What Happened to MyFitnessPal? The Full Story From 2005 to 2026

MyFitnessPal went from a garage project that revolutionized nutrition tracking to a private equity asset being optimized for revenue extraction. The story involves a $475 million acquisition by Under Armour, a data breach that exposed 150 million accounts, a fire sale to private equity firm Francisco Partners, and a systematic stripping of free features to push premium subscriptions. What was once the most generous and most beloved free health app in the world is now a cautionary tale about what happens when a user-first product meets corporate financial pressure.

Here is the full timeline, with honest analysis of what went wrong and what it means for you.

2005-2010: The Origin Story

Mike Lee and Albert Lee Build a Better Tracker

MyFitnessPal was founded in 2005 by Mike Lee and Albert Lee (not related). Mike Lee wanted to get in shape for his wedding and was frustrated by the difficulty of tracking calories. The existing tools were clunky, desktop-based, and required looking up foods in printed reference books or basic databases.

Lee built a simple website where users could search for foods, log what they ate, and track their calories against a daily goal. The key insight was simplicity: make tracking fast and easy, and people will actually do it.

The approach worked. By making the tool completely free and inviting users to contribute food entries to the database, MFP grew rapidly through word-of-mouth. The crowdsourced model was a strength at this scale — every user who added a food made the database better for everyone else.

The Mobile Revolution

When the iPhone App Store launched in 2008 and Android Market followed, MFP was among the first health apps available. The mobile version made food logging accessible anywhere, anytime — a fundamental shift from desktop-only tracking. MFP's mobile app was fast, clean, and free. It became the default recommendation whenever anyone asked "What app should I use to track calories?"

By 2010, MFP had millions of users and the largest food database in the world. The formula was working: free access, community contributions, and mobile convenience.

2010-2015: The Golden Era

Explosive Growth

Between 2010 and 2015, MyFitnessPal experienced extraordinary growth. The user base expanded from millions to over 80 million registered accounts. The food database grew to millions of entries. The app consistently ranked as the number one health and fitness app on both iOS and Android.

Key features during this era:

• Free barcode scanning — scan any packaged food for instant nutritional data
• Large, growing database — millions of user-contributed entries
• Social features — friends, shared diaries, community forums, challenges
• Exercise integration — connected with Fitbit, Garmin, and other fitness devices
• Completely free — no premium tier existed initially, and when it was introduced, the free tier remained fully functional

What Made It Special

MFP during this period succeeded because it aligned user interests with business interests. More users meant a bigger database, which meant a better product, which attracted more users. The community was genuinely helpful. The app was generous with features. The experience was designed around making tracking as easy as possible.

People did not just use MFP — they recommended it enthusiastically. It was the rare app that people credited with changing their health. Weight loss transformation stories frequently cited MFP as the tool that made the difference.

2015: The Under Armour Acquisition — $475 Million

The Biggest Health App Deal of Its Time

In February 2015, Under Armour acquired MyFitnessPal for $475 million. At the time, it was one of the largest acquisitions in the health app space. Under Armour also acquired Endomondo (fitness tracking) and MapMyFitness (running) in a bid to build a "Connected Fitness" platform with over 120 million users across all three apps.

Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank described the strategy as building "the world's largest digital health and fitness community." The vision was to use data from nutrition tracking (MFP), running (MapMyFitness), and general fitness (Endomondo) to inform product development and create a competitive advantage over Nike and Adidas.

Early Signs of Tension

The acquisition was celebrated initially — MFP had resources, the team stayed on, and the product continued to improve. But the corporate context introduced new pressures:

• Revenue expectations — Under Armour needed MFP to justify its $475 million price tag
• Premium tier expansion — more features began migrating to the paid tier
• Data monetization pressure — the "Connected Fitness" strategy depended on collecting and leveraging user data
• Corporate bureaucracy — product decisions now went through Under Armour's hierarchy

The MFP that Under Armour bought was a user-first product. The MFP that Under Armour needed was a revenue-generating asset. These are fundamentally different things.

2018: The Data Breach — 150 Million Accounts Exposed

What Happened

In February 2018, an unauthorized party gained access to MyFitnessPal's user data. In March 2018, Under Armour disclosed that approximately 150 million account records had been compromised. The breached data included usernames, email addresses, and hashed passwords (some using the weak SHA-1 algorithm).

