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Top 5 Food Allergy Apps & How You Can Build Yours

Allergies have increased dramatically in recent decades, particularly in the West.

According to the BBC, food allergies affect approximately 7% of children in the United Kingdom and 9% in Australia.

In Europe, 2% of adults have food allergies.

The number of persons with food allergies in America has risen every decade.

According to new data, more than 32 million people in the United States have a food allergy.

Living with a food allergy, which has no treatment, has far-reaching repercussions.

Including psychosocial difficulties from managing crises, fear of reactions, and potential bullying.

Past reactions and various allergies can have a greater influence on quality of life.

Mobile Apps for Managing Food Allergies

There is no cure for food allergies, yet smartphone apps and digital technologies are making a significant difference.

Food scanners or portable gadgets can give you the specific ingredients of the meal on your plate, whereas apps and wearables can help you cope with the impacts of allergens.

Apps for food allergy patients can help reduce stress.

One of the most distinguishing qualities of these food allergy management applications is their ability to provide users with individualized solutions.

Each person’s food allergies are unique, making a one-size-fits-all solution impracticable.

These apps recognize this variability and provide specialized support to meet specific needs.

Fortunately, there are various smartphone apps made expressly for those with food allergies that can help keep your family safe.

Here are four of our favorite apps for managing your food allergies.

1. Open Food Facts

Open Food Facts allows users to scan product barcodes to check for allergens—14 different potential allergens in total.

The application allows a person to enter his family’s allergen list, and when a barcode is scanned, it displays an easy-to-read list of ingredients as well as pop-up allergy warnings.

Price: Free

Platform: Android and iOS

Additional Features: Classify foods based on sustainability, nutrition density, and other factors

2. AllergyEats

AllergyEats lets users conduct a “find near me” search for restaurants and provides a list ordered by allergy-friendliness rating.

If you’re visiting a new place, you can use the app to look for convenient, allergy-friendly restaurants.

Price: Free

Platform: Android and iOS

Additional Features: Make reservations in one click via OpenTable

3. Food Intolerances

It helps users understand the science underlying several forms of food allergies, such as gluten-free and peanut allergies.

It also allows you to go further into the specifics of histamine intolerances, carbohydrate malabsorption, and a variety of other interactions that cause food allergies.

iPhone rating: 4.6 stars

Android rating: 4.0 stars

Price: $6.99 for iPhone, $4.99 for Android

4. The Gluten Free Scanner

The Gluten Free Scanner is simple and quick to use, scanning the barcodes on the products you buy with your mobile phone’s camera.

It updates the largest database of food and beverage goods accessible in the United States to detect the presence of gluten.

iPhone rating: 4.7 stars

Android rating: 4.0 stars

Price: Free with in-app purchases

5. EMNet FindERNow

The application displays the locations of surrounding hospitals on a map, with a bar at the bottom of the screen stating, “Closest ER is __ minutes away.”

If you are traveling with food allergies, having this information readily available on your phone is crucial.

Price: Free

Platform: Android and iOS

Developing a Food Allergies App? 6 Essential Steps to Follow

Developing a Food Allergies App 6 Essential Steps to Follow

1. Assess Market Demand & Pinpoint the Target Customers

To create a useful app for those with food allergies, you must first identify the target audience.

Who will be your future customers: young people or seniors? What gender do most of your consumers identify as? What are their common allergen(s)?

Evaluating competitors in the app store allows you to see the strengths and flaws of other programs.

2. Define Your Allergy App Type & Value Proposition

Surveys and focus groups can provide insight into the daily issues that food allergy sufferers experience.

What features will make their life easier? What strategies do they currently employ to avoid allergic reactions?

Perhaps these clients routinely want a specific capability that is not now available. Fulfilling that unmet need helps the new food allergy app stand out.

Perhaps these clients routinely want a specific feature that is not currently available. Fulfilling that unmet need helps your new food allergy app stand out.

3. Choose Engaging Features

Based on our experience, the only recommendation we can offer is that the features address real-world issues that people with food hypersensitivities face on a daily basis.

At the same time, they should not be overly complex; otherwise, adoption may suffer.

4. Design & Visually Prototype the App

Designing the app’s user interface is crucial, especially for a food allergy app where safety is paramount.

Start by creating user profiles for allergy details, simplify food lookup, and include emergency alerts.

Sketch clear wireframes and develop high-fidelity prototypes for user testing and feedback.

5. Develop & Test Your Food Allergies App

When building your app, your developers need to plan out how to handle its features and integrations by mapping out its architecture and frameworks.

