amount and its share of the day; a drink with No estimate is listed without a share. Tap a drink to open it. Beneath the list are the number of drinks, the alcohol energy, for example ≈276 kcal, already in your calories, and the drinks with No estimate, if there are any. At the bottom, bars show each day of that week: tap a bar to open that day, or See week to open the Week tab.
- Week: the week's total against your weekly maximum, the days with alcohol and a bar for each day, drawn against a dashed line at your daily maximum, which is named under the chart. Below are the average per day, the highest day and the days above your daily limit or the reference. Tap a bar to open that day.
- Month: the same chart for the whole month, with the month's total, the average per day, the days with alcohol, the days above your daily limit or the reference and the highest day. A calendar below it marks each day: ● with alcohol, in the color of its state; ○ no alcohol logged; – no data. Tap a day in the calendar, or its bar, to see its drinks.
- Year: a bar for each month with that month's average per day with data, compared with your daily maximum, and the year's total, average per day and days with alcohol. Tap a month's bar to open that month. As its note says, the year counts the same days as Balance: finalized days that are Counted, so today joins once it is finalized.
A period without alcohol still shows its figures: 0.0 g when nothing alcoholic was logged, and — with No data when there is no data.
Web app
The Alcohol page shows the selected day and its week beside the month, with the year across the bottom, each drawn as a chart. Settings at the top opens the Alcohol settings, and on another day Today returns to today.
- Day: the same ring as the app, measured against your daily maximum, with a segment for each drink and, over the maximum, a second lap in red from the top. Its centre shows the day's amount and your maximum, such as of 20 g, and the line beside it names your maximum, such as Your daily limit, or shows the state when you are close to it or over it. A line for each drink shows its amount and its share of the day; select it to open the meal. Details shows the alcohol energy, already included in the day's calories, and why a day reads No data or At least.
- Week: the week's total against your weekly maximum, a bar for each day against a line at your daily maximum, and the average per day, the days with alcohol, the highest day and the days above your daily limit or the reference.
- Month: the month's total, the average per day, the highest day and the days above your daily limit or the reference, with a bar for each day. The arrows change the month.
- Year: a bar for each month with that month's average per day with data, compared with your daily maximum, and the year's total, average per day and days with alcohol. The arrows change the year. Like the phone's Year tab, it counts finalized days that are Counted, as in Balance.
Select a day's bar to open that day on the page, or a month's bar to open that month. The selected day is outlined.
Every average divides by the days with alcohol data, as in Balance.
Diary
- Day: with tracking on, a day with alcohol shows an Alcohol card after the nutrition breakdown on mobile, on the same photo as the Home card: the day's amount against your daily maximum, such as ≥ 32.4 g / 20 g, a bar with a segment for each drink, the state or your maximum's name, and up to three drinks with their amounts, then a count such as +2 for the rest. A drink with No estimate has a dashed outline. On the web, the day has an Alcohol row with the day's state. Tap either one to open the same detail as the gauge, for that day, with the week so far.
- Week: a week with alcohol shows an Alcohol card with the week's total against your weekly maximum, the days with alcohol and a chart with a bar for each day, in the color of its state and drawn against a line at your daily maximum. It also shows the average per day, the highest day and the days above your daily limit. Tap a bar to open that day.
- Month: a month with alcohol shows the same kind of card for the whole month: the month's total, the average per day, the days with alcohol, the days above your daily limit, the highest day and a bar for each day. Tap a bar to open that day.
- Year: a year with alcohol shows a bar for each month, with that month's average per day, and the year's total, average per day and days with alcohol. On mobile, when you choose a single month in the year view's period selector, the card shows that month's figures. Tap a month's bar to open that month. The year counts the same days as Balance: finalized days that are Counted. Today joins once it is finalized and partial days stay out, so a month in the year can differ from that month's own card, which includes today and partial days. See which days count in Balance.
- Energy bar: for everyone, the Today and Diary energy bars on the web include the share of energy from alcohol.
On mobile, See in Alcohol opens the Alcohol screen on that week from the week card, and on that month from the month card. From the year card it opens the selected month, or the latest month. On the web, the week, month and year cards end with Alcohol settings, which opens the settings, and See all, which opens the Alcohol page.
