Whether you’re a seasoned plant-based pro or just dipping your toes into the world of cruelty-free living, these UK vegan apps will make your life easier.
Some brands have paid to be featured here – identifiable by the AD tag after the brand name. I only select brands that I genuinely believe are doing good things for people and the planet.
With a third of people in the UK interested in becoming vegan, support for veganism is growing. And because of this growing interest, it’s safe to say that embarking on a vegan lifestyle has never been easier. This is in part thanks to a growing number of apps designed to support plant-based living.
However, the choices in the app store can be overwhelming. It’s also hard to know whether you’ve found something genuinely helpful or something that’s more hassle than it’s worth.
To help you out, I’ve taken a look at the best vegan apps in the UK that cater to various aspects of your plant-based journey.
From finding the perfect vegan-friendly restaurant to scanning product barcodes for cruelty-free options, these are the apps that are invaluable for anyone trying to live a more compassionate lifestyle.
My Favourite UK Vegan Apps
Here are nine of the best vegan apps out there that I’ve found. To make this guide as helpful as possible, I’ve also included pricing information and details on where you can access the apps.
Happy Cow
I’ve previously featured the Happy Cow App in my guide to the best sustainable living apps, and for good reason. Trusted by over 2 million people, this seriously useful app allows you to find the best vegan cafes, restaurants, shops and takeaways near you, rated by its community of users. You can filter these by budget to find cheap eats, higher-end places for a special meal, and everything in between.
Active in 180+ countries, and with over 156,000 listings and 1.4 million user reviews of restaurants and cafes (complete with photos), this app helps you to live a plant-based lifestyle, even when you are travelling.
Find the app in the iOS App Store or Google Play Store to find top-rated places near you.
VGN Social | AD
Looking for community and connections with other local vegans, or recommendations for local events, restaurants, and shops? Then VGN Social is the app for you.
Designed as a location-based hub for plant-based living, the app helps you to find local vegan-friendly places, events, new vegan friends, and even a vegan partner – all in one handy social platform.
I’ve given it a go, and think VGN Social would be especially good if you have recently adopted a vegan lifestyle or have recently moved and are looking for like-minded people. Or if you are feeling a bit isolated because your friends don’t quite get your new vegan lifestyle.
The app makes it easy and enjoyable to explore local profiles based on lifestyle interests like hiking or yoga. You can also browse by identity and community markers, including LGBTQ+, and see whether people are looking for community, friendship, or dating.
You can download VGN Social on iOS and Android to start discovering vegan communities near you.
Barnivore
- 💷 Free – with entirely optional ways to financially support the site
- 📱 Available on the Barnivore website only
Before exploring a plant-based diet, I assumed all alcohol was vegan-friendly, except drinks that contained dairy or honey.
Then I learned that many beers, wines and spirits include animal ingredients in their products, or they might use them in the processing and filtration stages. It was genuinely horrifying to find that manufacturers might use things like isinglass (derived from fish bladders), gelatin, egg whites, or sea shells to capture impurities.
What’s worse is that whilst animal ingredients are easier to spot in the ingredients list, brands don’t need to label what they filter their drinks with.
To help you navigate this total minefield, the Barnivore Vegan Alcohol Directory provides comprehensive information on the vegan status of over 58,000 alcoholic beverages. These are checked and often double or triple-checked by the Barnivore community to ensure accuracy.
As an entirely reader-supported site, it’s not a vegan app as such (developing apps is expensive!). However, it is such a useful resource that it would be remiss of me not to mention it here.
To get around the lack of an app, I’ve added the page to the home screen of my phone so that I can access it at your fingertips. I recommend you do the same!
Cowculator
If you’ve very recently gone vegan, then Cowculator is a great motivational tool to help you keep going. This very simple, free app shows you the impact you’ve made by going vegan.
All you need to do is input the date you went vegan. The app will then keep a running tally of how much carbon dioxide you’ve saved, as well as how many animal lives, square metres of forest, litres of water, and kilograms of grain you have avoided.
As an added touch, Cowculator will even celebrate your “veganniversary” with you – the anniversary of the date that you switched to a plant-based diet.
Cruelty-Cutter
The terms vegan and cruelty-free don’t always mean the same thing. Whilst a product can be legitimately labelled as vegan, it could actually have been tested on animals. So if you want to make sure the vegan products you buy are actually cruelty-free, then try Cruelty-Cutter.
