Most food diaries look at the same day, or at your best and worst days. Clairop and Triggerbites are the two apps built on the idea that gut reactions often arrive late, so both test foods against windows that reach about three days back. If delayed reactions are your problem, you are choosing between two tools that understand it. The differences are in breadth, transparency and who each one is built for.
It looks at more kinds of trigger. Triggerbites tags foods against more than 40 criteria, including histamine, salicylates and additives, and it supports conditions beyond the gut such as reflux, migraine and skin flares. If you think your problem is histamine rather than FODMAPs, that breadth matters.
It works without an account. You can use Triggerbites anonymously, and it works offline. Clairop uses an account.
It imports your old diary. Triggerbites can import a CSV from another app or a handwritten log, so months of history are not lost. Clairop does not import.
It reads food labels and syncs with Apple Health. Both apps take meal photos and voice, but Triggerbites also reads a photographed ingredient label.
Clairop logs meals, symptoms and stool in seconds, then looks for the foods your gut reacts to, including reactions that land days later.
You can see how a trigger was found. Clairop's method page sets out exactly what it does. For each food and each window (under six hours, six to twenty-four hours, one to three days), it compares symptom severity after meals with the food against meals without it, and reports the effect size. Triggerbites says repeating relationships "rise to the top" but does not publish its method.
It corrects for false triggers. Testing hundreds of foods across several windows produces chance results. Clairop applies false discovery correction, the standard fix for this problem (Benjamini 1995), and shows nothing for a food until it has at least five meals with it and five without. That restraint matters: a false trigger is a food someone needlessly cuts out, and restriction has its own costs (see can the low FODMAP diet cause an eating disorder).
FODMAPs by subgroup, with sources. Clairop breaks a scanned product's FODMAP load across all six subgroups, because tolerance is per group: many people react to fructans and are fine with lactose. Every value cites the paper it came from, and unknown ingredients show as "no data", never as low. Triggerbites' own comparison page says it leaves FODMAP reference work to Monash.
Built for Crohn's and colitis, not just IBS. Clairop calculates the Harvey-Bradshaw Index and PRO-2, logs blood, mucus, urgency and night-time movements on the Bristol scale, and turns it into a one-page GI visit report. We found no IBD activity scores in Triggerbites.
Both apps are young. Triggerbites first launched in January 2026 and had 8 US App Store ratings when we checked; Clairop is newer still. Neither has a published trial. Choose on the method and features that fit your condition, and recheck both listings, because young apps change quickly.
If you suspect histamine or additive triggers, have symptoms beyond the gut, or want anonymous use and diary import, Triggerbites is a good fit. If you have IBD, follow a low FODMAP plan, or want results you can trust and explain to a clinician, Clairop is built for you. Neither app can prove a trigger: confirming one still means a planned removal and reintroduction, ideally with a dietitian, and red-flag symptoms such as blood in the stool 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
- What is the difference between Clairop and Triggerbites?
- Both test foods against delayed reactions up to three days later. Triggerbites casts a wider net, covering histamine, salicylates, additives and conditions like reflux and migraine. Clairop goes deeper on the gut: it publishes its statistical method, corrects for false triggers, breaks FODMAPs into six subgroups and calculates Crohn's and colitis activity scores.
- Which is the best app for finding delayed food reactions?
- Clairop and Triggerbites are the two apps built around delayed reactions, both looking up to three days back. Clairop is the stronger choice if you want to see how a result was reached, because it reports effect sizes, applies false discovery correction and shows nothing until it has five meals with and without a food.
- Is Triggerbites available on Android?
- Not that we could confirm. Its App Store listing covers iPhone and iPad, and its own app roundup describes it as iOS only. Clairop is also iPhone only, so if you use Android, Bowelle, mySymptoms or Bearable are the options to look at.
- Is Clairop or Triggerbites better for Crohn's disease or colitis?
- Clairop. It calculates the Harvey-Bradshaw Index for Crohn's disease and PRO-2 for ulcerative colitis from what you log, records blood, mucus, urgency and night-time movements, and produces a one-page report for your gastroenterologist. We found no IBD activity scores in Triggerbites.
- Why does false discovery correction matter in a trigger app?
- Because testing many foods at once guarantees some false alarms. Test 200 foods across three delay windows and roughly 30 will look like triggers by chance. Without correction, each of those becomes a food you are told to avoid, which can shrink a diet for no reason. Clairop corrects for this; Triggerbites does not describe its method.
- Do I need an account for Triggerbites or Clairop?
- Triggerbites can be used anonymously, and syncs only if you link an account. Clairop uses an account, which is what lets your history, analysis and report follow you, and you can export or delete everything at any time, with or without a subscription.
- What is the best app for IBS triggers?
- Clairop and Triggerbites are the two apps built around delayed reactions. Clairop is the better pick if you want to see how a trigger was found: it reports effect sizes, applies false discovery correction and waits for five meals with and without a food. Triggerbites is better for histamine and additive triggers.
- What is the best app for finding food intolerances?
- Triggerbites covers the widest range, tagging foods against 40+ criteria including histamine, salicylates and additives. Clairop focuses on gut conditions, with FODMAP subgroups, three delay windows and Crohn's and colitis scores. Neither replaces a planned elimination and reintroduction with a dietitian.
- Is Triggerbites free?
- Triggerbites is free to download with a 7-day trial, after which a subscription is required; the App Store listing shows the current price. Clairop is also free to download and set up, and needs a Clairop Pro subscription to use.
- Can I import my old food diary into Triggerbites or Clairop?
- Triggerbites can import a CSV from another app or a handwritten log. Clairop does not import, so you start a fresh log, and it needs five meals with a food and five without before it reports on that food.
- Does Triggerbites show FODMAP levels?
- Triggerbites tags FODMAP ingredients among its criteria, but its own comparison page says it leaves FODMAP reference work to Monash. Clairop's barcode scan shows the FODMAP load across all six subgroups, citing the published paper for each value, and says no data rather than assuming low.
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.
