Guide

Getting your years back out.

You can take your MyFitnessPal history with you. The export tool inside the app is a paid feature, and a privacy-rights request is a separate route that does not depend on your plan. Either way the order is the same: export first, cancel second, and treat deleting the account as its own decision.

By Alen Yaco · Double bachelor's in biological sciences and social ecology, UC Irvine · Published 18 September 2026

Not on this page. This page does not argue which tracker to move to, and it does not re-run the cost case or the full feature split against the paid tiers: those live on /myfitnesspal-alternative/, with a side by side on /calorie-counter-app-comparison/.

Can I export my MyFitnessPal data on the free plan?

Not with the export tool. That is a Premium and Premium+ feature. Separately, MyFitnessPal documents a privacy-rights request through its Privacy Request Center, which is open to account holders regardless of plan, though what it covers depends on where you live. Free accounts also get a printable report and diary sharing.

The MyFitnessPal Help Center draws the line in the export article itself. Export belongs to Premium and Premium+, and on a free account the button is not there. Know that before you cancel: it changes which route you take, not whether your data exists.

The second route does not depend on your plan. MyFitnessPal publishes a privacy rights article and runs a Privacy Request Center where an account holder can make a data request. It is a request rather than a button, and what you can ask for varies by region, so check what applies where you live.

Free accounts also keep 2 substitutes for the export tool.

• A printable report. On the website, click the Food tab, scroll to View Full Report (Printable), pick a date range, click Change Report, then print or save as a PDF. Website only, not in the app.
• Diary sharing. A friend, trainer, doctor or nutritionist gets ongoing access to your Food and Exercise Diary, paid or not. They need their own free account first.

Neither is a copy. A shared diary is a window into an account you still hold, and a PDF cannot be sorted or added up. Both are in the MyFitnessPal Help Center guide to sharing your diary, updated 12 September 2026.

How do I export my MyFitnessPal data?

You can export from the iOS app, the Android app or the MyFitnessPal website. All 3 routes end the same way: you pick a date range, tap or click Export, and MyFitnessPal emails the file to the address on your account. It is not a download that appears inside the app.

Export is not website only. The MyFitnessPal Help Center export article, updated 27 August 2026, gives full steps for all 3 places.

All 3 finish in your inbox rather than on your screen. MyFitnessPal sends CSV files inside a single zip folder to the address you signed up with, and asks you to click Download Files on a computer rather than a phone.

What is inside the MyFitnessPal export file?

Every MyFitnessPal export contains exactly 3 CSV files inside a single zip folder: Your Nutrition, Your Progress and Your Exercise. You cannot choose which ones you get. The only thing you control is the date range. MyFitnessPal tells you to open the zip on a computer rather than a phone.

There is no menu of options. MyFitnessPal's FAQ answers the question of whether you can choose what to export with a flat no: every export includes all 3 files, and the date range is the only setting.

So set the range wide the first time. Covering 2019 to 2026 takes the same handful of taps as covering last week. Run it before you cancel, while the button is still there. The privacy-rights route survives your plan, but it is not a reason to skip the easy version.

Why has my MyFitnessPal export email not arrived?

Check 2 things before running the export again. MyFitnessPal sends the zip to the address on your account, which you change in Email Settings, and it tells you to click Download Files on a computer rather than a phone. A stale address and a phone are the common failures.

The export lands in an inbox rather than on your screen, so it can fail quietly in 2 ways.

• The wrong address. If you signed up years ago on an address you no longer read, change it in Email Settings before you export, not after.
• The wrong device. Phones handle zip folders unevenly, and a zip that will not open looks exactly like an export that failed.

Check the spam folder before you run a second one. When the folder does open, spend 5 minutes on it. Sort all 3 files by date and read the oldest row: if you started logging in 2019 and the earliest row is 2024, the range was too narrow, so export again while you still can. Then keep a copy somewhere other than one laptop's downloads folder. An export you cannot find in 3 years is not a backup.

Do my recipes, custom foods and saved meals come with me?

No. The MyFitnessPal export covers logged foods, measurements and workouts, and nothing else. Recipes you built, custom foods you created and meals you saved are not among the 3 files. If you want to keep them, copy the ones you actually use by hand before you leave.

This is the part people discover late. The export has 3 files and none is a recipe list or a custom food list. MyFitnessPal's FAQ confirms the set is fixed, so there is no fourth file to look for.

The nutrition file is summarized by meal, which makes it a record of what you ate rather than an inventory of the foods you built. A recipe you spent an evening entering does not come back out of it in a form you could rebuild from.

The fix is dull and it works. Before you cancel, open the recipes, custom foods and saved meals you reach for most and write down the name, the serving size, the calories per serving and the protein, carbohydrate and fat. The list is usually shorter than people expect. Rebuilding it by hand is one sitting. Rebuilding it from memory a year later is guesswork.

How do I cancel MyFitnessPal Premium?

Cancel on the platform you paid on. Subscriptions bought in the iPhone app are cancelled in Apple's Settings, ones bought on Android in the Google Play Store, and ones bought on myfitnesspal.com by switching auto-renewal off in Subscription Settings. Cancelling anywhere else will not stop the charge.

MyFitnessPal is explicit that you must cancel on the same platform you originally paid on. For App Store purchases it says only Apple can help with a cancellation or a refund, because MyFitnessPal cannot reach that subscription.

Leave more than 24 hours. MyFitnessPal says a cancellation made less than 24 hours before the renewal date may still renew. That is the most common way people are charged for a period they thought they had stopped.

