Adopting and maintaining a vegan lifestyle has become significantly more straightforward, thanks to an array of mobile applications. These innovative tools help navigate the journey toward ethical eating, providing comprehensive resources right at your fingertips.
Below, we’ll explore the best of the vegan apps, helping you discover the most reliable companions for your vegan journey. Whether you’re going vegan or a veteran of a plant-based lifestyle, these apps will revolutionize the way you approach food, shopping, recipes, and more.
Read on and see how the digital world can complement your vegan lifestyle!
Key Takeaways
- Adopting a vegan lifestyle is made easier with mobile applications that help track diet, find vegan-friendly restaurants and stores, identify cruelty-free products, and offer extensive recipe collections.
- Cronometer is an excellent tool for vegans to monitor their daily food consumption and nutritional intake. It syncs with various fitness trackers and health apps, providing a well-rounded overview of your health.
- HappyCow acts as a global directory for vegan and vegetarian restaurants, encouraging users to discover new eateries and engage in a like-minded community.
- Food Monster offers an impressive collection of over 8,000 vegan recipes, with advanced search capabilities and customizable meal plans.
- Barnivore helps users identify vegan-friendly alcoholic beverages by maintaining a comprehensive database of over 55,000 entries.
- Soosee uses translation technology to scan ingredient lists, aligning them with user-set filters for dietary preferences and environmental concerns.
- Bunny Free by PETA provides a database of thousands of brands, indicating whether they’re cruelty-free, vegan, or use the PETA logo, aiding consumers in making ethical shopping choices.
Cronometer
Source: https://cronometer.com/
If you’re a vegan seeking a comprehensive tool to track your diet, the Cronometer app is an excellent choice, offering an exhaustive analysis of your macro and micronutrient intake beyond just calorie counting.
With this app, you can log your daily food consumption and exercise activities, providing a complete nutritional overview. The interface breaks down the intake of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals for easy understanding and syncs with multiple fitness trackers and health apps for seamless integration.
In addition, the app comes pre-loaded with a wide variety of foods in its inbuilt food diary, making logging easy. If your preferred snack isn’t listed, you can manually enter nutritional details or use the barcode scanning feature in the premium version.
And if you need even more functionality, don’t worry. Upgrading to Cronometer Gold offers additional tracking options and exclusive features to suit your vegan lifestyle.
Best For:
- Vegans seeking a comprehensive and user-friendly tool to track their macro and micronutrient intake, daily food consumption, and exercise activities.
Pros:
- Offers detailed nutritional analysis, including proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals.
- Compatible with various fitness trackers and health apps (e.g., Fitbit, Garmin, Biosense, Qardio, Suunto, Strava, Dexcom).
- Features an inbuilt food diary with a wide variety of foods and a premium barcode scanning option for easy logging.
Cons:
- Some features, like the ability to scan the barcode and nutrient oracle functionality, are only available in the premium version.
HappyCow
Source: https://www.happycow.net/mobile
For those seeking a comprehensive guide to vegetarian and vegan restaurants around the globe, HappyCow effortlessly bridges the gap between you and healthy, cruelty-free choices.
Founded in 1999 by Eric Brent, HappyCow now boasts a user base of over a million reviewers and provides listings from cafes, restaurants, and grocery stores in more than 180 countries.
Beyond food, HappyCow also aids in finding cruelty-free fashion and beauty boutiques. Its user-friendly filters and user-generated photos facilitate an easy and detailed search for specific food preferences. You can create a personal profile, actively participate in the community, and explore diverse cuisines at your convenience.
Accessing HappyCow’s website is free, but to use its mobile app, you’ll need to pay a one-time fee of $3.99.
Best For:
- Health-conscious individuals (particularly vegetarians and vegans) who are seeking a comprehensive worldwide guide to dining, shopping, and community interaction focused on cruelty-free and eco-friendly choices.
Pros:
- Comprehensive listings of vegan and vegetarian options in over 180 countries.
- User-friendly filters and active community engagement enhance the search experience.
Cons:
- The mobile application isn’t free and costs $3.99.
Food Monster
Source: https://pralinesandgreens.com/food-monster-app-from-one-green-planet/
Whether you’re a committed vegan or just looking to incorporate more plant-based meals into your diet, Food Monster offers an impressive collection of over 8,000 recipes to make your culinary journey easier and more exciting.
It’s a one-stop solution for both full-time vegans and carnivores dabbling in healthier options.
With extensive search capabilities, you can easily filter by calorie content, cooking time, ingredients, and nutrition. You can even build customized meal plans based on your food preferences.
