I got a Noom subscription because I was really excited about the people element. I wanted to be part of a group that could discuss progress and get support. Unfortunately, the coaches don't seem to have a lot of time to actually add a whole lot of value, maybe they're stretched really thin? It seems like a lot of generic copy and pasting, I even wondered if it was a bot for a while.
I was still really drinking the Kool-Aid until I started a thread in a discussion group about learning to be healthy and recovering from eating disorders and the admin deleted it. That cut me pretty deep. I had thought that there was an open invitation to have discussions in a safe space about weight loss and weight gain not only from a calorie counting perspective but a mental/emotional one as well. I had a little cry and took a break from Noom for a few days. Oh well.
I do really enjoy the nightly reading and all the "Noom-science." It's written in a very friendly, fun way that is engaging and helpful. The app is fairly straightforward and useful too. Easy to navigate. I'm going to try to take advantage of the "teachings" rather than the groups/coaches, which is unfortunate because that's why I bought Noom in the first place.
Overall, I wouldn't purchase if I had a do-over, but still not a complete dud.
Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend