Cronometer is a popular app for tracking what you eat, especially if you care about vitamins and minerals. If you already use it, MigraineMe can read your meals and look for food triggers, like caffeine, tyramine, magnesium, and missed meals. You do not have to log your food twice.
A small but important note: MigraineMe does not talk to Cronometer directly. Instead, Cronometer sends what you ate to your phone's main health app, and MigraineMe reads it from there. This keeps your data more private, because you stay in control.
The steps are different on iPhone and Android. Find your phone below.
On iPhone
Step 1: Make sure Cronometer is sending food to Apple Health
- Open the Cronometer app on your iPhone.
- Tap Settings (the gear icon, usually at the bottom right).
- Scroll down and tap Apple Health.
- You will see a list of switches for things like Energy, Protein, Carbohydrates, and so on.
- Tap Allow at the top, then turn on Turn All Categories On when Apple Health pops up.
- Tap Allow to confirm.
If you have done this before, the switches will already be green. That is fine. Move on to the next step.
Step 2: Connect MigraineMe to Apple Health and turn on Diet
- Open MigraineMe.
- Tap the gear icon in the top-left of the screen. A drawer slides in from the left.
- Tap Connections.
- Find Apple Health and tap Connect. If it already says Connected, skip to step 6.
- Apple Health will pop up asking for permission. Tap Turn On All, then Allow.
- Open the drawer again and tap Data and Notifications.
- Scroll to the Diet section and turn the Diet switch on.
Step 3: Give it a moment
On iPhone, MigraineMe copies the food you log today from Apple Health. It does this when you open MigraineMe and in the background during the day. Meals from before you connected are not copied over. To be sure the whole day is in, open MigraineMe once after your last meal.
To check it is working:
- Open MigraineMe.
- Tap the Monitor tab.
- Scroll to the Diet card.
- You should see today's food totals and the number of meals and items logged today.
On Android
Step 1: Install Health Connect (if you do not have it)
Health Connect is the bridge between Cronometer and MigraineMe on Android. It is made by Google and is free.
- Open the Play Store.
- Search for Health Connect.
- Tap Install.
- Open it once after it installs, just to wake it up.
If your phone says "Health Connect is already installed", you are done with this step.
Step 2: Make sure Cronometer is sending food to Health Connect
- Open the Cronometer app.
- Tap the gear icon in the top-left of the screen.
- Look for Health Connect in the list and tap it.
- Turn on the switches for nutrition items. If you see a Turn All On option, use that.
- Tap Allow or Done to confirm.
If you do not see Health Connect in Cronometer's settings, make sure both apps are up to date in the Play Store. Cronometer added Health Connect support in a recent update.
Step 3: Connect MigraineMe to Health Connect
- Open MigraineMe.
- Tap the gear icon in the top-left of the screen. A drawer slides in from the left.
- Tap Connections.
- Find Health Connect and tap Connect.
- A Health Connect window will appear. Tap Allow all (or make sure Nutrition is on), then Allow.
- Open the drawer again and tap Data and Notifications.
- Scroll to the Diet section and check the Diet switch is on. It usually turns on by itself once the nutrition permission is given.
Step 4: Give it a moment
The first time, MigraineMe copies the last 14 days of meals from Health Connect. After that, new meals usually arrive within 15 to 30 minutes.
To check it is working:
- Open MigraineMe.
- Tap Monitor.
- Scroll to the Diet card.
What MigraineMe does with your Cronometer data
Cronometer is one of the most detailed food apps out there, so it shares a lot of nutrition information. MigraineMe uses this to spot:
- Caffeine in coffee, tea, energy drinks, dark chocolate
- Tyramine in aged cheese, cured meats, fermented foods
- Histamine in red wine, aged cheese, smoked fish
- Magnesium and riboflavin from your daily totals
- Low-calorie days, which can mean a missed meal
Tyramine and histamine are worked out from the names of your foods. They only work when your food app shares the name of each food. Apps that share only nutrient totals still give caffeine, sugar, magnesium and the other numbers.
When one of these food triggers is in your trigger list and is crossed on a day, it shows in the Top contributors card on Home. Once you have logged at least 5 attacks, the weekly recalibration (Premium) can adjust these triggers for you.
Troubleshooting
"Diet card is empty"
- Make sure you have actually logged something in Cronometer today.
- Force-close MigraineMe (swipe it away) and reopen.
- On iPhone, go to Settings → Apps → Health → Data Access & Devices → MigraineMe and check that Dietary items are turned on.
- On Android, open Health Connect and tap App permissions → MigraineMe to check the nutrition permissions are on.
"My meals show up in Cronometer but not in MigraineMe"
This is almost always a permission issue. Walk back through the steps above, paying close attention to the permission popups. The "Don't allow" button is small and easy to tap by accident.
"Some vitamins are missing"
Cronometer normally shares everything. If items are missing, open Cronometer's Settings → Apple Health (or Health Connect) and make sure every nutrient switch is on.
Still stuck?
Write to us at help@migraineme.app and tell us:
- Whether you are on iPhone or Android
- Which Cronometer setting you are stuck on
- A screenshot if you can
We usually reply within a day.
