Author
Patrick Bass Submitted
Aug 24, 2026 8:59am Summary
Free tier, Premium and the daily AI allowance: what to check first, and what to escalate
'''Tickets about what is free, what is Premium, and the daily AI allowance.''' The member-facing article is ''What Loopa Basic includes'' on the Loopa knowledge base; send members there rather than paraphrasing.
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== Check this first: is the paywall even on? ==
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== Check this first: which cohort is the member in? ==
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Loopa can run with '''pre-launch access open''', which unlocks every Premium feature for every member. While it is open, nothing is locked and the daily AI allowances do not apply, because there is no free tier to apply them to.
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'''Pre-launch access closed on 1 September 2026, when Loopa launched on the App Store.''' Before that it was open, which unlocked every Premium feature for every member. It is closed now, so the free tier and the daily AI allowances are live and apply normally.
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'''Look at /admin/health before you diagnose anything else.''' The Pre-launch access card at the top of that page says ''Open'' or ''Closed''. If it says Open, then "why can I use fasting without paying?" is not a bug, and "my nutrient estimates stopped" is not the allowance — look for something else.
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'''Every account that existed at the close holds Loopa Premium Family for life.''' There are 52 of them. So "why does this member have fasting, workouts and the coach without ever paying?" is '''not a bug'''. They are a founding member, and it is permanent. The member-facing article is ''Founding members: Premium Family for life'' on the Loopa knowledge base.
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Three things follow that will otherwise read as defects:
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1. '''A founding member has no subscription record, and that is correct.''' The grant is computed from the account rather than stored as a seat, so there is nothing in their billing to look at and nothing that can lapse. Do not "fix" it by granting them a seat.
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1. '''A founding member can organize a family group of up to five others''', and those five hold Premium through the group. The invitees do '''not''' have grants of their own and go to Loopa Basic if they leave.
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1. '''Beta testers are covered too, including ones who join now.''' TestFlight is still open by invitation, and a tester holds Loopa Premium Family for life on the same terms.
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'''Look at /admin/health before you diagnose anything else.''' The Pre-launch access card at the top of that page says ''Open'' or ''Closed''. It should read '''Closed'''. If it ever reads Open again, then "why can I use fasting without paying?" is not a bug and "my nutrient estimates stopped" is not the allowance. Look for something else, and raise the fact that it is open.
== The boundary, in one paragraph ==
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'''Loopa Basic is free and is a complete basic tracker.''' Food logging every way in — search, browse, barcode, spoken, plain words, typed — plus editing and deleting, recent foods, saved meals, the never-eat list, weight, water, vitals, micronutrients, '''activity the member logs themselves''', Easy Switch, the setup interview, the community, and 30 days of history and trends.
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'''Loopa Basic is free and is a complete basic tracker.''' Food logging every way in (search, browse, barcode, spoken, plain words, typed) plus editing and deleting, recent foods, saved meals, the never-eat list, weight, water, vitals, micronutrients, '''activity the member logs themselves''', Easy Switch, the setup interview, the community, and 30 days of history and trends.
'''Premium''' adds workouts, intermittent fasting, cycle tracking, H³, the coach, the meal planner and Eating Out, photo food logging, '''device sync''', body measurements, progress photos, supplements, sleep, the weight forecast, reports, sharing, and history older than 30 days.
Two boundaries get mistaken for bugs more than the rest:
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# '''Activity is free; device sync is not.''' A member can log a session and active minutes and see the burn in their day without paying. What Premium buys is having it '''arrive on its own''' — from Apple Health, Health Connect, a Withings scale, an Oura ring or an iHealth device. A ticket saying "activity is Premium" is usually somebody who expected their watch to fill it in.
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# '''Cycle tracking is Premium in the app AND in the web app.''' The '''period calculator on loopahealth.app is a different thing''' and is free, needs no account, and runs entirely in the visitor's browser. Do not tell a member the calculator is Premium, and do not tell them the tracker is free.
