metering

Summary

Photo scans are metered; barcode and search are not, and the meter is visible before it runs out rather than at the moment it does.

Why it matters

A metered feature that hides its meter is how a nutrition app earns billing complaints. Apple pulled Cal AI in April 2026 for deceptive billing, and the whole monetisation design here is the deliberate opposite of that.

Metering only the model call is also what makes the free tier honest: the two free paths cost nothing to run, so they can stay unlimited forever and the allowance can be spent on the meals that actually need a camera.

Implications

• The quota sits in the camera header always, not only when it is low.
• A failed scan does not burn a scan, and the failure screen says so.
• The out-of-scans fact is moved forward onto Today rather than sprung at the shutter — being turned away at the moment you came to log a meal is the worst possible moment to ask for money.
• Every screen that meters also leaves the two free paths on screen. The user is never stuck.
• The lock is a banner on Today, not a gate in front of it, which is why locked is a state of Today rather than a screen of its own.

Related

• billing-transparency
• the-ask

Sources

• .context/designs/mobile/scan/quota.html
• .context/designs/mobile/home/today-locked.html