In this post, I have listed 5 free halal food scanner apps for Android that you can use. With these apps, you can scan a product for its barcode or its ingredients list to see if it contains some non-halal items. These apps come with a powerful barcode reader and a OCR scanner that identifies the contents and matches them against the database of listed non-halal items.
Most of these apps don’t even have a registration or sign up. You just place the OCR camera in front of some food item or a picture you found on the internet. These apps can’t only work with food items and ingredients, but they can also scan for additives that are present in some products. Apart from scanning, in some of these apps, you will find searchable list of halal and non-halal ingredients with their code.
There are places where you usually get packed food and if you are uncertain whether it contains a non-halal item, you can take help of the apps I have mentioned here. Some apps in the list below allow you to contribute to the list of haram food items too. If you come across a new item which is non-halal according to Islamic doctrine, then you can simply list it with all the details.
5 Free Halal Food Scanner apps for Android
App Scan Halal
App Scan Halal is one of the best free halal food scanner apps you can use. It comes with a barcode as well as OCR scanner. With this, you can either scan the product via barcode or simply scan the ingredients box which is typically given at the back of the packet. The advantage of OCR scanner is that in many cases bar codes are not searchable on the web.
Apart from scanning, it comes with a full list of halal and non-halal additives which are usually used in the food. You can search for an additive by its name or by simple scanning. You can just search whatever you want and see its halal status. This is as simple as that.
Just go ahead and install the app from Google Play Store. After that, you can simply open it and on the main interface, it shows you a list of all the food items and additives along with their halal status. You can find the options to scan the ingredients list on a packet, or you can simply open the OCR scanner. In the screenshots above, you can see how this app works.
Halalin
Halalin is basically a halal restaurant finder near you. But it is actually more than that. Here it comes with a prayer room finder as well as halal food scanner. Here you can use this app to scan a food item and it will tell you whether it contains some halal ingredient. Or, you can simply scan a product via bar code and see its halal status.
This is a very simple app that you can use and there is no sign up or registration required in order to use it. Apart from halal food scanner, Halalin also has a halal food explorer. In the food explorer section, it shows everyday use food items which are completely halal such as nuggets, cornet, yeast, chicken, etc.
You can get the app from above and first thing you have to do is change the app language to English. By default, the language is set to Indonesian, but you can switch it to English from app settings. All the tools that it comes are right on the main home screen. From there, you can open the food scanner or simply find a halal restaurant.
Scan Halal
Scan Halal has a bar code scanner that you can use to scan food packets for their halal status. This app has a freemium version and if you upgrade then it will even let you find halal alternatives for non-halal food items or ingredients. Just like Halalin above, this app has a food explorer which you can use to find halal products to consume.
This app has a search tool that you can use to see halal status of any food item. All the products that it has in its database come with a very detailed explanation. Using the explanation, you can see why a certain product is halal.
Just go ahead and install the app from Google Play Store to use it. However, here you will have to create a free account in order to use it. This app can be used by anyone, but if you want to use it to scan halal food, then you will have to specify the first time you use the app. After you reach the main screen, it will show you a list of all the food items with their halal status. Here you can search for certain ingredient or additive and see details. Or, you can also open the bar code scanner.
Food Additives
Food Additives is another free halal food scanner app that you can use. Here this is like apps I have mentioned above. But this app is more focused on food additives rather than food items. And not just halal status, but this app can show whether a certain additive is vegan, kosher, and vegetarian. So, this app can be useful for most people out there and not just practicing Muslims.
Even though this app comes with a food/ingredient scanner, but that needs to be activated. There is a one time fee to activate the scan feature. But the search tool works just fine. You can just type name of a certain food additive manually and it will show you all the details about it.
Just like most apps here, you don’t need an account in order to use it. When you install and open it, you will find the list of food additives right on the main screen. Here you can browse the list to find most common type of additives by their name as well code. Tap on any entry to see more details about it, including the halal status.
My Halal Scanner
My Halal Scanner is the last free app in this list that you can use to scan for halal food. Here this is an extremely simple app that can either scan a product using the bar code. Or, you can simply use the manual search to find a product or food item. You just enter a food item and it will show the corresponding halal products that are available in the database.
Here, this app works a bit differently. There is no sign up registration, so you can either use the scanner or the search tool. In the search tool, just enter a food item such as beef and it will show you the halal products available in your country. In the similar way, you can use the bar code scanner that this app has.
Final thoughts:
If you are looking for some best free halal food scanner apps then you are at the right place. Use the ones I have mentioned here, and I am sure they will not disappoint. Using any of these apps, you will quickly know whether a certain food item is halal or contains some non -halal ingredient. Personally, I will recommend you to use Halalin, App Scan Halal, and Food Additives. But the other two are worth trying as well.
