How
Open the app. Decide what to eat next.
Four buttons and a chat bar. You tap or you type. That's the whole surface — and underneath it, a personalized protein floor doing the real work.
Built around protein, because protein is the lever that protects muscle while you lose fat. Why that matters →
First touch
Try it before you sign up.
A new member's first moment asks for nothing. Snap a plate and Alongside reads the protein on the spot — no account, no email, no data shared. Value in the first ten seconds, then the reason to go further.
The estimate is the hook — fast, free, no signup. The protein floor is the substance: the personalized number for what you actually need in a day, and what turns one read into a real plan.
Sign up
One email, one box.
Signing up is an email and a magic link — no password. The same screen carries the consent step: you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy before anything is stored. Clear, and on the way in — not buried.
Setup
A short conversation that sets your floor.
Setup is a conversation, not a form. A handful of questions — your training, how often and how hard you move, whether you're using a GLP-1, your usual bedtime, the weight you're working toward — and Alongside calibrates your protein floor: the daily minimum that protects muscle while you lose fat.
It reads like a coach because it is one. The floor is an exact number computed behind the scenes, but you never meet a dial — it's spoken in plain language and stays within medically sensible limits. Same floor; communicated like a coach, not a calculator.
The GLP-1 question is neutral — currently using, considering, or not. The floor is the same number either way; the medication changes the day around it, not the target. Even bedtime earns a question: tell it when you sleep and it plans your last meal to land in time.
Preferences
Everything's on. You subtract.
Alongside starts from full variety and narrows to you. Three quick groups — dietary identity, allergens, and the proteins themselves — and the proteins are the ones it'll suggest meals from. Toggle off any you don't want and they drop out of every suggestion for good. Set it once; no daily upkeep.
That's the whole logic, inverted from the usual: you don't build a list from nothing, you trim a full one. Within whatever's left, Alongside works across real cuisines — Mexican, Italian, Korean, Mediterranean — so you get meals a person actually wants to make.
Preferences is the subtract half. The add half lives in Day Plan.
Day Plan
Your day, built around what's left.
Open Day Plan and it checks the day first — how hard you moved, whether a GLP-1 is blunting your appetite today — then builds around the hours and grams you actually have left. The floor isn't a fixed number on a wall; it recalibrates to the day in front of you.
No progress ring. It tells you where you stand against your floor and hands you a couple of protein-anchored meals timed to the day — "You're at 0g — 102g to your floor. Here's what fits the time left." If you can't clear it today, it says so honestly and carries the rest to tomorrow.
Tap any meal for Quick Prep — a recipe-light view with the protein call-out and just enough method to cook from, nothing more.
And the add half: tap the thumb on a meal you liked, and future plans lean toward that protein and cuisine. Preferences subtracts what you don't want; Likes adds more of what you do. It's a soft nudge — your floor and preferences always come first, and the plan keeps varying the actual dishes so you're never eating the same thing twice.
Logging
It's just there.
You never navigate to a logging screen. The chat bar sits at the bottom of every view. Snap your plate — or type a sentence, "two eggs and a piece of toast" — and Alongside reads the protein, lets you nudge the number, and logs it. Your day total moves, and the plan adjusts to what's left.
The same loop works before a meal, not just after: photograph a portion to check it hits the target before you cook, or shoot the finished plate to log what you actually ate. That's the daily depth — a coach at every meal, not just at setup.
Still tracking. Just without the spreadsheet.
Trends
The longer view.
How consistent your protein has been across the week, where the patterns are, what's working and what isn't. Useful when you want it. Ignorable when you don't.
last 7 days
• Protein floor hit: 5/7 days (71%)
• Daily average: 162g
Each bar is a day's protein. The dashed line is your floor.
Four buttons for the day. A chat bar for the moments in between. A floor doing the work underneath. That's the whole app.