Yuka vs Bobby Approved: Which Food Scanner Is Better? (2027)
November 2, 2026 · 4 min read
Yuka and Bobby Approved answer different questions. Yuka gives every food and personal care product a score from 0 to 100 and suggests a better-scoring alternative. Bobby Approved checks a product's ingredients against Bobby Parrish's list of more than 100 ingredients he considers harmful and highlights them in red. Both are free to download. Pick Yuka for a quick overall score, Bobby Approved for a strict ingredient filter. Disclosure: we make HealthierCart, a third food scanner, covered at the end.
At a glance (checked November 2, 2026)
- Price: Yuka is free, with a Premium membership at $15 a year (open pricing, per yuka.io). Bobby Approved is free; its App Store listing doesn't mention a paid tier.
- How it judges a product: Yuka gives a 0 to 100 score. Bobby Approved marks the ingredients on its list in red and explains each one when you tap it.
- What it scans: Yuka covers food and personal care products. Bobby Approved focuses on grocery food.
- Alternatives: Yuka recommends similar, better-scoring products. Bobby Approved's approach is to show which products pass its standards.
- Popularity: on the US App Store, Bobby Approved has about 165,600 ratings averaging 4.9, and Yuka about 101,800 averaging 4.8. Yuka says it has 85 million users worldwide.
Choose Yuka if…
- You want one number per product and a suggested swap
- You also want to check cosmetics, shampoo or sunscreen
- You shop in Europe as well as the US
Choose Bobby Approved if…
- You already follow Bobby Parrish's standards and want a clear pass or fail
- You care more about avoiding specific ingredients than about an overall score
- You want a free app with no membership
Where HealthierCart fits
HealthierCart sits between the two. It grades products A to F like a score, but shows which ingredient triggered each flag and links the FDA, EFSA, EPA or study behind it, so you can judge the evidence yourself. It flags refined seed oils and artificial dyes on every scan, scans personal care products too, and Premium is $9.99 once with no subscription. It is newer and smaller than both, so its database is not as large.
- Sources: Yuka Premium page, yuka.io/en/premium-member; Yuka and Bobby Approved App Store listings (all checked 2026-11-02)
- Yuka and Bobby Approved are trademarks of their owners. HealthierCart is not affiliated with either.