7 Best Phone Apps for People with Celiac Disease and/or Food Allergies
As hard as living with celiac disease can sometimes be, I’m always grateful for advancements that make gluten free eating even easier...and the countless phone apps that help people thrive with food allergies and celiac disease are no exception. In fact, thanks to new phone apps, you can literally find gluten free places to eat, learn what is gluten free or even meet others with similar dietary restrictions with a few clicks and swipes on your phone.
So which are the best phone apps to have on your phone if you have celiac disease, gluten intolerance or food allergies? Keep reading to discover five apps I refer to regularly, plus two bonus ones I keep hearing great things about!
Of course, like any platform with restaurant reviews, Find Me Gluten Free can sometimes offer contradictory advice on a restaurant, with some saying it’s totally celiac safe and others saying that they got glutened and will never go back. However, when I do see a restaurant that 25+ people have indicated is celiac safe, I definitely feel a lot more inclined to visit that restaurant. This is also an ideal phone app if you are road tripping and looking out for chain restaurants you usually can eat safely at, like the ones I list here.
Although you can upgrade this app for more features, the basic version (the one I use) of Find Me Gluten Free is free. They also have a website if you can’t access your phone one day and still need all the ‘deats on gluten free restaurants near you.
Spokin is a social networking app to some extent, too, as you can follow other people after you’ve set up your own account. Living with food allergies or celiac disease can often feel isolating, so I always love finding new ways to connect with others navigating life with dietary limitations.
Like Find Me Gluten Free, the Spokin app is free. Spokin’s Instagram account also hosts giveaways regularly, so you may want to check them out on there too. (And - shameless plug - you can follow me on Instagram while you're at it...because I always share my fave eats and products on Instagram, especially in my Insta Stories).
I also love that you can keep track of “likes” and “dislikes,” take and save notes on each product and easily find coupons for some listed brands. Now Find Gluten Free’s complementary website also offers a ton of allergy friendly recipes.
I actually downloaded this app when it was free during Celiac Awareness Month a few years ago, so I can’t say for sure if it costs anything to download. However, if you recently found out you have celiac disease and are feeling lost when it comes to eating gluten free, the Now Find Gluten Free app is worth considering.
The app’s main purpose seems to be helping users locate allergy friendly restaurants near them (or near a typed-in address. However, the AllergyEats website and blog also contain tips for eating out with food allergies (or celiac disease) and a list of allergy friendly chain restaurants. You can also access AllergyEats Walt Disney World on the website, which offers recommendations for restaurants in the Disney parks and surrounding Orlando area.
Since eating gluten free and allergy friendly is often more expensive, I always appreciate getting a little money back on my purchases, even if it’s only 25 cents. Now my mom is using the app too, and we both just cashed in our first $20. Ibotta won’t automatically make eating gluten free a ton cheaper (check out my blog post on how I grocery shop healthy and gluten free for only $35 a week to save that kind of money!) but earning an extra $20 here and there by buying what you were going to get anyway is definitely awesome.
If you want to give Ibotta a try, sign up using my referral code "qiarlqs" or by clicking this link -> Save Money With Ibotta, and you can earn a $10 welcome bonus. The app itself is free, so, as with most of the phone apps I’m rounding up today, you don’t have anything to lose!
I personally prefer scanning product labels myself because I know technology - just like people - can make mistakes. As a result, I’d encourage you to read a product’s ingredient labels yourself (learn more about what to look for in this previous post of mine) even if The Gluten Free Scanner says the product is gluten free. However, especially if you’re newly diagnosed and still wondering, "What is gluten anyway?", this free scanner could make shopping for gluten free products a lot quicker, easier and less stressful.
Like with The Gluten Free Scanner, I’ve never actually used Allergy Reality: Food Safety. However, I have heard great things about the app from many of my fellow gluten free bloggers, and I think it could be a great way to teach children with dietary limitations how to eat safely. Plus, this app is free!
What's one phone app you can't live without? (Whether it's related to celiac/food allergies/eating, etc. or not!) Tell me in the comments below!
