Scan the barcode — or photograph the ingredient list itself. Checkly explains every ingredient in plain words and gives you one straight score, before it goes in your basket.
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Checkly is on iPhone for now. Android is on its way to Google Play — email us and we'll tell you the day it lands.
One lipstick can list thirty-eight ingredients, most of them in Latin and chemistry. Checkly reads every one, explains each in a plain sentence, and puts what counts against it first.
Makeup, skincare, hair and body products. There are no questions to answer first: the same product gets the same score, whoever scans it.
Point the camera at the barcode. Checkly looks it up in the open cosmetics databases and in the ingredient lists it has checked itself.
One of the front, so Checkly knows what it is, and one of the ingredient list, which it scores. A screenshot from a shop's website works too.
A score from 0 to 100, a band, a written headline, and every ingredient explained — with what counts against it flagged first.
Most makeup isn't in any open database yet, so Checkly reads the list itself — on the pack, in a photo or in a screenshot. Everything else follows from that.
Point the camera at an ingredient list and Checkly marks, live, the ingredients that count against a product. It works on any product — in a database or not.
Then it tells you how much it recognised, so a curved tube that was hard to read is never passed off as a full reading.
Take one photo of the front and one of the ingredient list. Checkly names the product from the front, scores the list, and puts your photo in the result. A screenshot of a list from a shop's product page works the same way, so you can check before you buy online.
Your photos stay on your phone. Where the phone can't find the list in the text on its own, only the words read from it go to Checkly's server — never the picture.
Tap any ingredient for what it is and what it does, why it counts against a product, the regulation or study behind that, and roughly how much is in there, judged by its place in the list.
No scare words and no promises about your skin. A reason is a reason, with its evidence.
Keep what you own. Checkly counts down each product's period after opening — the open-jar symbol on the pack — and reminds you before your mascara is due to go.
Reminders are scheduled on your phone. No server is involved.
Compare two products and see how alike their ingredient lists are, weighted by position: what they share, what differs, and what counts against each.
Two mascaras from different brands, an 85 % match. It compares formulas — not shade, finish or wear.
Tap a group to see what it is and why it counts. Each one costs a product points, weighted by the evidence behind it, and any of them in the formula holds the product to Mediocre at best. Animal-derived ingredients are the one exception: shown for information, never scored.
The score is worked out on your phone the moment the ingredient list arrives, from the same inputs every time. The same product gets the same score, whoever scans it. No AI writes a verdict.
Several things count against it, or it contains a known or probable health hazard.
At least one ingredient Checkly flags is in the formula, or a possible health concern.
Little or nothing counts against it, but not enough is certain for Excellent — a shade may contain something, or the list was read from a photo.
Nothing in the formula that Checkly counts against it.
EU law lists ingredients above 1 % in descending order, so one near the end of the list counts for less than one near the start — and the reason says so.
Any group Checkly flags in a formula holds the product to Mediocre at best. An ingredient classed as a known or probable cause of cancer, or banned from EU cosmetics for health reasons, holds it to Poor. A list with none of them can score 100.
Each flag carries its tier — restricted in the EU, often reported to irritate, or permitted with weaker evidence — and names its source: a regulation, a scientific opinion or a study.
No sign-up and nothing sold. Your scan history and your shelf are kept on the device in your hand.
One subscription unlocks the whole app. The introduction and worked examples are free to look at, so you can see a real result before you start.
New features open as you use Checkly: For you, looks tried on your own photo, and Ask Checkly.
Prices in euros; the App Store shows the price in your currency before you confirm. The free trial is for new subscribers. Payment is charged to your Apple ID when the trial ends, and the subscription renews automatically unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel it any time in your App Store account settings.
Checkly is free to download, and the introduction and worked examples are free to look at. Scanning, search, the shelf and history need Checkly Premium — monthly or annual, both with a 2-week free trial for new subscribers.
In your iPhone's Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions, then Checkly. Cancel at least 24 hours before the trial or the current period ends and you won't be charged again. You keep access until the period runs out.
Barcodes are looked up in Open Beauty Facts and Open Food Facts, the open product databases, and in the ingredient lists Checkly has checked itself for popular products. Makeup is still thinly covered, which is why Checkly also reads the pack.
If the barcode draws a blank, switch to Photos: one photo of the front, so Checkly knows what it is, and one of the ingredient list, which it scores. A screenshot of a list from a shop's website works too. A reading from the pack is marked as one, and Checkly asks for a retake rather than guess when too little could be read.
Makeup, skincare, hair and body products. Food, pet food and household products are recognised and not scored.
The ingredient list, read against the same twenty ingredient groups for everyone. The same product gets the same score, whoever scans it. Each group costs points according to the evidence behind it, and every flag names its source — a regulation, a scientific opinion or a study. Scores come from the ingredient list alone. No brand can change them.
There's no account, and your photos stay on your phone: the camera, your photos and your screenshots are read on the device and never uploaded. To look a product up, Checkly sends its barcode, or what you type into search. On iPhones without Apple Intelligence, the words read from a pack — never the picture — go to Checkly's server to find the ingredient list. Your scan history and your shelf stay on your iPhone. The privacy policy lists everything that can leave the phone, and who handles it.
No. Checkly is an information tool. It does not diagnose, treat, monitor or prevent any condition, and it is not a medical device. Talk to a doctor or pharmacist about allergies, reactions and medication. Product data comes from community-edited databases and can be incomplete or out of date — always read the packaging.
Not yet — Checkly is on iPhone, for iOS 17 or later. Android is on its way to Google Play. Email us and we'll tell you the day it's there.
Yes. Get Checkly on Google Play — the same scanner, with a 2-week free trial for new subscribers.
Scan the next thing you're about to buy — or everything already on your shelf.
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