Review of Scan Halal app

 As a Muslim, it is important that we follow the rules of our faith, which include avoiding pork, pork-derived products, and alcohol, as these are considered Haram and therefore forbidden. To help with this, I use the app Scan Halal. It allows me to quickly determine if a product is permissible or prohibited by scanning it with my phone.

The following screenshots are from earlier today when I went to a gas station and I used the app to scan a Rice Krispies treat and a sweet tea. From the screenshots, you can see that permissible items are marked in green and prohibited ones in red. While we can check ingredient lists ourselves, the app makes it much more convenient by providing an instant answer. This feature is especially useful for non-English-speaking Muslims who might struggle to understand ingredient lists. The color-coded system can be easily explained to them. 

The app itself is very user-friendly. You scan the barcode into the app; if it doesn't scan, you manually enter it. There is an ingredients tab, an explanation tab, and an alternatives tab. The ingredients tab will highlight what prohibits it to eat, and the explanation tab will explain why.  This is extremely important for new converts who have trouble understanding why that is. The alternatives tab will provide you with an alternative to the scanned product. 

There are cases where an item may not be available on the app. In that case, they will have you take a picture for future reference, and someone will review the ingredients. The next time that item is scanned, it will provide the answers the customer wants. 

There is a free version and a paid version. The free version does most of the stuff, but it is ad-supported, which can get annoying. The paid version will be ad-free and provide alternatives to the scanned product. For instance, if there are fruit snacks with gelatin scanned, the app will provide you with ones that don't have gelatin. 

 

There are definitely some areas for improvement. I would recommend adding a store locator to find where a particular item is available. For instance, after scanning a Rice Krispies treat, it would be helpful to know where to find a halal alternative. The last update for the app was over a year ago. I recommend updating it more frequently to include newer food items and prevent errors in determining what is halal (permissible) or haram (prohibited). Additionally, I suggest adding a search bar. For instance, if I'm at home and want to check an item before going to the store but don't have the product to scan, being able to search for it within the app would be very helpful.