So which are the best phone apps to have on your phone if you have celiac disease, gluten intolerance or food allergies? Keep reading to discover five apps I refer to regularly, plus two bonus ones I keep hearing great things about!
1. Find Me Gluten Free
Whenever I’m traveling somewhere new, looking up the location on the Find Me Gluten Free app is one of the first things I do (along with stuffing my bag full of allergy friendly snacks, of course). Find Me Gluten Free is basically a GPS and a restaurant reviewing platform all-in-one. You can search for gluten free restaurants near you (or near an address you type in) and you can organize the search results by distance, rating, celiac friendliness, etc. You can also search for specific categories of food, like gluten free Mexican restaurants, gluten free pizza, gluten free Chinese food or whatever you happen to be craving.Of course, like any platform with restaurant reviews, Find Me Gluten Free can sometimes offer contradictory advice on a restaurant, with some saying it’s totally celiac safe and others saying that they got glutened and will never go back. However, when I do see a restaurant that 25+ people have indicated is celiac safe, I definitely feel a lot more inclined to visit that restaurant. This is also an ideal phone app if you are road tripping and looking out for chain restaurants you usually can eat safely at, like the ones I list here.
Although you can upgrade this app for more features, the basic version (the one I use) of Find Me Gluten Free is free. They also have a website if you can’t access your phone one day and still need all the ‘deats on gluten free restaurants near you.
2. Spokin
Spokin is one of the newest-to-me phone apps on this list. (And, as always, this list isn’t exhaustive. It’s just based on the phone apps I’ve personally found helpful while living with celiac disease). Spokin allows you to look for gluten free (and allergy friendly) restaurants nearby, but it also gives users access to product reviews, allergy friendly travel guides and educational articles. Whether you want to find the best gluten free restaurant or the best gluten free food brands in just a few clicks, Spokin can definitely help.Spokin is a social networking app to some extent, too, as you can follow other people after you’ve set up your own account. Living with food allergies or celiac disease can often feel isolating, so I always love finding new ways to connect with others navigating life with dietary limitations.
Like Find Me Gluten Free, the Spokin app is free. Spokin’s Instagram account also hosts giveaways regularly, so you may want to check them out on there too. (And - shameless plug - you can follow me on Instagram while you're at it...because I always share my fave eats and products on Instagram, especially in my Insta Stories).
3. Now Find Gluten Free
To be completely honest, I don’t use this app a lot anymore. However, for people who just recently received a celiac disease diagnosis or learned they have food allergies, this phone app is a great way to easily discover new, safe brands. You can filter the product results by allergen, and all the products included in the app have their ingredients and allergens listed right in the app.I also love that you can keep track of “likes” and “dislikes,” take and save notes on each product and easily find coupons for some listed brands. Now Find Gluten Free’s complementary website also offers a ton of allergy friendly recipes.
I actually downloaded this app when it was free during Celiac Awareness Month a few years ago, so I can’t say for sure if it costs anything to download. However, if you recently found out you have celiac disease and are feeling lost when it comes to eating gluten free, the Now Find Gluten Free app is worth considering.
4. Allergy Eats
Allergy Eats is another newer-to-me app that is very similar to Find Me Gluten Free except you can search for restaurants free of any of the top 10 allergens instead of just gluten. People can leave ratings and reviews, which, at least in my experience, makes eating out gluten free or allergy friendly a lot easier (and less scary) since you don't feel like you're making as "blind" of a restaurant choice.The app’s main purpose seems to be helping users locate allergy friendly restaurants near them (or near a typed-in address. However, the AllergyEats website and blog also contain tips for eating out with food allergies (or celiac disease) and a list of allergy friendly chain restaurants. You can also access AllergyEats Walt Disney World on the website, which offers recommendations for restaurants in the Disney parks and surrounding Orlando area.
