Going vegan is one of the best wellness decisions a person can make. However, it's not always easy to commit, especially if you live in a small town. Thankfully, there's a vegan app for that.
In fact, many apps on iOS and Android can help you find vegan ingredients, recipes, alcohol, and more.
Here are our top free vegan apps for newcomers and veterans alike.
1. HappyCow
HappyCow is one vegan-ized app with a long and heralded history in the scene. It was one of the first of its kind, giving vegans everywhere their one-stop spot for finding the best local vegan cuisine With this vegan app, you'll never need to call ahead, stalk personalized Yelp listings, or cause a ruckus tableside ever again.
This app is perfect for vegans, but vegetarians and flexitarians will also be able to get their fill here. You can even choose to exclude chains from your search results. Browse by restaurant type, radius, seating, and Wi-Fi arrangements, and by other categories, as well, such as raw, organic, and gluten-free foods.
There are also social features in the HappyCow app. You can meet other vegans in your area and follow your favorite restaurants, with the app dumping every review into a single, centralized news feed. Who knows? Your next take-out night might just net you a brand new plant-based friendship.
Download: HappyCow for Android | iOS (Free)
2. Cruelty Cutter
Cruelty Cutter is the most effective vegan scanner app currently on the market. It's our vegan checker of choice for many reasons, including its stellar performance. Another key benefit is that it covers not only food and grocery items, but cosmetics and beauty as well.
Grab a product, scan its barcode, and prepare to be amazed. Even some popular "all-natural" lines of self-care products failed this test. Cruelty Cutter is one of the best apps for vegetarians hoping to clean out their cabinets and purify their lives. It's also perfect for new vegans to have on hand while shopping, just in case.
When you find an offending product, the app gives you two options: to boycott and to "bite back." These buttons simply prompt you to share your discovery on Facebook and encourage you to keep fighting the good fight.
With a simple interface and valuable information, Cruelty Cutter is a useful resource for sleuthing out sneaky products on the go.
Download: Cruelty Cutter for Android | iOS (Free)
3. 21-Day Vegan Kickstart
21-Day Vegan Kickstart is the perfect vegan meal planning app for those interested in making a change, for now or forever. If you've ever toyed with the idea of a vegan detox, this is a great place to start. One of the most helpful features for new, aspiring vegans is this app's grocery planning function.
This unique approach will help you rediscover every aisle in the grocery store. It puts a huge list of popular vegan ingredients in front of you and simply asks you to choose what sounds good.
Before you make your own list, however, you should first check out 21-Day Vegan Kickstart's Recipes tab. You can select from dozens of incredible physician-approved recipes with step-by-step instructions. These vegan recipes vary, ranging from simple and satisfying to full-blown weekend projects.
You'll be having so much fun, those 21 days will fly by. Before you know it, you'll have officially graduated from mortal to vegan.
Download: 21-Day Vegan Kickstart for Android | iOS (Free)
4. Vegan Calculator
Going vegan is one of the most environmentally friendly decisions that a person can make. If you've ever wanted to know how much of an impact you're making, Vegan Calculator is one way to get an idea.
All that you have to do is tell the app how long you've been vegan. You can also use the Vegan Calculator website. You'll be shown how many pounds of C02, how many square feet of forest coverage, and how much water your lifestyle saves the world on average. It's one way to keep morale up, especially if you're just starting out.
Download: Vegan Calculator for Android (Free)
5. Veggly
Veggly is your everyday, average, run-of-the-mill dating app, with one exception: it's dedicated to vegans and vegetarians. Yes, you read that correctly: this is the vegan dating app you've been waiting for.
On Veggly, you can add all of your stats to your profile, and it covers pretty much everything—how long you've been vegan, your political affiliation and level of activism, and even your sign.
Once you're in, it works just like any other dating app. Swipe left or right on local vegan singles to connect or move on. Love is truly in the air.
Download: Veggly for Android | iOS (Free)
6. Vegan Additives
There's a reason vegans are constantly scouring labels for hidden, animal-derived ingredients. It's not always as simple as finding the milk powder, so to speak.
Vegan Additives is a handy little pocketbook full of many ambiguous or uncommon ingredients that straddle the fence and might not necessarily be called out on a product's branded packaging. All of them are rated either Vegan, May be Vegan, or Not Vegan.
Tapping into any of these listed ingredients reveals a quick run-down of how the call was made.
Vegan Additives is a really interesting trawl, especially for new vegans.
Download: Vegan Additives for Android (Free)
7. Gonutss
Gonutss is the ultimate vegan recipe app for those who already love to cook and bake. It's able to take any of your favorite recipes and convert them instantly into vegan ingredients and ratios.
The app also features shopping suggestions and recipe ideas to get you started. You can convert by nutrition content or baking need, scrolling through different binding agents, leavening agents, or fat fortifiers. Those on a strict regime will be able to calculate exactly how much tofu, tempeh, or spirulina they'll need in order to meet their dietary goals.
Gonutss also features The Magic List. Essentially, this is the app's best-of roundup of vegan pantry staples—vinegar, spices, legumes, milled flours, shelf-stable lipids, and more.
We encourage anybody who still needs to build up his or her vegan arsenal to give this list the once-over. A well-stocked pantry means that you're ready for anything at a moment's notice.
Download: Gonutss for Android | iOS (Free)
8. Vegaholic
Contrary to popular belief, alcohol is never a sure thing when you're vegan. For example, many brands of wine actually use animal byproducts, like egg- and fish-derived ingredients, during the refinement process.
Vegaholic is an app that helps vegans find great wine and other alcoholic beverages and check whether or not a brand you find out in the wild is fit for consumption.
It's a simple app, but the answers we found rocked us to our very cores. Nothing in this world is guaranteed, especially when you're a vegan. We'll certainly drink to that.
Download: Vegaholic for Android (Free)
Free Vegan Apps: Going Green Has Never Been Easier
These apps are perfect for vegans, vegetarians, and anybody who's ever considered making the change for themselves. Whether you try out one app or all of them, you're bound to learn a little about being vegan and a lot about yourself.