They’ll decide whether to build separate apps for iOS and Android or use a cross-platform framework, based on your resources and timeline.

Testing includes developers and professional testers ensuring app functionality and performance.

6. App Launch

After months of hard work, launch your allergy management app strategically with pre-launch hype, careful timing, and ongoing improvements based on user feedback and metrics.

6 Key Features You Must Include in Your App

  • Allergen Database
  • Barcode Scanner
  • Personalized Profiles
  • Emergency Alerts
  • Recipe and Meal Planning
  • Restaurant Finder

How Much Does It Cost to Build a Food Allergy App?

Building a food allergy app can be a game-changer for those managing allergies.

But how much does it actually cost?

Unfortunately, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer.

Here are seven key factors that significantly impact the development cost.

  • Application type
  • Feature
  • Integration with external services
  • Design complexity
  • Platform and tech stack
  • Development team composition
  • Technical support and updates

We Can Help You Build Your Food Allergy App

Developing an application is quite a complex process, and you need to have a tech team on your side.

If you go for in-house app development, you might have to pay a hefty price.

This is due to the overhead costs associated with employing and managing an internal workforce.

On the other hand, you can outsource your app development service.

We’re a healthcare-focused IT company.

Getting us on board will mean that you will work with the industry’s experts who have spent 10+ years honing their skills, exclusively in healthcare.

Over the past decade, we’ve built more than 179 successful applications, helping startups and leading organizations reach their goals.

With our extensive experience, we offer a range of solutions tailored to meet your specific needs, whether you require a custom-built app or a ready-to-go solution.

Take a look at some examples of our work to find out what might be the best fit for your app. We’ve also included real screenshots for you to explore.

Mobile vs. Web Application: Choose What Suits You Best

Mobile vs Web Application Choose What Suits You Best

1. Differences

Web apps operate in your web browsers and are accessible via URLs, allowing for cross-platform compatibility.

Whereas mobile apps are specifically created for smartphones or tablets, providing device-specific capabilities and improved offline capability.

2. Cost

Web apps are generally less expensive to produce since they have a single codebase and are easy to update

Mobile apps may require separate development for the iOS and Android platforms, which raises development expenses.

If you’re starting new, we would suggest you go with web apps.

3. Factors to Consider Before Selecting

  • Target audience
  • Desired features
  • Offline capability
  • Device-specific functionalities
  • Budget constraints

How You Can Monetise Your Allergy App?

1. Freemium Model:

Free Version:

  • Barcode scanning and basic allergen highlighting.
  • Access to a limited database of allergy-friendly products.
  • General educational content on managing allergies.

Premium Version:

  • Advanced filtering based on specific allergies and intolerances.
  • Access to a comprehensive database of allergy-friendly products with detailed information.

2. In-App Purchases:

  • Nutritional Add-ons
  • Customizable Meal Plans
  • Restaurant Finders
  • Grocery Delivery Partnerships

3. Subscription Model

Offer a monthly or annual subscription for access to all premium features within the app.

  • Premium version functionalities included
  • Unlimited in-app purchase access (nutritional add-ons, meal plans)
  • Dedicated support channel with allergy specialists
  • Early access to new features, exclusive partner discounts

How to Get Started

1. Drop a message; we’ll respond in 2-6 hours.

2. Get a free consultant, live demo, and pricing details.

3. Sign the NDA and discuss customizations.

4. We customize the app to your needs.

5. QA approval and software hosted on your server.

Striking the Correct Balance b/w Creativity & Simplicity in Your App

We saw the problems from most UI designs in mobile applications that sometimes it can become hard to understand not only for older generations but also the younger users.

There is a need for a correct balance between creativity & simplicity in a mobile app interphase.

Here come, our talented UI/UX designers who build astounding app designs.

Apps that not only enrich the end-user experience but also offer the latest trends to create a positive and appealing impact on your app.

Moreover,
We’re a team of healthcare enthusiasts, tech engineers,, business analysts, compliance specialists, and quality believers who execute every step with the utmost care to create a safe & reliable application.

We talked with many healthcare enthusiasts who reached out to us through our website. Together, we turned their tech problems into great healthcare solutions. We’re proud that some of our solutions have become well-known brands in health tech.

We love our work because it helps the right ideas and people. We create great web and app solutions for healthcare. That’s why we are SyS Creations.

This blog is just 0.001% of what we’ve experienced in healthcare. Since you’ve read this far, why not connect with us to learn more about our solutions and success stories?