While you cannot simply share your login credentials to allow someone else access to your account, you can certainly share your MyFitnessPal journey with others. The service provides several official features designed for social interaction, accountability, and collaboration that honor its single-user policy.
Connect with Friends for Motivation and Accountability
One of the most effective ways to use MyFitnessPal with others is by adding them as a friend. This feature creates a social network within the app, allowing you to view and interact with each other's progress. By inviting friends and family to join you, you can provide and receive encouragement, celebrating successes and offering support during challenges.
How to Add Friends on MyFitnessPal
- Via Email or Username: From the 'More' menu in the app, navigate to 'Friends' and tap the '+' icon. You can then enter a friend's email or MyFitnessPal username to send a request.
- Via Web: On the MyFitnessPal website, go to 'My Home' > 'Friends' and choose 'Add friends by Email'.
- Through Facebook: If your accounts are linked, you can send invitations to Facebook friends who are also on the platform.
Customizing Your Diary Sharing Settings
Once you are connected with friends, you can decide how much of your daily tracking information to share. By default, your food diary is private, but you can change this setting to increase accountability.
- Friends Only: This option allows only the users on your Friends list to see your food and exercise diary.
- Public: This setting makes your diary visible to all other MyFitnessPal users.
- Locked with a Key: For increased privacy, you can lock your diary and share the password with specific individuals for temporary access.
Collaborating with a Personal Trainer or Coach
For those working with a professional, MyFitnessPal offers official integrations with various personal training software, like Trainerize. This provides a secure and compliant method for a coach to monitor your nutritional data without needing your login credentials. These integrations automatically sync your meal and macro information, empowering your trainer to provide more informed guidance.
Features for Sharing and Collaboration
- Sharing Meals: If you eat the same meal as a friend or family member, you can copy the meal from their diary directly into yours (if their diary sharing settings permit it). This saves time and ensures consistency in logging.
- Community Forums: MyFitnessPal hosts community message boards where you can connect with other members. This is a public space for encouragement, support, and advice from a wider network of users.
- Recipe Sharing: You can save recipes you have created and set them to 'Public' so they appear in your friends' Activity Feed. While a bit clunky, it offers another way to share specific meal information.
Comparison: Official Sharing vs. Unauthorized Account Sharing
| Feature | Official Sharing (Recommended) | Unauthorized Account Sharing (Prohibited) |
|---|---|---|
| Account Policy | Adheres to the Terms of Service, one account per user. | Violates the Terms of Service, which can result in account suspension. |
| Privacy | Secure. Users control their own diary and profile visibility. | Compromises privacy, as all personal data is accessible to anyone with login details. |
| Data Integrity | Individual progress is tracked accurately for each user, providing personalized insights. | Skews data, as multiple people logging different information under one account corrupts the tracking. |
| Security | Safe. Login information is not shared. | Puts account security at risk. The user is responsible for all activity under the account. |
| Synchronization | Works seamlessly, with data syncing properly for each user across devices. | Can cause syncing errors and conflicts, as multiple devices access the same account. |
| Support | Full access to customer support and official app features. | Risks losing access to customer support and may prevent proper use of features. |
The Risks of Unauthorized Account Sharing
Beyond the violation of MyFitnessPal's official policy, sharing a single account presents several practical issues. First, the data becomes inaccurate. Nutritional and exercise information is highly personalized, and mixing metrics from multiple individuals will distort progress tracking. Second, it creates a significant privacy risk, exposing your personal health information to others. Finally, it can lead to confusion and data conflicts, making it difficult to maintain consistent and meaningful records of your health journey. For these reasons, using the official social and sharing features is always the better approach.
Conclusion
While you cannot share a MyFitnessPal account with another individual due to the platform's strict Terms of Service, there are numerous authorized ways to collaborate on your fitness goals. By utilizing the official friends feature, customizing your diary sharing settings, and leveraging community resources, you can enjoy a shared and supportive health journey. For those working with professionals, integrations with personal training software offer a compliant and secure alternative. Embracing these built-in social tools provides all the benefits of shared accountability while protecting your data and adhering to platform guidelines.
MyFitnessPal and Your Health Journey
For an in-depth guide on the features and benefits of MyFitnessPal, including details on its Premium plan, explore its official offerings.
Protecting Your Personal Data
MyFitnessPal's commitment to user privacy is detailed in its policies, which explain how your weight and other personal data are kept private by default.