Cancelling is also narrower than it sounds: you stop the next charge, and the paid features stay to the end of the period you already paid for. Steps and timing are in the MyFitnessPal Help Center cancellation article, updated 16 September 2026.

What do I lose if I go back to the free plan?

Nothing you logged. MyFitnessPal says your logs, recipes and progress history stay in the account when you return to Free. What you lose is the paid feature set, and that includes the barcode scanner and the export tool itself. The second one is why the order on this page matters.

MyFitnessPal's tier comparison lists the full split, and whether the paid tier is worth keeping at all is argued on our MyFitnessPal alternatives page rather than re-run here. One clause is worth carrying across: barcode scanning is paid-only, and it is on the free plan in CalorieCounter, our own app, which is not released yet and cannot be installed.

What am I paying MyFitnessPal right now?

MyFitnessPal Premium is $19.99 a month or $79.99 a year. Premium+ is $24.99 a month or $99.99 a year. MyFitnessPal labels standard Premium a legacy plan. Pricing varies by country and changes, so treat those as a starting point and check the charge on your own receipt.

Premium+ is sold with a 7-day free trial, offered to new users or to people who have not redeemed a trial before, and the first charge lands at the end of the trial unless you cancel first. What each tier buys, and whether the money is well spent, is compared on our MyFitnessPal alternatives page, and the current figures sit on the MyFitnessPal plans page.

Is deleting my MyFitnessPal account the same as cancelling?

No. Cancelling stops the next charge and leaves your account and your history intact. Deleting removes the account, and MyFitnessPal says a deleted account cannot be recovered. Export first, then cancel, and only delete if you are certain you will never want the diary back.

MyFitnessPal's warning is blunt: a deleted account "cannot be recovered". It also notes the outbound email system can take up to 72 hours to drop you from its rotation, so a stray message in the first days is expected.

If you do want it gone: on iOS, the More menu or your Profile icon, then Help, then Delete Account. Android is the same 3 steps. On the web, Settings then Delete Account, per the MyFitnessPal Help Center deletion article, updated 29 July 2026.

The safe order is boring and hard to regret.

1. Export while the subscription is still paid, with the widest date range you can set.
2. Open the zip on a computer and check all 3 CSV files hold your years.
3. Cancel on the platform you paid on, more than 24 hours before renewal.
4. Let the paid period run out. Nothing you logged is deleted when it does.
5. Leave the free account dormant, or delete it later if you are sure.

Deleting is the only step you cannot undo, and it closes the account a privacy-rights request would be about. A second reason to leave it last.

Can a year of MyFitnessPal logs move into another app?

Partly. The 3 CSV files open in any spreadsheet, so a year of logged foods, weights and workouts survives as a readable record. What does not travel is the live diary. MyFitnessPal's own instructions stop at opening the folder on a computer, so check what a new app accepts before you rely on it.

Think of the export as an archive rather than a suitcase. Sorted by date, the nutrition file shows what you ate, the progress file gives a weight history you can chart, and the exercise file holds workouts and step counts.

What no export can promise is that another app will swallow it whole. MyFitnessPal's instructions end at opening the unzipped folder, and nothing in them describes importing that data elsewhere. Whether a new tracker reads those CSV files is a question for the new tracker, and a fair one to ask first.

The lesson cuts forwards too. Whatever you use next, find out how you get your data back out on the day you start, not the day you leave. In CalorieCounter, our own app, which is unreleased and cannot be installed yet, export is on the free plan and covers what you logged.

Which app to move to is a different question, answered on our MyFitnessPal alternatives page and in the calorie counter app comparison.

FAQ

If I cancel today, when does MyFitnessPal Premium actually stop?

At the end of the billing period you have already paid for. Cancelling removes the next charge and nothing else, so a subscription cancelled on day 2 of a paid month still runs to day 30. The catch is timing: MyFitnessPal says a cancellation made less than 24 hours before renewal may still go through.

I already cancelled and the paid period has ended. Can I still get my data?

Not through the export tool, which goes with the plan. On Free you still have the printable report on the website and diary sharing. A privacy-rights request through MyFitnessPal's Privacy Request Center is a separate route that does not depend on your tier, though what is available varies by region.

What is the difference between Premium and Premium+?

Premium+ includes everything in Premium and adds the planning tools: Meal Plan Builder, Meal Prep Mode, Diet Preference and grocery lists. Premium is the tracking tier, and MyFitnessPal labels it a legacy plan, so check which one your account is on before you assume what you are paying.

Can my trainer still see my diary if I stop paying?

Yes. Diary sharing is on the free plan and gives another person ongoing access to your Food and Exercise Diary. They have to create their own free MyFitnessPal account first. It is a live view rather than a copy, so it works for coaching and not as a backup.

Sources

• MyFitnessPal Help Center, Export your nutrition, progress, and exercise data (updated 27 August 2026)
• MyFitnessPal Help Center, Export your data or share your diary with a trainer, doctor, or nutritionist (updated 12 September 2026)
• MyFitnessPal Help Center, How to cancel your Premium subscription renewal (updated 16 September 2026)
• MyFitnessPal Help Center, How to delete your MyFitnessPal account (updated 29 July 2026)
• MyFitnessPal Help Center, The difference between Free, Premium, and Premium+ (updated 14 September 2026)
• MyFitnessPal Help Center, What is included in the free version
• MyFitnessPal, plans and pricing page (retrieved 18 September 2026)