The breach was the fourth-largest in internet history at the time of disclosure.

The Fallout

• User trust collapsed — 150 million people learned their health app data was insecure
• Stock impact — Under Armour's stock dropped following the disclosure
• Legal consequences — class-action lawsuits were filed, eventually resulting in a settlement
• SEC investigation — the SEC investigated the timing and adequacy of the disclosure
• Password compromises — SHA-1 hashed passwords were crackable, leading to credential stuffing attacks across other services
• Dark web sales — the breach data appeared on underground marketplaces in 2019

The Deeper Problem

The breach revealed that MFP's security infrastructure had not kept pace with its growth. An app holding health data for 150 million people was using a mix of modern (bcrypt) and outdated (SHA-1) password hashing — a fundamental security failure that should have been addressed long before a breach occurred.

The incident changed the public perception of MFP from "beloved health app" to "the app that leaked your data."

2020: Sold to Francisco Partners — The Private Equity Era

Under Armour Gives Up

In 2020, Under Armour sold MyFitnessPal to Francisco Partners, a technology-focused private equity firm, for approximately $345 million. Under Armour took a $130 million loss on the deal — a clear admission that the "Connected Fitness" strategy had failed.

Under Armour's official explanation cited a strategic shift back to its core athletic apparel business. The reality was that MFP had become a liability: the data breach had damaged the brand, the Connected Fitness platform never materialized as planned, and the economics of a free health app did not fit Under Armour's business model.

What Is Francisco Partners?

Francisco Partners is a private equity firm that manages over $45 billion in assets. Their portfolio includes numerous technology companies, and their strategy — like most PE firms — focuses on increasing the profitability of acquired companies, often through cost reduction and revenue optimization.

This is not inherently bad, but it creates a specific set of incentives: maximize revenue from existing users, reduce costs where possible, and prepare the company for a future sale at a higher valuation. User experience improvements only happen when they directly serve these financial objectives.

The Pattern of PE-Owned Consumer Apps

The trajectory of consumer apps acquired by private equity firms is well-documented and remarkably consistent:

1. Reduce costs — cut staff, reduce infrastructure spending
2. Increase prices — raise subscription costs, add new paid tiers
3. Move free features behind paywalls — convert free users to paying users
4. Increase ad density on free tiers — maximize revenue from users who will not convert
5. Optimize for short-term metrics — monthly revenue growth over long-term user satisfaction

This is exactly what happened to MyFitnessPal.

2022-2024: The Paywall Era

Barcode Scanning Goes Premium

The most controversial change came in 2022 when MFP moved barcode scanning — the app's most-used feature since launch — behind the premium paywall. Users who had relied on free barcode scanning for years were suddenly unable to use it without paying $19.99/month.

The backlash was immediate and intense. App store reviews dropped. Social media complaints surged. Long-time users publicly switched to competitors. The change was seen as a betrayal of MFP's founding philosophy: make tracking easy and accessible.

Price Increases

MFP Premium pricing climbed from its original level to $9.99/month, then to $19.99/month ($239.88/year). Each increase was justified by "new features" that were often features previously available for free or modest improvements to existing functionality.

Ad Density Increases

For free users who refused to pay, the ad experience worsened steadily. Full-screen interstitial ads, video ads, banner ads on the food diary page — the free tier became an exercise in ad tolerance. The message was clear: pay up or suffer through ads.

Feature Stripping

Additional features migrated from free to premium:

• Detailed nutrient breakdowns
• Food insights and analysis
• Meal planning tools
• Priority customer support

Each migration made the free tier less functional and the premium tier more necessary.

2025-2026: Where MFP Stands Today

The Numbers

• Registered accounts: 200+ million (but active daily users have declined significantly)
• Database size: 14M+ entries (still the largest, mostly crowdsourced and unverified)
• Premium price: $19.99/month or $79.99/year
• Nutrients tracked: 6 (calories, protein, carbs, fat, fiber, sugar)
• AI features: None
• Ownership: Francisco Partners (private equity)

The User Experience

MFP in 2026 is a functional calorie tracker wrapped in an aggressive monetization framework. The core technology — manual text search, crowdsourced database, basic macro tracking — is largely unchanged from 2015. What has changed is the business model surrounding it.

