Vegan iPhone Apps: A Review
My Christmas was merry and bright, filled with fun, family, and feasting! I feel that I was rather spoiled by my terrific partner’s sweet gifts to me, perhaps the most useful of which is my new iPhone, The Precious.
Clad in her smart pink and purple case (with a secret hidey hole in the back for credit cards and the like) my phone has quickly become one of the most fantastic tools I’ve ever been given. To you long time iPhone users, this might seem like a novelty, but for little technology challenged me it was quite the leap from a cracked and all but useless Droid to the sleek efficiency of Apple’s most sellable product.
Perhaps one of the most amazing things about this magical new device is the multitude of apps (many of them freeeee!) that were instantly placed at my fingertips. I probably spent a good part of Christmas day just searching for apps (because I could) and finding some useful little gems that I have placed all together in a little box titled “Vegan.”
Currently, this box has three applications inside: VeganFinder, Animal-Free, and Cruelty-Free. I’ve yet to take the plunge and spend $2.99 on the HappyCow app, mostly because Maddie brings up the brilliant point that I can just as easily spend 10 extra seconds getting on Safari and navigating to HappyCow from there, but I’ll be the first to say it’s been a nagging indulgence that I keep putting off. To ease my HappyCow cravings, I found the three above apps, each of which has already proved useful and comforting, each in its own way…
VeganFinder: So far, VeganFinder is my least favorite out of the three apps. Maybe it’s my location and the distinct lack of vegan oriented food options, or perhaps just the lack of iPhone owning Vegans, but there are no listings for vegan-friendly restaurants in or around Boone, though I can attest to both their existence and deliciousness! VeganFinder is a GPS-linked app that finds vegan friendly restaurants based on your current location or by entering in a ZIP code. You can also add your own vegan-approved eateries to their database. I’ve added one, and have yet to see it appear when I type in my zipcode or even when I’m in downtown. Hmm… suspicious… (precious! cough cough…) The server also seems spotty and I often get a message saying “Uh Oh! Something’s Wrong!” I plan to keep VeganFinder at least long enough to test its accuracy in a steadfastly vegan approved area. Yes, I’m thinking Asheville. If no one has entered anything that shows up on VeganFinder there, then the app is a no-go for me.
Animal-Free: Animal-Free is also a database(d) app that allows vegans to navigate a 
decidedly unvegan world. Out of the three vegan apps on my phone, this is probably the coolest and most fun to use, and here’s why: it has a barcode scanner! YES a barcode scanner! Not only can you search and scroll through a looonnnnnggg list of suspicious ingredients whose names are just as confusing as many are non-vegan, but you simply click the barcode icon in the top left corner, the screen changes, and you can scan in any product and see if its ingredients are plant or animal derived. It’s saved me quite a few times at the grocery store as well as in my mother in law’s non-vegan kitchen!
Cruelty-Free: Cruelty-Free is very similar to Animal-Free, but lacks the nifty barcode feature I’ve fallen so in love with. It also has an extensive database filled with vegan-friendly companies and products. You can search either a specific brand or a product and come up with vegan-friendly options that contain no animal derivatives and that were not tested on animals. The product types are as You can also sign the Cruelty-Free pledge, promising to vote with you dollar and purchase products made without harming animals.
There are a few free vegan recipe apps that I haven’t tried yet, but maybe soon! I do adore Pinterest and WordPress on my iPhone, but perhaps that’s just a little on the obvious side…
Hey iPhone users! Have you found any cool vegan apps? Do share!
Bisous!
Rachel
The E-numbers one’s great too. The one’s that are not Vegan have a pigs face symbol next too it.
OOh. I like how visual that sounds! Will have to check it out!
I do have the ,”How to Cook Everything Vegetarian” app on my I-phone. I love it for looking up recipes when I’m at the grocery store and have forgotten something, planning and even making a grocery list. , It’s not vegan per say but you may like it. There may be a vegan cookbook app out there I just haven’t looked yet…good luck
This one sounds great too! I haven’t done any of the recipe apps yet, I’m holding out in hopes that my phone won’t fuse with my arm permanently….
I totally get what your saying, I’ve had mine 6 months and I’m never without it…sad really, lol
THIS IS GREAT! I’m off to download some stuffs!!!!!
Thanks hon – I used to LOVE the barcode scanner on my fitness pal so will investigate these apps for sure. I don’t have any vegan ones but have you downloaded zombie photo booth yet?!? I know you’ll love it
xx
Eek! Will do!! Thanks for the tip, Mel! And do let me know how the scanner works on UK specific products, I’d love to know!