Bearable tracks almost anything; Clairop tracks the gut in depth. Bearable was started by someone with chronic migraines to track mood, pain, sleep, energy, medication and any symptom you can name, and it does that well, with a free tier, an Android app and a huge user base. Clairop was built for one problem: working out what your gut reacts to, and turning that into something a gastroenterologist can use.
If you live with several conditions, that breadth is a real strength. If your main question is "what am I eating that makes this worse?", it is where Bearable runs out.
It covers your whole health, not just your gut. Mood, anxiety, pain, sleep, energy, menstrual cycle and medication with reminders all sit in one app, with more than 30 reports and sync with Apple Health, Fitbit and Google Fit. Clairop does not try to be that.
It has a free tier and runs on Android. Bearable's free tier includes unlimited custom symptoms and weekly reports, with no ads. Clairop is iPhone only and needs a subscription after the free setup.
It is established. Bearable has thousands of App Store ratings averaging 4.8, frequent updates, and a large community. Clairop is a new app.
Clairop logs meals, symptoms and stool in seconds, then looks for the foods your gut reacts to, including reactions that land days later.
Food is analysed directly. In r/BearableApp, users describe food sitting in a separate nutrition section that does not feed correlations automatically, and bowel movements not being available as an outcome. A three-year user asked when bowel movement correlations would arrive. Clairop treats every logged food as something to test and your gut symptoms as the outcome.
Delayed reactions are built in. Clairop tests each food in three windows: under six hours, six to twenty-four hours, and one to three days. Many gut reactions land the next morning, and a common theme in r/ibs is people realising they had blamed the wrong meal for months. You can read more in how to find out what triggers your IBS.
Results you can trust. One Bearable user noted that its correlations come with no error bars or disclosed method. Clairop publishes its method, reports effect sizes, corrects for false discoveries, and shows nothing until there are five meals with a food and five without. See the method page.
FODMAPs and the Bristol scale. Clairop scans barcodes and shows FODMAP load across all six subgroups with a cited source for each value, and logs stool on the Bristol scale in one tap, with blood, mucus, urgency and night-time detail.
Crohn's and colitis. Clairop calculates the Harvey-Bradshaw Index and PRO-2 and produces a one-page GI visit report with your score trend, bowel pattern against your own baseline and confirmed triggers. Bearable has no disease activity scores.
If you manage several conditions, or you use Android, Bearable is an excellent general tracker and worth trying free. If your gut is the main problem, and especially if you have Crohn's or colitis or suspect delayed food reactions, Clairop is built for exactly that. No tracker proves a trigger on its own, and symptoms like blood in the stool, unexplained weight loss or waking at night to go always need a doctor promptly.
Clairop logs meals, symptoms and stool in seconds, then looks for the foods your gut reacts to, including reactions that land days later.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Bearable good for IBS?
- Bearable is good for tracking IBS symptoms alongside mood, sleep, stress and medication, and many people with IBS use it. Its weak spot is food: users in r/BearableApp report that food items are not analysed as factors and bowel movements are not used as outcomes, so it struggles to tell you which foods set off your gut.
- What is the best Bearable alternative for IBS or IBD?
- If food triggers are the question, Clairop is built for it: it tests every logged food against three delay windows up to three days, corrects for false triggers, and calculates Crohn's and colitis activity scores. It is iPhone only and needs a subscription. On Android, mySymptoms is the closest gut-focused alternative.
- Is Bearable free?
- Yes, Bearable has a free tier with unlimited custom symptoms and weekly reports, and no ads. Premium adds longer history, correlation reports and more, with a 7-day trial; Bearable's site lists the yearly and monthly prices. Clairop is free to download and set up but needs a Clairop Pro subscription to use.
- Can Bearable find my food triggers?
- Only to a limited degree. Bearable looks for correlations between factors and symptoms, but users report that food logging sits in a separate nutrition section that does not feed correlations automatically, and one long-time user saw only weak correlations after 18 months. Clairop analyses each food directly against your gut symptoms.
- Should I use Bearable and Clairop together?
- Some people will. Bearable is strong for the wider picture of mood, pain, sleep and medication across several conditions; Clairop is strong for the gut and food. If you only want one app and your main problem is digestive, Clairop covers the gut in more depth.
- Does Bearable calculate a Crohn's or colitis activity score?
- We found no disease activity scores in Bearable. Clairop calculates the Harvey-Bradshaw Index for Crohn's disease and the PRO-2 score for ulcerative colitis from what you log, and shows the trend on its GI visit report.
- What is the best app for tracking gut symptoms?
- Clairop is built for the gut: it tests each food against three delay windows up to three days, logs Bristol stool type with blood, mucus and urgency, and calculates Crohn's and colitis scores. Bearable is better if you want gut symptoms alongside mood, pain, sleep and cycle in one free app.
- What is the best symptom tracker for chronic illness?
- Bearable is one of the best general trackers, with unlimited custom symptoms, a free tier, Android and integrations with Apple Health, Fitbit and Google Fit. If your chronic illness is IBS, Crohn's or colitis and food is the question, Clairop goes deeper on the gut.
- Does Bearable track bowel movements?
- Yes, bowel movements can be logged in Bearable. Users in r/BearableApp have said they are not used as an outcome in its correlations, and a long-time user asked when bowel movement correlations would arrive. Clairop uses your stool and symptom logs as the outcome for its trigger analysis.
- Is Bearable private?
- Bearable stores an encrypted backup on its servers and says it does not sell data; its App Store privacy label lists some data used to track you. Clairop also uses an account, and you can export or delete everything at any time, with or without a subscription.
- Can Bearable spot delayed reactions?
- Bearable's analytics let you look a few days out, according to users, but its method is not published and food is not analysed as a factor by default. Clairop tests every food in three fixed windows, under 6 hours, 6 to 24 hours and 1 to 3 days, and corrects for false triggers.
Clairop is a general wellness app for people living with a diagnosed digestive condition. It does not replace professional medical care, diagnosis, or treatment. Always follow your healthcare provider's advice.