Free users get a degraded experience designed to convert them to premium. Premium users pay top-dollar for features that were free a few years ago and technology that has not meaningfully advanced. The social features remain strong, but they exist alongside an app that feels like it is working against its users rather than for them.

What MFP Was vs. What It Became

Aspect	MFP in 2012	MFP in 2026
Barcode scanning	Free	Premium only ($19.99/mo)
Ads	None	Heavy on free tier
Premium price	Did not exist	$19.99/month
User trust	High	Damaged (breach + paywalls)
Technology	Industry leading	Industry trailing
AI features	N/A (no AI era)	Still none
Nutrients tracked	6	Still 6
Ownership motivation	User growth	Revenue extraction
Community sentiment	Enthusiastic advocacy	Frustrated loyalty

What Filled the Gap MFP Left

The decline in MFP's user experience created an opportunity for modern alternatives built on different principles.

Nutrola: What MFP Could Have Been

Nutrola represents the path MFP could have taken if it had continued innovating for users rather than optimizing for revenue. Built from scratch with modern technology, Nutrola offers:

• AI photo and voice logging — the fastest logging experience available, no manual searching required
• 1.8M+ nutritionist-verified database — every entry reviewed for accuracy, not crowdsourced guesswork
• 100+ nutrients tracked — comprehensive nutritional picture, not just 6 basics
• Barcode scanning included — at every tier, not paywalled
• Zero ads on all tiers — the business model is subscription, not advertising
• Apple Watch + Wear OS — log from your wrist
• Recipe import from any URL — paste a link, get full nutritional data
• 15 languages — global from day one
• €2.50/month after a FREE TRIAL — 87% less than MFP Premium

With over 2 million users and a 4.9-star rating, Nutrola proves that a nutrition tracker can be both excellent and affordable without relying on ads or aggressive paywalls.

The Broader Market

Cronometer, MacroFactor, FatSecret, and others have also grown as MFP users sought alternatives. The nutrition tracking market in 2026 is more competitive than ever, and MFP's dominance — once seemingly unassailable — is declining year over year.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who owns MyFitnessPal now?

Francisco Partners, a private equity firm, has owned MyFitnessPal since 2020. They purchased it from Under Armour for approximately $345 million.

Why did Under Armour sell MyFitnessPal?

Under Armour sold MFP as part of a strategic retreat from its "Connected Fitness" platform to refocus on core athletic apparel and footwear. The $130 million loss on the sale (bought for $475M, sold for ~$345M) reflected the damage from the 2018 data breach and the failure of the Connected Fitness vision.

Is the original MyFitnessPal team still involved?

Most of the original leadership, including founder Mike Lee, departed during or after the Under Armour era. The current team is largely different from the one that built the product during its peak years.

Will MyFitnessPal get better or worse?

Based on the pattern of private equity ownership — which consistently prioritizes revenue optimization over user experience — the most likely trajectory is continued price increases, further migration of features to premium tiers, and incremental improvements that serve monetization goals. Major innovation or a return to the generous free model is unlikely under the current ownership structure.

Is MyFitnessPal going to shut down?

Unlikely in the near term. MFP still generates significant revenue from premium subscriptions and advertising. As long as it is profitable, Francisco Partners will maintain it. The more likely scenario is a future sale to another company or a continuation of the current optimization strategy.

What is the best MyFitnessPal alternative in 2026?

It depends on your priorities. For the most feature-complete alternative with verified data, AI logging, and 100+ nutrients at an affordable price, Nutrola (FREE TRIAL, then €2.50/month) is the strongest option. For a free alternative, FatSecret offers the best zero-cost experience. For algorithm-driven macro coaching, MacroFactor is worth considering.

The Lesson of MyFitnessPal

The MyFitnessPal story is ultimately about misaligned incentives. When the product existed to serve users, it was extraordinary — genuinely life-changing for millions of people who used it to improve their health. When the product became an asset to be monetized by successive corporate owners, it stopped improving for users and started extracting from them.

The good news is that the market has responded. Modern alternatives have taken the original vision of MFP — make nutrition tracking easy, accurate, and accessible — and built it with better technology, better data, and business models that align with users rather than against them. Start a FREE TRIAL with Nutrola to see what that looks like in practice: AI logging, verified accuracy, 100+ nutrients, zero ads, and a price of €2.50/month that proves great nutrition tracking does not require exploitation.