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1. '''Activity is free; device sync is not.''' A member can log a session and active minutes and see the burn in their day without paying. What Premium buys is having it '''arrive on its own''', from Apple Health, Health Connect, a Withings scale, an Oura ring or an iHealth device. A ticket saying "activity is Premium" is usually somebody who expected their watch to fill it in.
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1. '''Cycle tracking is Premium in the app AND in the web app.''' The '''period calculator on loopahealth.app is a different thing''' and is free, needs no account, and runs entirely in the visitor's browser. Do not tell a member the calculator is Premium, and do not tell them the tracker is free.
== "My nutrient estimates stopped working" ==
Free accounts get '''5 fresh nutrient estimates a day'''. Reaching that is not a fault and not a bug.
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# '''A day whose foods have been estimated before does not use one.''' Those answers already exist and are served instantly. So a member who logs the same breakfast every day will rarely spend an allowance at all, and one experimenting with new foods will spend them faster. If somebody says they "only pressed it twice", they may have pressed it on two days nobody had ever logged.
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# '''Everything already worked out stays on screen.''' Reaching the allowance stops the next new estimate; it does not take anything away.
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# '''It resets the next day.''' There is nothing to clear, reset or escalate.
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# Premium has no ceiling.
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1. '''A day whose foods have been estimated before does not use one.''' Those answers already exist and are served instantly. So a member who logs the same breakfast every day will rarely spend an allowance at all, and one experimenting with new foods will spend them faster. If somebody says they "only pressed it twice", they may have pressed it on two days nobody had ever logged.
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1. '''Everything already worked out stays on screen.''' Reaching the allowance stops the next new estimate; it does not take anything away.
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1. '''It resets the next day.''' There is nothing to clear, reset or escalate.
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1. Premium has no ceiling.
== "I can't add food by voice any more" ==
Free accounts get '''10 plain-words or spoken entries a day'''. The same three points apply, plus the one that matters most:
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'''Search, barcode and manual entry are never limited.''' A member at their allowance can still log everything they eat — just not by describing it. If a ticket says "I can't log my food", check whether they mean "I can't describe it in words", because the answer is different: point them at the search field or the scanner and they are unblocked immediately.
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'''Search, barcode and manual entry are never limited.''' A member at their allowance can still log everything they eat, just not by describing it. If a ticket says "I can't log my food", check whether they mean "I can't describe it in words", because the answer is different: point them at the search field or the scanner and they are unblocked immediately.
== What to escalate ==
Escalate rather than working around, in these cases:
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# '''A Premium member is being told they are out of allowance.''' Premium is never capped. This means their entitlement is not resolving, which is a real defect and affects more than this one screen.
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# '''A member says the allowance did not reset.''' It is a calendar-day count with nothing to expire, so "still blocked tomorrow" is not a normal state.
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# '''A feature the boundary above calls free is asking for payment''', or one it calls Premium is working without it. Either direction is drift and is worth catching.
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1. '''A Premium member is being told they are out of allowance.''' Premium is never capped. This means their entitlement is not resolving, which is a real defect and affects more than this one screen.
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1. '''A member says the allowance did not reset.''' It is a calendar-day count with nothing to expire, so "still blocked tomorrow" is not a normal state.
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1. '''A feature the boundary above calls free is asking for payment''', or one it calls Premium is working without it. Either direction is drift and is worth catching.
Do not offer to "reset" somebody's allowance or grant a one-off exception; there is no supported way to do it, and promising one creates a ticket that cannot be closed.
== Where the truth actually lives ==
If this article and the product disagree, the product is right and this article needs correcting. The boundary is pinned endpoint by endpoint in the platform's own test suite, and the member-facing wording lives in ''What Loopa Basic includes'' on the Loopa knowledge base. Raise the mismatch rather than splitting the difference in a reply.
