It's easier to say what Noom isn't - not an extreme food regime like Keto, not a pre-fab program like NutriSystem, not a glorified marketing strategy for their own food, like Weight Watchers.
With its blend of canned coursework, customized goals, and live support from a virtual group of fellow Noomers, this is a subtle, gradual, at least initially effective system for reprogramming your motives for eating and your relationship with food.
Yes, there are strict caloric limits, exercise/movement goals, and ambitious weight-loss milestones in the mix - but they are never in the foreground, never set up as formidable or scary, and if you backslide a bit, your timetable slides forward a bit without comment. You instead learn to rebalance your food intake toward more satisfying, less harmful/processed stuff while becoming more mindful and conscious of what you're putting in your mouth.
The goofy, relentlessly cheery, up-with-people Noom "tone of voice" isn't for everyone, and sometimes the daily devotionals ask you to focus on too much at once. You will not be eating a bunch of pizza or muffins (but a non-zero smidgen is OK). And it's too early in the Noom journey for me to give it five stars. But after about five weeks I do feel somewhat rewired and empowered to make better decisions - and I've lost 14 pounds with only intermittent hunger/cravings.
I think Noom may be onto something here. The system is smart, respects your intelligence, does not gloss over the hard truth that losing weight is truly difficult, and tries to inspire changes you can make for a lifetime, not some drastic ten-week crash course. Even if other programs have failed you (maybe especially if), Noom may be worth a shot.
Bottom Line: Yes, I would recommend this to a friend