What Is SNAQ*, and How Can It Help Me Manage My Diabetes?

• SNAQ uses a photo of your meal to estimate its carbohydrate, protein, and fat content.
• Keeping your meal and glucose data in one place makes it easier to understand how different foods affect your blood sugar.
• Published research suggests SNAQ can improve carbohydrate counting and support routine diabetes management.
• SNAQ works with Bluetooth-enabled CONTOUR^® meters, but can also be used with a CGM, a blood glucose meter, or on its own.
• SNAQ is designed to support your diabetes care and should be used along with your meter and guidance from your healthcare team.

SNAQ is an AI-powered, image-based food-tracking app designed to help people with diabetes better understand how food affects their blood sugar. The app lets you photograph a meal to estimate its carbohydrate, protein, and fat content, then connects that information with your glucose data so you can see how different foods affect you over time.

Developed by Switzerland-based SNAQ AG, the app was inspired by a question familiar to many people living with diabetes: What's on my plate, and how will it affect my glucose levels? The company was founded around the real-life mealtime challenges experienced by a person with Type 1 diabetes, helping shape a tool designed to reduce the uncertainty that can come with estimating portions, identifying ingredients, and anticipating blood sugar responses.

At its core, SNAQ aims to take some of the guesswork out of eating. Its award-winning, clinically evaluated technology helps users make more informed food choices and better understand their body's unique responses.

SNAQ uses AI to recognize foods from a photo, estimate portion sizes, and calculate nutritional information. It follows a simple three-step approach:

Snap: Simply point your phone camera at a restaurant meal, homemade dinner, or quick treat, and SNAQ will analyze the image to estimate its calories, carbs, protein, fat, fiber, and other nutritional information in just a few seconds. This reduces the need to manually look up ingredients or estimate portions. If a meal isn’t recognized correctly, then you can edit results manually using the food-database, or a barcode scanner for packaged goods.

Learn: Once you've captured your meal, SNAQ connects that information with your glucose data. By viewing what you ate alongside your blood sugar readings, you can see how your body responded after eating. Over time, you may notice foods that keep you in range more consistently, and those that cause larger spikes. This can make it easier to understand what foods work for your body.

Improve: The more meals you log, the better SNAQ becomes at highlighting patterns between your food choices and blood sugar levels. This can make meal decisions easier and support more consistent blood sugar management.

SNAQ offers several features designed to support food tracking and diabetes management. These include:

• Image-based food recognition with carbohydrate, protein, and fat estimates.
• Comprehensive food database and barcode scanner for packaged foods.
• Glucose tracking combined with post-meal blood sugar trends.
• Personalized food insights based on meal and glucose patterns.
• AI-powered meal guidance that answers questions about your food.
• Activity tracking and meal notes to better understand glucose data.
• Saved meal history to copy or reuse previously logged meals.
• Support for both mg/dL and mmol/L blood sugar measurements.

Some features may be different across iOS and Android devices, as well as SNAQ’s free and Premium plans.

Your food choices are at the heart of diabetes management, but understanding how meals affect your blood sugar is much easier when your food and glucose data live in the same place.

That’s the idea behind the partnership between Ascensia Diabetes Care and SNAQ. Since February 2023, the two companies have worked together to connect meal tracking with glucose data, giving users a more complete picture of how food influences blood sugar.

If you use a Bluetooth-enabled CONTOUR^® meter, SNAQ can automatically import your blood glucose readings, so your meals and glucose results appear side by side in one place. That makes it easier to see how different foods affect your blood sugar over time.

SNAQ also builds on the CONTOUR^® Diabetes app, Ascensia’s platform for tracking, reviewing, and sharing blood glucose readings. By adding AI-powered food recognition, nutrition analysis, and meal insights, SNAQ gives your glucose readings the context they need to become more meaningful.

Your SNAQ meal data can also be shared with GlucoContro. Online, Ascensia’s diabetes data platform, allowing you and your healthcare team to view your food and glucose information together. With a clearer picture of how meals affect your blood sugar, it’s easier to spot patterns and make informed decisions about your diabetes care.

