Common questions

Bite Insight is a UK food scanning app for iPhone and Android. Scan a barcode or search for a product and it checks the ingredients and nutrition against your own health conditions, allergies and diet, then flags anything that matters to you.

Yes. You can download it free from the App Store and from Google Play.

Bite Insight is a UK app. It was started by Glenn, who began building it after his own type 2 diabetes diagnosis showed him how hard UK food labels are to read in a supermarket aisle. You can read the full story.

Yes. The free version has no scan limit. You can scan barcodes on UK products, search over 175,000 food and drink products and get insights based on your health conditions, allergies and diet. Bite Insight+ costs £3.99 a month and adds family profiles, your own list of ingredients to flag, recipe ideas, offline scanning and barcode scanning for over 4.2 million products worldwide.

Family profiles so you can scan for other people in your household, your own list of ingredients to flag on every scan, recipe ideas based on your preferences, offline scanning, and barcode scanning for over 4.2 million products from outside the UK. Everything in the free version is included too.

Yes, at any time. The subscription renews automatically until you cancel it, which you do through your App Store or Google Play subscription settings.

It covers the major UK allergens, including peanuts, tree nuts, milk, egg, fish, shellfish, soya, sesame, celery, mustard, lupin and sulphites, with gluten handled through the coeliac and gluten intolerance settings. It also covers intolerances and sensitivities such as lactose, histamine, fructose, MSG and salicylates. That’s 21 allergies and intolerances in total, and it knows the other names they hide behind, like whey for milk or albumin for egg.

36 conditions, including type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease, IBS, coeliac disease, GERD, gout, PCOS and chronic kidney disease. You can add more than one, along with any allergies and 17 diets such as vegan, halal, keto and low FODMAP.

17 diets and lifestyles: low FODMAP, low fibre, post-bariatric surgery, dairy-free, halal, vegan, vegetarian, plant-based, sustainable and eco, Mediterranean, low-carb and keto, paleo, Whole30, clean eating, child-friendly and additive-free, weight loss, and high protein.

Yes. Add everything that applies to you and every scan is checked against all of it at once.

Yes, where the product’s data includes traces or “may contain” information, and it shows them alongside the main allergen check. When you’re offline it can’t check “may contain” information, and the app tells you so.

Yes, with Bite Insight+. Add any ingredient by name, such as palm oil or a food your GP has told you to avoid, and it’s picked out every time you scan.

Yes. It was built for UK shoppers. The free version scans barcodes on products sold in UK supermarkets, and search includes popular UK restaurant chains. Bite Insight+ adds products from outside the UK.

Over 175,000 UK food and drink products in the free version. Bite Insight+ adds barcode scanning for over 4.2 million products worldwide.

With Bite Insight+ you can download a food database to your phone, and barcode scans then work without an internet connection. The free version needs a connection to scan.

Yes. Bite Insight+ includes family profiles, so you can set up a profile for a partner or child with their own allergies and conditions and scan for them too.

Let us know through the report a problem page. We use reports to correct product data.

Use it as a quick first check, not the final word. Bite Insight reads the ingredient and allergen information held for each product, but recipes change. Always read the label on the pack you’re holding, especially for severe allergies.

No. Bite Insight tells you what’s in your food and how it lines up with your profile. It isn’t medical advice, so always follow the guidance of your GP, consultant or dietitian.