Why people look for a Happy Scale alternative
Happy Scale has shown many people that daily weight alone says little. The app calculates a smoothed curve from your readings, splits a big goal into milestones and estimates when you will reach them. That works well as long as you stay in the Apple world: according to the App Store, Happy Scale is available for iPhone, iPad and Mac with Apple chip, and the developer does not offer an Android version.
If you are switching to Android, or have always been there, the question is which app implements the same principle. Lean is law is one option, but not a 1:1 copy. The app sets a different focus.
What stays the same: the trend instead of the daily number
Lean is law also smooths your daily weight into a trend line. The default is exponential smoothing: each new reading pulls the trend only part of the way toward it, and older values fade slowly. If you prefer a moving average, you can switch to 7 or 14 days or choose double exponential smoothing. Several readings in one day are averaged, and you can ignore an outlier after a salty dinner without deleting it.
On top of that come the weekly rate (calculated over the last 14 trend values), the 7-day change and the history. All of that is free.
What is different: phases instead of just a goal weight
Happy Scale is built around a goal weight, and the store and website talk mainly about losing weight. Lean is law thinks in phases, the way hobby bodybuilders plan:
- Bulk with a default rate of 0.35 % of trend weight per week (0.25 to 0.5 % is sensible). Above 0.5 % the app warns that you are gaining more fat than necessary.
- Cut with a default rate of 0.7 % per week (0.5 to 1.0 % is sensible). Above 1.0 % it warns that muscle loss becomes more likely.
- Maintain and Diet Break with a corridor around your weight, default ±1.5 %.
Each phase appears as a colored band in the trend chart. So you see not only where your weight is, but whether the rate fits the current phase.
Calories and macros in the same chart
In Lean is law you can log calories and macros for free, by hand or from Health Connect or Apple Health. Lean is law has no food database or barcode scanner: if you track meals in detail, use another app for that and let the values come in through Health Connect. With Pro, Lean is law uses this to calculate your adaptive TDEE (average intake of the last 14 days, corrected for the trend change) and derives target calories and macros for the current phase.
Where Happy Scale is ahead
- Price: Happy Scale's paid version is cheaper in the German App Store (1.99 € a month, 12.99 € a year, 44.99 € one-time).
- Apple devices: Happy Scale also runs on iPad and Mac and syncs between iPhone and iPad. Lean is law is built for iPhone and Android.
- Simplicity: If you only want to lose weight and see the trend, you don't need phases, macros or check-ins. Happy Scale is leaner for that case.
Switching without losing data
Lean is law imports CSV files from Happy Scale. Your history is kept, so the trend in Lean is law does not start from zero. After that all data lives on your device, and you don't need an account.