−
'''Tickets about what is free, what is Premium, and the daily AI allowance.''' The member-facing article is ''What Loopa Basic includes'' on the Loopa knowledge base; send members there rather than paraphrasing.
== Check this first: is the paywall even on? ==
Loopa can run with '''pre-launch access open''', which unlocks every Premium feature for every member. While it is open, nothing is locked and the daily AI allowances do not apply, because there is no free tier to apply them to.
'''Look at /admin/health before you diagnose anything else.''' The Pre-launch access card at the top of that page says ''Open'' or ''Closed''. If it says Open, then "why can I use fasting without paying?" is not a bug, and "my nutrient estimates stopped" is not the allowance — look for something else.
== The boundary, in one paragraph ==
'''Loopa Basic is free and is a complete basic tracker.''' Food logging every way in — search, browse, barcode, spoken, plain words, typed — plus editing and deleting, recent foods, saved meals, the never-eat list, weight, water, vitals, micronutrients, '''activity the member logs themselves''', Easy Switch, the setup interview, the community, and 30 days of history and trends.
'''Premium''' adds workouts, intermittent fasting, cycle tracking, H³, the coach, the meal planner and Eating Out, photo food logging, '''device sync''', body measurements, progress photos, supplements, sleep, the weight forecast, reports, sharing, and history older than 30 days.
Two boundaries get mistaken for bugs more than the rest:
'''Activity is free; device sync is not.''' A member can log a session and active minutes and see the burn in their day without paying. What Premium buys is having it '''arrive on its own''' — from Apple Health, Health Connect, a Withings scale, an Oura ring or an iHealth device. A ticket saying "activity is Premium" is usually somebody who expected their watch to fill it in.
'''Cycle tracking is Premium in the app AND in the web app.''' The '''period calculator on loopahealth.app is a different thing''' and is free, needs no account, and runs entirely in the visitor's browser. Do not tell a member the calculator is Premium, and do not tell them the tracker is free.
== "My nutrient estimates stopped working" ==
Free accounts get '''5 fresh nutrient estimates a day'''. Reaching that is not a fault and not a bug.
'''A day whose foods have been estimated before does not use one.''' Those answers already exist and are served instantly. So a member who logs the same breakfast every day will rarely spend an allowance at all, and one experimenting with new foods will spend them faster. If somebody says they "only pressed it twice", they may have pressed it on two days nobody had ever logged.
'''Everything already worked out stays on screen.''' Reaching the allowance stops the next new estimate; it does not take anything away.
'''It resets the next day.''' There is nothing to clear, reset or escalate.
Premium has no ceiling.
== "I can't add food by voice any more" ==
Free accounts get '''10 plain-words or spoken entries a day'''. The same three points apply, plus the one that matters most:
'''Search, barcode and manual entry are never limited.''' A member at their allowance can still log everything they eat — just not by describing it. If a ticket says "I can't log my food", check whether they mean "I can't describe it in words", because the answer is different: point them at the search field or the scanner and they are unblocked immediately.
== What to escalate ==
Escalate rather than working around, in these cases:
'''A Premium member is being told they are out of allowance.''' Premium is never capped. This means their entitlement is not resolving, which is a real defect and affects more than this one screen.
'''A member says the allowance did not reset.''' It is a calendar-day count with nothing to expire, so "still blocked tomorrow" is not a normal state.
'''A feature the boundary above calls free is asking for payment''', or one it calls Premium is working without it. Either direction is drift and is worth catching.
Do not offer to "reset" somebody's allowance or grant a one-off exception; there is no supported way to do it, and promising one creates a ticket that cannot be closed.
== Where the truth actually lives ==
If this article and the product disagree, the product is right and this article needs correcting. The boundary is pinned endpoint by endpoint in the platform's own test suite, and the member-facing wording lives in ''What Loopa Basic includes'' on the Loopa knowledge base. Raise the mismatch rather than splitting the difference in a reply.
