Frequently asked questions

Logging, your score, food know-how, and your data, answered.

Getting started

What does Timiya do?
Timiya estimates how much of each nutrient your body is likely to absorb from the meals you already eat. Take a photo of your meal or type what you ate, and check what Timiya found. For each nutrient, you see what you ate and what it counts as, adjusted for what you ate it with, how it was cooked, and when. Often there's a nudge too, one simple change that could help your body take in more.
Is it really free?
Yes. Timiya is free, and you don't need a card. We're testing it with a small group for now, so join the list and we'll let you in.
Do I need to download anything?
No. Timiya opens in your phone's browser, and you sign in with Google. Add it to your home screen and it opens like any other app.
Will I need to buy expensive food?
No. Timiya works with the food you already eat. Many of its ideas cost little or nothing, such as tea an hour after the meal or lemon on the beans. Others use everyday foods like sukuma wiki, eggs, omena, and mala.

Logging

How do I log a meal?
Take a photo, pick one from your gallery, or type what you ate in your own words. Timiya names the foods and estimates how much of each you had, in portions you'd recognize. Then it asks up to three quick questions a photo can't answer, such as when you had your tea or how the greens were cooked. Recent meals are a tap away, and you can log a meal you forgot on an earlier day.
What if Timiya gets my meal wrong?
You fix it before it counts. Change a food or its portion, or add what it missed, then save. You can edit or delete a meal later too.

Your score

What does my meal score mean?
It shows how much of your day’s key nutrients the meal covered, as an estimate. A quality band tells you how good the food was for its size. Tap any nutrient to see what you ate, what it counts as, and why.
What’s the difference between “Eaten” and “Counts as”?
“Eaten” is what was on your plate, and “Counts as” is Timiya’s estimate of how much of it your body is likely to absorb. The two can be far apart, because what you eat a food with, how you cook it, and when you drink your tea all change how much counts. Nutrition scientists call this share bioavailability.
What’s a nudge, and what are meal ideas?
A nudge is one simple change Timiya suggests on a meal you’ve logged, and it’s there often, though not always. Free ideas come first, such as moving your tea to an hour after the meal. Meal ideas are suggestions for your next meal, and each shows how much it could add to your day.
What does each nutrient page show?
Each of the 39 nutrients has a page with a trend of what you ate and what it counts as, over 7 days, 28 days, 3 months, or a year. It shows where you are against your target, the foods you eat that are richest in it, and what helped or got in the way. Timiya is also designed to build a short plan to your target from foods you already eat.

Your targets

How does Timiya set my targets?
Your daily targets follow your age, gender, activity, height, and weight, and they change with each trimester of pregnancy and while you breastfeed. They come from the Dietary Reference Intakes of the US National Academies, with the World Health Organization’s limits for salt and sugar. My nutritional targets lists every target and where it comes from. If your clinic gave you values, add them and Timiya uses those.
Will my targets change over time?
Yes, they follow your profile. When your activity changes, or you move into a new trimester or age band, your targets change with you. Timiya is designed to let you know when a birthday moves you into a new age band.

Food know-how

Should I drink chai with my meal?
Try it an hour or two after the meal instead. Tea and coffee may get in the way of the iron in beans, greens, and grains. Timiya asks when you had your chai, and it estimates that more of the iron counts when the tea comes later.
Read Evalyne’s article on chai timing
Does soaking beans help?
Soaking beans overnight is an old habit that may help your body take in more of their iron and zinc. Beans hold a natural compound called phytate that may hold these minerals back, and soaking may lower it. Timiya doesn’t count soaking in its estimates, so soaked and unsoaked beans score the same.
Read Evalyne’s article on githeri
Does lemon on the beans help?
It may help a little, because vitamin C in the same meal may help your body take in the iron from beans and greens. Kachumbari, cabbage, or an orange add more vitamin C than a squeeze of lemon. Timiya counts the vitamin C on your plate when it estimates the iron.
Read Evalyne’s article on githeri
Why cook greens with a little oil?
Greens like sukuma wiki carry a form of vitamin A that your body may use better with some fat. A little of the oil you already cook with is enough. Timiya asks how your greens were cooked, and it counts more of their vitamin A when there was oil.
See the sources on The science
Why is omena such a good choice?
Omena gives you protein, calcium, and iron in a small portion, because you eat the whole fish, bones and all. A little fish or meat in a meal may also help your body take in the iron from the beans and greens beside it. Timiya counts this when omena shares the plate.
See the sources on The science
Is sukuma wiki or spinach better for calcium?
Sukuma wiki. Spinach holds its calcium tightly, so little of it counts, while sukuma wiki gives its calcium up much more easily. Timiya counts less of the calcium from spinach and some other greens.
Read Evalyne’s article on sukuma wiki and calcium
Why sour the uji?
Souring uji is an old habit that may help your body take in more of the grain’s iron. Fermenting may break down some of what holds iron back in maize, millet, and sorghum. Timiya asks whether your uji was soured, and it counts more of the iron when it was.
Read Evalyne’s article on ugali