Meal detail and the energy split
For everyone, a meal's energy split divides its calories between protein, carbohydrates, fat, alcohol and other energy. A 500 ml beer at 5% with 218 kcal is about 4% protein, 33% carbohydrates and 63% alcohol. See how the energy split works.
With tracking on, each alcoholic drink shows an Alcohol line under its portion, such as 500 ml at 5% · 19.7 g, or an approximate amount such as ≈13.9 g for a mixed drink. It follows the portion: 330 ml of the same beer has 13.0 g. To correct a strength, a volume or a drink that was recognized as something else, use Fix it on mobile, or Change the name, an ingredient, or an amount on the web, and describe it, such as “it was a 6.5% IPA” or “it was water”. The strength changes only through a correction.
Balance
Balance's intake breakdown has an Alcohol row after fat, on mobile and in the web ledger. Everyone sees its energy in kcal; with tracking on, the grams appear too. Totals stay the same, because that energy is already part of the meals. Today's intake so far shows of which, alcohol. The alcohol average per day counts only days with alcohol data. See alcohol in Balance.
Notices after logging
With tracking on and Notices after logging on, PlateLens shows a notice in the app when a saved change moves the day or the week up: to Close to your limit, or to Over your limit. The same applies to the reference. A notice can follow logging a drink, a correction of the meal, a portion change, moving a meal to another day or removing an ingredient, in the mobile app or on the web. One notice covers the day and the week, and a notice about another day or week names it: yesterday, or the date.
Notices appear only after such a change, while PlateLens is open. Opening or refreshing the app, turning tracking on, changing a limit and logging from Apple Watch leave the gauge color to show the state. A scan that finishes while the app is closed does the same. Notices stay inside the app and are never push notifications; turn them off in the Alcohol settings.
iPhone or Android
The notice is a system alert. Its title names the alcohol of the day or the week and where it stands, such as Today's alcohol: over your limit. Beneath it, the amount and your maximum read as sentences, such as “You've had 31.4 g of alcohol today. Your daily limit is 20 g.”, and, when the week moved up too, the week's line follows, such as “This week: 86.9 g, close to your weekly limit of 100 g.” Against the reference, the alert names PlateLens's reference and that you can set your own limit in Alcohol. It stays until you tap OK; on Android, Back or a tap outside it also closes it. When the change finishes while a full-screen page such as the camera is open, the alert appears once you return to Home or another tab.
Web app
The notice appears at the top of the page, under the top bar, in amber when you are close to your limit and in red when you are over it, with the week's line beneath the day's when both moved up. It stays until you choose Close or the next notice replaces it.
Hydration
A drink with any alcohol logged as a meal adds its net hydration: the stronger the drink, the less it adds. A 500 ml beer at 5% adds 438 ml, and spirits at 40% or more add none. Hydration lists label these rows Alcoholic drink, including drinks under 0.5%. Log drinks as meals so their calories and alcohol count; water you add yourself is hydration only. See alcoholic drinks and hydration.
Apple Health on iPhone
With tracking on, the Alcohol settings on iPhone include Share with Apple Health, off until you turn it on. PlateLens then writes the number of alcoholic beverages at the time of each drink: one beer is 1, two bottles are 2, and a drink with No estimate still counts as 1. If Apple Health has not granted that permission, PlateLens shows No permission in Apple Health and Open Apple Health.
While the export is on, deleting or moving a drink deletes or moves its record in Apple Health. Turning the export or tracking off stops new records, and everything PlateLens already wrote stays in Apple Health, where you manage it. On Android, alcohol energy reaches Health Connect inside each meal's calories, as it does in Apple Health.
Apple Watch
When Alcohol is among your Home gauges and tracking is on, Apple Watch shows it on Home with the same maximum, colors and wording as the phone. Tap it for the drinks that contribute, each with its time, and open a drink to see its alcohol. You can also show the Alcohol gauge in a complication. With tracking off, it reads Not available and points you to the iPhone to turn tracking on; the Watch receives no amounts. When the watch face is locked or in Always On, PlateLens complications hide their data for every gauge. See gauges and complications on Apple Watch.