Together, this partnership takes much of the guesswork out of understanding your body’s response to food. As Jonathon Frank, Head of BGM Marketing at Ascensia Diabetes Care, said, it represents “…a further step in Ascensia’s mission to simplify diabetes management whilst providing convenient and effective solutions for people with diabetes and their healthcare providers.”

Enjoy more confident carbohydrate counting

Eyeballing how many carbs are in your meal isn't always accurate, especially when eating out or trying an unfamiliar recipe. SNAQ helps to reduce the uncertainty around carbohydrate counting by analyzing meals and estimating their nutritional content.

Learn how different foods affect your blood sugar

SNAQ provides a fuller picture of your blood sugar readings by showing them alongside your meals. This makes it easier to identify the foods that help keep you within your target glucose range and those that affect you differently.

Whether you have Type 1 diabetes and use insulin, manage Type 2 diabetes through nutrition, or are managing gestational diabetes during pregnancy, these patterns can help you make more informed food choices.

Spotting patterns over time

By making a habit of logging meals on SNAQ, it becomes easier to recognize patterns in how your body responds to different foods, so you can make more informed food decisions about what goes on your plate. This information can help anyone living with diabetes build better, more streamlined diet decisions.

Easier, more consistent meal tracking

On SNAQ, a picture is worth a thousand words. Compared with manually logging meals in a food diary, taking a quick photo is faster and requires much less effort. SNAQ's simple approach makes it easier to build a habit you can stick with in the long run.

Who is SNAQ for?

SNAQ is designed for anyone who wants a better understanding of how food affects their blood sugar. Whether you use a CGM, a blood glucose meter, or don't currently use either, SNAQ can help you learn what's in your meals and how these foods may affect your blood sugar.

The app can be useful whether you're newly diagnosed or have been managing diabetes for years, including people with Type 1 diabetes who use an insulin pen or pump, people managing Type 2 diabetes through nutrition, and those with gestational diabetes working to stay within their target glucose range after meals.

But if you’re already comfortable counting carbohydrates, have a well-established meal routine, and don't plan to regularly track your meals, you may not get the full benefit of the app.

Does SNAQ actually work? The evidence

SNAQ doesn't just propose to make meal tracking easier, it has put this claim to the test. In one study, researchers confirmed SNAQ could accurately combine depth sensing features with computer vision to estimate the nutrient content of meals 1. A more recent 2024 study also found that adults with Type 1 diabetes made about 38% fewer mistakes when estimating carbohydrates with SNAQ than on their own 2.

Beyond recognizing food, SNAQ has been tested in a randomized controlled trial, the gold standard of clinical evidence. Adults with type 1 diabetes using the app spent 6.6 percentage points more time in their target glucose range than those receiving usual care alone 3.

Outside of clinical research, the app also seamlessly fits into everyday diabetes care. According to SNAQ, 45% of users were still using the app after 30 days. That number climbed to 56% with users connected to a CGM, suggesting many users continued to use the app beyond the first few weeks 3.

Getting started with SNAQ only takes a few minutes. Download the app from the App Store or Google Play, create an account, and connect it to your CONTOUR^® meter or Apple Health, depending on how you track your health. From there, you're ready to start photographing your meals and learning how different foods affect your blood sugar.

To get the most from the app, you can access unlimited meal logging, deeper insights, and additional features by upgrading to SNAQ Premium. Ascensia also offers SNAQ Premium Membership through its online store. After choosing a subscription plan, you'll receive an email with a link to unlock Premium in the app.

But if you’re still deciding, and would like to try SNAQ before committing, the app offers a free trial and money-back guarantee. For any questions about setup, billing, subscriptions, or connecting your devices, the SNAQ FAQ can guide you through the process.

SNAQ is designed to estimate your meal's nutritional content, but results won't always be exact. Image quality, lighting, mixed dishes, hidden ingredients, and unusual foods can all affect accuracy, so think of results as a useful starting point, rather than relying on them alone.

It’s also helpful to remember that SNAQ complements your diabetes care and should not replace it. Always confirm your blood glucose with your meter, and speak to your healthcare provider before making changes to your insulin, medication, or treatment plan.

And while you can trust the app to analyze your meals, some features may be limited to certain devices, or specific regions. For example, Android currently offers fewer integrations than iPhone.