Support & Docs

Getting started

Onboarding asks what you weigh, whether you’re taking a GLP-1, what you’re training for and how often you train, and then which foods you actually eat. That produces your daily protein target and fills the grid on Today with your regulars. Then you tap a food and watch the block land on the stack. The whole thing takes about a minute, and the weight question is the only reason the app ever asks about your body.

Your daily target

Body weight in kilograms multiplied by a figure for your goal — 1.6 g/kg to keep what you have, 1.9 to build, 2.2 while losing fat — rounded to the nearest gram. The app shows the whole calculation, including the conversion if you entered pounds or stone, and names the research behind each figure. A slider lets you nudge the result, and you can always type a target instead if a coach or dietitian gave you one.

Changing your target later

Settings → Daily target shows the current working, keeps a history of every target you’ve set, and offers two ways to change it: recalculate from a new body weight, or type a number. Changing it never re-judges days you’ve already logged — each day keeps the target that was in force when you lived it, and the line moves from today forward.

Four ways to log

The regulars grid on Today covers what you eat most, most-logged first. Tap “+ ADD” for everything else: the sheet opens on search across the 192 bundled foods, the barcode glyph in the field switches to the scanner, and “Create a custom food” sits at the foot of the results for anything neither one has. Log something a second time and Slab offers to pin it to the grid, so the app gets faster the longer you use it.

Food goes in, protein comes out

You always tell Slab what you ate — 150 g, two eggs, one scoop — and it does the conversion. Amounts step in units that suit the food rather than in single grams, and you can tap the figure to type an exact amount anywhere it appears. The stack, the number on Today and everything in History are always grams of protein.

Fixing a mistake

Tap any block in the stack to change its amount, swipe to delete it, and undo either. Editing or deleting a food later never rewrites your history: every entry keeps the name, colour and protein it had the moment you logged it, so old days stay exactly as you lived them.

When your day ends

A day runs from your rollover hour to the next one — midnight by default. If you log a late shake and want it counted toward the day you were awake for, move the boundary under Settings → Day ends at. The change takes effect at the next rollover rather than immediately, so today isn’t rewritten underneath you, and closed days never move. The week band, the run and the hit rate all use the same boundary.

The run and the hit rate

Two different numbers, on purpose. The run counts days you logged — the part you control — and History shows your best run alongside the current one, so a lapse never erases the record. The hit rate is the harder number: how many of the last thirty days landed on or above your target. Before you have thirty days, it counts against the days you’ve actually used the app rather than making an honest start look like a failure.

Sync and backups

If you’re signed into iCloud, your log syncs through your own private iCloud container and comes back when you reinstall or set up a new device. If you’re not signed into iCloud, your data lives only on that phone and is included in your normal encrypted device backup. There’s no Slab account to sign into and nothing to remember.

The free trial and your subscription

Slab comes with three weeks free, set up as an Apple introductory offer — which means Apple emails you before it converts and you can cancel any time in Settings → your Apple Account → Subscriptions. If your subscription lapses, your data isn’t touched: every day you logged is still there when you come back. To unlock a new install, tap “Restore purchases” on the paywall or in Settings → Plan. Purchases and refunds are managed by Apple through the App Store.

Troubleshooting

The usual ones:

• Scanner won’t open? It needs camera access — check Settings → Slab on your device.
• Barcode not found? Open Food Facts is community-maintained and doesn’t have everything. Create a custom food from the label instead; it’s then yours to log in a tap.
• Can’t find a food in search? A handful of common ones — halloumi, paneer, skyr, casein, pea protein and a few others — aren’t in the USDA source at all. Scan them or save them as a custom food.
• Nothing syncing? Check that you’re signed into iCloud and that iCloud is switched on for Slab.
• A custom food you just made not showing up? Search covers your own foods as well as the bundled ones — make sure the filter above the results isn’t set to a narrower option.

Deleting your data

Settings → Delete all my data removes every entry, custom food, target and setting from your device and from your iCloud container. It can’t be undone, and because nothing is held on our side, that’s genuinely all of it.

Where the numbers come from

Four rules produce every figure Slab shows you, and the app spells all four out under “Where the numbers come from” — the target, the protein per food, how whole units like an egg or a scoop are weighed, and where the day starts and ends. The food data behind them:

• Bundled foods — USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy (2018) · public domain (CC0)
• Barcode lookups — © Open Food Facts contributors · ODbL 1.0

Privacy

Everything above stays on your phone and in your own iCloud. There is no Slab account, no server of ours, and no analytics — the full detail is on the Slab Privacy Policy.

Reach a human

Email admin@onestepforwardventures.com and we’ll typically reply within one business day.