'''Tickets about what is free, what is Premium, and the daily AI allowance.''' The member-facing article is ''What Loopa Basic includes'' on the Loopa knowledge base; send members there rather than paraphrasing. == Check this first: is the paywall even on? == Loopa can run with '''pre-launch access open''', which unlocks every Premium feature for every member. While it is open, nothing is locked and the daily AI allowances do not apply, because there is no free tier to apply them to. '''Look at /admin/health before you diagnose anything else.''' The Pre-launch access card at the top of that page says ''Open'' or ''Closed''. If it says Open, then "why can I use fasting without paying?" is not a bug, and "my nutrient estimates stopped" is not the allowance — look for something else. == The boundary, in one paragraph == '''Loopa Basic is free and is a complete basic tracker.''' Food logging every way in — search, browse, barcode, spoken, plain words, typed — plus editing and deleting, recent foods, saved meals, the never-eat list, weight, water, vitals, micronutrients, '''activity the member logs themselves''', Easy Switch, the setup interview, the community, and 30 days of history and trends. '''Premium''' adds workouts, intermittent fasting, cycle tracking, H³, the coach, the meal planner and Eating Out, photo food logging, '''device sync''', body measurements, progress photos, supplements, sleep, the weight forecast, reports, sharing, and history older than 30 days. Two boundaries get mistaken for bugs more than the rest: # '''Activity is free; device sync is not.''' A member can log a session and active minutes and see the burn in their day without paying. What Premium buys is having it '''arrive on its own''' — from Apple Health, Health Connect, a Withings scale, an Oura ring or an iHealth device. A ticket saying "activity is Premium" is usually somebody who expected their watch to fill it in. # '''Cycle tracking is Premium in the app AND in the web app.''' The '''period calculator on loopahealth.app is a different thing''' and is free, needs no account, and runs entirely in the visitor's browser. Do not tell a member the calculator is Premium, and do not tell them the tracker is free. == "My nutrient estimates stopped working" == Free accounts get '''5 fresh nutrient estimates a day'''. Reaching that is not a fault and not a bug. # '''A day whose foods have been estimated before does not use one.''' Those answers already exist and are served instantly. So a member who logs the same breakfast every day will rarely spend an allowance at all, and one experimenting with new foods will spend them faster. If somebody says they "only pressed it twice", they may have pressed it on two days nobody had ever logged. # '''Everything already worked out stays on screen.''' Reaching the allowance stops the next new estimate; it does not take anything away. # '''It resets the next day.''' There is nothing to clear, reset or escalate. # Premium has no ceiling. == "I can't add food by voice any more" == Free accounts get '''10 plain-words or spoken entries a day'''. The same three points apply, plus the one that matters most: '''Search, barcode and manual entry are never limited.''' A member at their allowance can still log everything they eat — just not by describing it. If a ticket says "I can't log my food", check whether they mean "I can't describe it in words", because the answer is different: point them at the search field or the scanner and they are unblocked immediately. == What to escalate == Escalate rather than working around, in these cases: # '''A Premium member is being told they are out of allowance.''' Premium is never capped. This means their entitlement is not resolving, which is a real defect and affects more than this one screen. # '''A member says the allowance did not reset.''' It is a calendar-day count with nothing to expire, so "still blocked tomorrow" is not a normal state. # '''A feature the boundary above calls free is asking for payment''', or one it calls Premium is working without it. Either direction is drift and is worth catching. Do not offer to "reset" somebody's allowance or grant a one-off exception; there is no supported way to do it, and promising one creates a ticket that cannot be closed. == Where the truth actually lives == If this article and the product disagree, the product is right and this article needs correcting. The boundary is pinned endpoint by endpoint in the platform's own test suite, and the member-facing wording lives in ''What Loopa Basic includes'' on the Loopa knowledge base. Raise the mismatch rather than splitting the difference in a reply.