It’s available on iOS, and while you can access some features for free, premium access comes at a reasonable cost of 1.99 USD or 3.99 USD per month and 19.99 USD per year. It’s a small price to pay for a wealth of vegan knowledge at your fingertips!
Best For:
- Full-time vegans.
- Those aiming to incorporate more plant-based meals into their diet.
- Individuals interested in health-conscious cooking.
Pros:
- Extensive collection of over 8,000 recipes, with many new ones added daily.
- Advanced search capabilities.
- Offers a customizable meal plan feature.
Cons:
- While the app offers free access, certain features are only available with a premium subscription.
Barnivore
Alcohol manufacturers occasionally use animal-derived ingredients in their production processes. These components are often hidden, as they’re not always listed on the product labels. Barnivore steps in to bridge this information gap, reaching out to producers to unearth these facts.
Although it lacks a dedicated mobile app, it’s easy to use through your phone’s web browser. This comprehensive tool is also freely available, making it a valuable resource in your vegan lifestyle journey.
The most impressive feature is its vast database. With more than 55,000 entries as of 2023, you should have no issues learning the vegan status of popular alcoholic drinks.
Best For:
- Vegans or individuals who are conscious about their consumption of products with animal-derived ingredients, especially in the realm of alcoholic beverages.
Pros:
- A comprehensive database of over 55,000 entries, helping users easily identify vegan-friendly alcohol.
- Proactively reaches out to producers to disclose hidden animal-derived ingredients that aren’t mentioned on product labels.
- Freely accessible via web browsers, making it an easily reachable resource.
Cons:
- Lacks a dedicated mobile application, which could potentially make navigation and use more convenient.
Soosee
Source: https://jordibruin.github.io/food-scanner/press/
If you’re seeking a versatile vegan app that goes beyond typical barcode scanning and offers a more comprehensive approach to identifying ingredients, Soosee could be your top choice.
This fascinating app for vegans uses translation tech to scan ingredient lists, matching the scanned words with filters you set to categorize products.
Soosee allows you to set filters for various dietary preferences, including veganism and gluten-free, and even environmental concerns like microplastics and palm oil. Plus, it offers travel cards with phrases that can be audibly translated, making your vegan journey easier.
Available on iOS and Android, it’s priced reasonably with various subscription options ($1.99/month; $14.49/year; $19.99 lifetime)
Best For:
- Vegans, people with dietary restrictions, and environmentally-conscious consumers seeking a comprehensive approach.
Pros:
- Utilizes unique technology to scan ingredient lists, offering a more comprehensive approach than typical barcode scanning.
- Allows users to set filters for various dietary preferences and environmental factors.
- Offers travel cards that can be audibly translated, aiding in overseas travel or when dealing with language barriers.
Cons:
- May struggle with curved ingredient labels and misinterpret larger words, leading to potential inaccuracies.
Bunny Free
Source: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.margaretlillian.bunnyfree
For those after a comprehensive tool to identify cruelty-free brands, Bunny Free by PETA stands out as a top choice among vegan apps. It’s a vegan-friendly app that allows you to search a database of thousands of brands, indicating whether each is cruelty-free, vegan, or uses the PETA logo.
The app allows users to discover new cruelty-free products by browsing through different categories. You’ll also appreciate the app’s filtering feature, which lets you find companies that are both cruelty-free and vegan.
Despite some minor drawbacks, Bunny Free’s comprehensive nature makes it a valuable tool for vegans.
Best For:
- Vegans and cruelty-free shoppers looking for a comprehensive database to identify ethical brands and products.
Pros:
- Provides a vast database of over 4000 brands.
- Offers a convenient filtering feature for finding companies that are both cruelty-free and vegan.
Cons:
- The app could improve by providing more specific product details instead of just broad categories.
Conclusion
Switching to a vegan lifestyle or maintaining your existing plant-based routine has never been easier, thanks to these fantastic vegan apps.
From keeping a balanced diet with Cronometer to discovering new recipes on Food Monster and ensuring your drinks are cruelty-free with Barnivore, there’s an app for every aspect of the vegan journey.
So why wait? Download these apps today and let technology guide you on your path towards ethical eating!
Two More Recommendations for Your Plant-Based Journey
1. This is the best free video training I’ve found on plant-based nutrition. You’ll learn how to reduce your risk of cancer, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and obesity—all with plant-based food. Watch the free “Food for Health Masterclass” here.
2. This is the best vegan multivitamin I’ve found in my 14 years of being vegan. It has vitamin B12, vitamin D, omega-3—and nothing else. Translation: It only has the nutrients vegans are actually low in. Read my full review of Future Kind’s multivitamin here (with 10% discount).