Coach
Ask the Coach about alcohol on mobile, on the web or on Apple Watch. Ask it how alcohol tracking works and it explains how PlateLens counts drinks, the limits and the reference, the notices, and where each view and setting is on the device you are using; on Apple Watch, it points you to the iPhone for the settings. With tracking on, it answers with the amounts PlateLens recorded and says No estimate where a value is missing. With tracking off, it explains where to turn tracking on and leaves amounts out. The Coach talks about alcohol when you ask, and treats drinks like any other entry, without praise or suggestions to drink. If you tell it you don't drink, it stops suggesting alcohol tracking.
ChatGPT and Claude
With tracking on, the PlateLens connection in ChatGPT and Claude reads each drink's alcohol, the day's total, your limits or the reference, an alcohol trend and the Alcohol row of the energy balance, with the permissions you already approved. With tracking off, it sees the alcohol energy in the energy balance, as the app shows it. Meals with No data stay no data, never zero. See alcohol in ChatGPT.
PDF reports
Weekly and monthly nutrition reports divide energy, including alcohol, under Energy Distribution. With tracking on, weekly, monthly and annual reports add an Alcohol section in grams. It opens with three figures: the period's total, with the days with alcohol beneath it; the Average per day with data; and the days above your daily limit or the reference. A bar chart follows, drawn against a dashed line at your daily maximum that carries its own label, such as Your daily limit: 20 g:
- Weekly: a bar for each day of the week, with its amount above it. Days still to come are faint.
- Monthly: a bar for each day of the month, with the amount on the highest day and on the days above the maximum. Below it, a row for each Sunday-to-Saturday week shows its total against your weekly maximum; a week that the month cuts, or that has not ended, is gray and shows only its amount.
- Annual: a bar for each month with that month's average per day with data, in the color of its state against your daily maximum, and the number of days with alcohol under each month.
Bars take the color of their state, and the highest day or month has its amount in bold. A lighter bar is a total that reads at least; a dashed stub means no data, a small ring no alcohol logged, and a dotted outline marked no est. a day or month whose drinks have no estimate, never 0. A legend under the chart explains these marks, and your top drinks follow. The annual report counts every day up to the day you create it, today included, so a month can differ from the year in Alcohol and in Diary, which count finalized days. Glucose events show the alcohol of drinks with an estimate. See nutrition reports.
Privacy
- Notification previews never show a drink's name or an alcohol amount.
- Alcohol stays out of iPhone widgets, Live Activities and the meal image you share.
- Alcohol stays out of PlateLens emails and product analytics.
- Alcohol amounts never enter scores, leagues or streaks; logging a drink counts as a log like any other.
- Apple Watch complications hide their data when the face is locked or in Always On.
- Your drinks and alcohol settings belong to your account: they are included in your account export and deleted with your account.
Help resources
If you want to talk to someone about drinking, see Alcohol help resources. The same Help resources link is at the bottom of the Alcohol settings on mobile and on the web.
If something looks wrong
- A drink shows No estimate: use Fix it on mobile, or Change the name, an ingredient, or an amount on the web, and describe the drink with its size and strength.
- A drink has the wrong strength, or was logged as something else: correct it the same way, for example “it was a 330 ml beer at 5%”.
- An alcohol-free beer or a kombucha shows alcohol: drinks of 0.5% or more count as alcoholic. If its label says less, correct it the same way, for example “it was a 0.0 beer”.
- A dish cooked with wine or liquor shows no alcohol: food stays food; log the liquor as its own drink.
- A day reads No data: it has no meals, or only meals without alcohol data.
- You see no amounts: check that Alcohol tracking is on in the Alcohol settings: the gear (⚙) in More → Alcohol, or Settings on the web Alcohol page.
- A month in the annual PDF report differs from the year in the app: the report counts every day up to the day you create it, today included; the year in Alcohol and in Diary counts finalized days that are Counted, as Balance does.
- The Alcohol card is not on Home: with Automatic, it appears only while alcohol tracking is on. Check that tracking is on and that the card is not set to Hide in Customize Home.
- The reference is not the maximum you want: it follows the sex in your profile; set your own daily limit to use a different maximum.
- A notice did not appear: notices follow a saved change that moves the day or week up, while the app is open and Notices after logging is on.
Still need help? Contact PlateLens Support with the date of the drink and what you expected to see.