Over time

What does Timiya show me over weeks and months?
After a week of logging, the weekly report shows what improved, what slipped, and where to focus, along with your streak and a year of the weeks you logged. Each month, Timiya shows which nutrients are improving or declining, and patterns such as more of your iron counting in meals without tea. As your log grows, Timiya is designed to spot seasonal dips and slow changes, learn which pairings work for you, and show whether a nudge helped.
What is a nutrient trajectory?
It’s the direction a nutrient moved over the month. Each month, Timiya shows your key nutrients as improving, stable, declining, or in sharp decline, from what your meals gave you week by week. Timiya is designed to show where each one is heading, too.
Can Timiya spot slow and seasonal changes?
Timiya is designed to compare your recent weeks with your longer pattern and tell you when something has quietly changed, such as fewer meals with greens or chai creeping back toward mealtimes. After a year of logging, it’s designed to spot patterns that come back with the seasons, such as vitamin A dipping when mango season ends. It’s then designed to suggest a food to fill the gap, such as orange-fleshed sweet potato.
What is a food combination fingerprint?
It’s a personal map, built from your own meals, of which pairings help you and which get in the way. How much tea with a meal holds back your iron depends on your chai, your portions, and the rest of your plate. As you log over months, Timiya is designed to rank the pairings that help you most, like lemon with lentils, and the ones that hold you back, like chai with the meal.
Will Timiya show whether a nudge worked?
It’s designed to, by treating each nudge you take up as a small experiment. If you start having your chai an hour after meals, Timiya is designed to compare your iron before and after and tell you what moved. It’s also designed to say plainly when a change made little difference.
Can Timiya show the cost per nutrient?
Timiya is designed to combine local market prices with its estimates to show which foods give you the most for each shilling. Foods like omena, sukuma wiki, beans, and eggs often do well. Over months, it’s designed to point out your best-value meals.

Health and safety

Timiya gives general nutrition information. It isn't medical advice and doesn't diagnose, treat or prevent any condition. If you're pregnant, breastfeeding, have a health condition or take medicines, check with your clinic before changing how you eat. In an emergency, call 999 or 112.

I’m watching my blood pressure. How can Timiya help?
Add it as a goal, and Timiya helps you keep an eye on salt. If your clinic gave you limits, add them and Timiya uses those. Your clinic’s advice comes first.
Can I add a condition or medicine?
Yes, in your profile, if you choose to. Timiya uses them to leave out meal ideas that may not suit you, such as very salty dishes. We ask before using your health details, and you can delete them any time.
Can Timiya tell me if I’m anemic?
No. Timiya doesn’t measure anything in your body or diagnose any condition. It estimates the iron your meals likely give you and which habits may be getting in the way. If you’re worried about your iron, your clinic can test it.
Can I keep track of my supplements?
Yes. Tick off your supplements on Home, from a common list or your own label, with tips on when to take them. Timiya never sets doses, so take the supplements your clinic gave you as your clinic told you.
What does Timiya say about fasting?
Timiya doesn’t recommend fasting. If you already fast, tell Timiya your days and times, and Home follows your fast. In pregnancy and while breastfeeding, it asks you to check with your clinic first, and if you’ve told Timiya about an eating disorder or you’re underweight, it doesn’t offer fasting days. Check with your clinic before changing how you eat.
Who checks Timiya’s values?
We’ve sent our values to a nutritionist and a clinician for review. While that runs, the app marks the notes still in review, such as its fasting notes and supplement cautions. Every figure Timiya shows is an estimate.

Pregnancy and breastfeeding

Timiya gives general nutrition information. It isn't medical advice and doesn't diagnose, treat or prevent any condition. If you're pregnant, breastfeeding, have a health condition or take medicines, check with your clinic before changing how you eat. In an emergency, call 999 or 112.

How does Timiya help in pregnancy and while breastfeeding?
Your targets change with each trimester and again while you breastfeed, and your scores use the new targets. In pregnancy, Timiya adds food-safety notes, such as skipping liver, which has too much vitamin A for a growing baby. Keep taking the supplements your clinic gave you. Check with your antenatal clinic.

Family

Can I log meals for my family?
Yes. Add your children and log the family pot once. Each child aged 2 to 17 gets a simple view of what their week’s food gave them, and their clinic comes first. You can also invite another adult to your household, and choose what a carer can see and log for each child.

Privacy and your data

Where do my photos go?
Google’s Gemini AI reads your meal photo to recognize the food and estimate portions, and you check what it found before anything counts. The photo is stored with the meal in your account, on servers in Ireland, until you delete the meal or your account. The privacy notice lists every service that handles your data.
Who sees my health details?
You do. If you add a carer for your child, they see only what you switch on for that child. We ask before using your health details, and we don’t sell your data or share them with employers or insurers. Download your data as JSON or CSV, delete your health details, or delete your whole account any time.

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