This incredibly useful free app allows you to scan the barcode of a product to immediately find out if a product is cruelty-free or not – from shampoo to vegan-friendly vitamins, and a whole lot more.
If the product isn’t cruelty-free, it then provides you with cruelty-free alternatives.
Boasting every company certified by either Leaping Bunny or PETA’s Cruelty-Free Programs, Cruelty-Cutter describes itself as the most up-to-date and vigilant cruelty-free list on the market.
However, my one area of concern is that it does include companies that are not certified by Leaping Bunny or PETA. Cruelty-Cutter says these inclusions are from smaller cruelty-free companies that haven’t yet been able to afford to be certified by Leaping Bunny or PETA.
Cruelty-Cutter says, “We are rigorous in evaluating these companies. We independently research their practices as well as directly request statements from them, and compare to other cruelty-free authorities when available”. I’d say it’s always worth double-checking any results you’re not sure about.
iVegan
- 💷 Free (with the option to upgrade to an ad-free version)
- 📱 Available on Apple iOS
I’ve been on a mission to find a good, affordable app that allows you to scan an item and immediately find out if it’s vegan or not. I’ve tried a few. One free app didn’t find anything I scanned. Another app that I accessed was so hugely expensive (£4.99 per week!) that I didn’t go any further with it.
Finally, I came across iVegan. This app says it has more than 1 million products in its database and works with UK supermarket products. I gave the free version a go and found it had a pretty good hit rate at identifying vegan foods (health and beauty products not so much).
The ads on the free version are hugely annoying and intrusive. You have to watch a 30-second full-screen advert after each scan before you can do another scan. Not so useful if you’re trying to find products on a supermarket shelf. However, at £1.29 for an ad-free monthly subscription, it’s good value compared to its competitors.
Veggly
If you’re single and want to meet someone who shares similar values to you, then have a look at Veggly. As the only dating app solely for vegans and vegetarians, it looks like a fun and easy way to meet like-minded souls.
With 1 million users across the globe, it’s not quite as big as some of the more mainstream dating apps. This means that unless you live in or near a big city, then it might be hard to find a match. However, it might be fun to try alongside the mainstream apps.
Another useful app to have in your pocket is Reddit. Whilst not specifically a vegan app, the Vegan UK subreddit has, at the time of writing, 71K members. Her,e members share all their UK plant-based resources, recommendations, and new vegan finds. This makes it invaluable in supporting your plant-based living journey. And if you’ve got a question, you can post it to the group.
As well as the Vegan UK subreddit, there are heaps of other plant-based communities you can join via the app. These include:
- Vegan – a 1.9 million-strong global community of vegans.
- Vegan Recipes – a 540K group sharing their favourite vegan recipes.
- Eat Cheap & Vegan – devoted to going vegan on a budget.
- Vegan Fitness – a handy space to discuss vegan fitness, bodybuilding and health.
- Vegan Baking – a place to share vegan baking recipes and tips on ingredients.
- Vegan Activism – where you can join a community of animal rights activists.
- Vegan Travel – devoted to bringing information on where and how to eat vegan while travelling.
- Accidentally Vegan – a group to share products that are unintentionally vegan.
- Vegan Beauty – a group to help you veganise your beauty routine.
Deliciously Ella
If you’re looking for a great vegan recipe app, try Deliciously Ella.
Ella Mills, author of the fastest-selling vegan cookbook of all time, has put together this handy app with over 2000 delicious plant-based meals – from midweek meals to one-pot wonders, batch cooking ideas and more. You can access these on the mobile app, or your tablet, computer or TV – wherever you prefer to access recipes.
However, it’s more than just a recipe app. As well as recipes, there are over 700 on-demand guided wellness classes. This includes yoga, pilates, barre and cardio classes. Plus, you get 15% off all Deliciously Ella products. It’s these added features that make this app really good value.
If you don’t want to pay upfront, you can pay a monthly fee of £4.99 to access all the recipes and classes. However, there are some things you can’t access, such as the 15% discount.
Your Favourite Vegan Apps
That’s all of my favourite apps – have I missed any? If you have any apps you swear by then please let us know in the comments below!
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