5. Ibotta
One of the apps I use most often but isn’t directly tied to eating gluten free or allergy friendly is Ibotta. Ibotta is a money-saving app that lets you submit photographs of your receipts and get a small amount of cash back on certain products. Tons of stores participate in Ibotta, ranging from Walmart to Home Depot to Safeway, so you can get money back on more than just groceries. The cash-back products also change monthly, and I often see cash-back deals on gluten free brands like Bob's Red Mill and Enjoy Life Foods.Since eating gluten free and allergy friendly is often more expensive, I always appreciate getting a little money back on my purchases, even if it’s only 25 cents. Now my mom is using the app too, and we both just cashed in our first $20. Ibotta won’t automatically make eating gluten free a ton cheaper (check out my blog post on how I grocery shop healthy and gluten free for only $35 a week to save that kind of money!) but earning an extra $20 here and there by buying what you were going to get anyway is definitely awesome.
If you want to give Ibotta a try, sign up using my referral code "qiarlqs" or by clicking this link -> Save Money With Ibotta, and you can earn a $10 welcome bonus. The app itself is free, so, as with most of the phone apps I’m rounding up today, you don’t have anything to lose!
Runners Up:
6. The Gluten Free Scanner
I did want to include a few more apps that seem to help a lot of people with celiac disease or food allergies, even though I haven’t personally used them. One of the most popular gluten free apps on iTunes is The Gluten Free Scanner, which lets you scan a product’s barcode and receive a quick report on whether it’s gluten free or not.I personally prefer scanning product labels myself because I know technology - just like people - can make mistakes. As a result, I’d encourage you to read a product’s ingredient labels yourself (learn more about what to look for in this previous post of mine) even if The Gluten Free Scanner says the product is gluten free. However, especially if you’re newly diagnosed and still wondering, "What is gluten anyway?", this free scanner could make shopping for gluten free products a lot quicker, easier and less stressful.
7. Allergy Reality: Food Safety
The final phone app of this round up is very different than the other apps I’ve included because Allergy Reality: Food Safety is actually an educational gaming app! The app is designed to “empower” anyone with celiac disease, food allergies or other dietary restrictions by helping them learn about food safety in fun ways, like with matching games, word scramblers, label reading challenges and puzzles.Like with The Gluten Free Scanner, I’ve never actually used Allergy Reality: Food Safety. However, I have heard great things about the app from many of my fellow gluten free bloggers, and I think it could be a great way to teach children with dietary limitations how to eat safely. Plus, this app is free!
The Bottom Line: Best Phone Apps for Food Allergy Warriors
When you’re trying to live gluten free or food allergen free in a world full of gluten, milk, eggs, tree nuts and other allergens, eating safely can easily feel overwhelming. As these apps show, however, there are some amazing FREE tools out there to help you thrive with celiac disease or food allergies, whether you’re looking for the best gluten free restaurants near you, want to connect with likeminded eaters or need to educate your newly diagnosed child in a fun way.Like this post? Tweet me some love by clicking here: "Have #celiacdisease or #foodallergies? Then you need to read about these 7 phone apps that can help people thrive with dietary restrictions. Which of these apps do you use? http://bit.ly/2sDzuSo #celiac #foodallergy #glutenfree"
What's one phone app you can't live without? (Whether it's related to celiac/food allergies/eating, etc. or not!) Tell me in the comments below!
This is awesome! Do you know if the restaurant reviews are global? Lowen @ livingpositivelywithdisability.com
ReplyDeleteI don't know for sure, but I know that Find Me Gluten Free was available in Canada at least! I hope these apps work where you need them to :)
DeleteI like the ideas in this list. As a newbie, Mayo Clinic recommended I use “ShopWell.” Yes, it scans barcodes and has served me well. And we have found out that ingredients lists while pretty good, they are sometimes wrong, sometimes mistakenly listing a gluten ingredient which isn’t there, or sometimes overlooking an ingredient’s gluten-ness and not calling it out (e.g., malt extract within an ingredient), but the barcode lasers in on the exactness. If a product is a “no, STOP!” it recommends other flavors or brands which are a “yes.” It also gives “yes” products a numerical score and recommends similar products with a higher score (better for you) to “trade up.” Can plug in multiple food avoidances, and particular stores. I appreciate that. Very practical.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a helpful app for sure! It always is nice to have another pair of "eyes" on ingredient labels - even if they're technological eyes! ;)
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