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Makeup, skincare, hair and body products. Scan the barcode — or switch to Photos and take one photo of the front and one of the ingredient list. You can also pick a photo or a screenshot of a list.

Checkly scores cosmetics only. A barcode that turns out to be food, pet food or a household product is identified and shown, and not scored.

Many makeup products aren't in any open database yet. When the barcode draws a blank, Checkly shows “Not in the database yet”. Add it with two photos takes one photo of the front and one of the ingredient list, scores it, and remembers it for the next time you scan that barcode. Just read the ingredients scores the list without adding the product, and you can also Search by name or Try again.

For context: on 28 September 2026 Open Beauty Facts held about 75,500 products, about 20,400 of them with an ingredient list, but only 539 makeup products with ingredients. That's why reading the list is a first-class feature in Checkly, not a fallback.

In the scanner, switch from Barcode to Photos. First fit the front of the pack in the frame, so Checkly can name the product — you can skip this. Then hold the ingredient list inside the reading frame: Ingredient Spotlight highlights, live, the ingredients that count against a product. Take the shot, check the reading, then tap Looks right or Retake.

Good light helps, and so does turning the product until the list faces you as flat as possible: curved packs are harder to read. Checkly tells you how many ingredients it recognised, and gives no score if it could read too little.

Yes. Tap From a photo in the scanner and pick a photo or screenshot of the ingredient list, such as a shop's product page. You get the same highlighted reading and score. The image is read on your phone and is never uploaded.

To read barcodes, ingredient lists and the front of a pack. Every frame is processed on your phone by Apple's Vision framework, with no network. A still taken of an ingredient list is held in memory while it is read and then discarded. A photo of the front is kept on your phone to show the product in its result, your history and your shelf. No photo is ever uploaded.

On iPhones without Apple Intelligence, the words read from a pack — never the picture — go to Checkly's server, which finds the ingredient list or the product's name in them and sends the answer straight back. The privacy policy has the details.

Any iPhone with iOS 17 or later.

A product starts at 100. Its ingredient list is read against twenty groups, and each group that turns up costs points, weighted by the evidence behind it and by where it sits in the list, because position stands in for amount. Any group Checkly flags in the formula holds the product to Mediocre at best, and 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.

The bands are Excellent (75–100), Good (50–74), Mediocre (25–49) and Poor (0–24). The same product gets the same score, whoever scans it, and no AI writes a verdict. Scores come from the ingredient list alone. No brand can change them. The full method is in the app under Profile › How Checkly scores, and in short on our home page.

An ingredient the camera failed to read is one Checkly failed to count, so the top band is out of reach from a photograph. The result is marked “Read from the label” and lists every word it recognised, so you can spot a miss.

Some ingredients on the record aren't in the ingredient taxonomy, or part of the record is missing. The score still stands, but read it as a guide. It is the common case for European products. A product with no ingredient list at all is shown without a score: Checkly says there isn't enough to judge rather than implying an all-clear.

No. There's one score for everyone, so there's no list to set up or edit. Every group counts against every product, by the strength of the evidence behind it; animal-derived ingredients are the one exception, a values choice rather than a skin one, and are shown for information without costing points. Profile › How Checkly scores lists all twenty groups and why each one counts, and so does our home page.

Checkly reads the claims a pack makes, such as vegan, cruelty-free, fragrance-free and organic, against the ingredient list and reports what the data says next to them. It cannot know whether a brand tests on animals; it reports the pack's own claim and what the ingredient list says, nothing more.

Product data comes from Open Beauty Facts and Open Food Facts, community-edited databases, and packaging changes faster than any database. Always read the pack. Tap Report a problem on the result to tell us; if a product has no ingredient list, Ask for this to be scored. You can also correct the record at world.openbeautyfacts.org, which improves it for everyone, or write to info@get-checkly.com with the barcode number.

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.

Tap Add to shelf on a result and enter the date you opened the product. Checkly counts down its period after opening, the open-jar symbol on the pack, using the period from the pack or, where the database has none, a typical period for that kind of product. You can change the opened date at any time from the item on your shelf.

The countdown is a convenience: the symbol on your pack, the product's condition and your own judgement come first.

Each shelf item has its own reminder switch, and Profile › Reminders turns them all on or off. A reminder arrives a week before a product reaches its period after opening, and again on the day. Reminders are local notifications scheduled on your phone; Checkly asks for permission the first time one is needed. You can also turn notifications off in the iPhone's Settings.

Tap Compare on a result, or select two products on your shelf. You get an ingredient match: how alike the two ingredient lists are, weighted by position, what they share, what differs and what counts against each. It compares formulas and says nothing about shade, finish or wear.

The introduction and the worked examples are free, so you can see a real result before paying. Scanning, search, results, the shelf and history need an active Checkly Premium subscription, monthly or annual.

Both plans start with a 2-week free trial for customers who haven't used it before. If you don't cancel at least 24 hours before the trial ends, the subscription starts and renews automatically at the price shown on the paywall. Every price is shown in your own currency before you confirm.

On your iPhone, open Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions, choose Checkly and tap Cancel Subscription. In the app, Profile › Manage subscription takes you to the same place. Cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period to stop the next renewal; you keep access until that period ends. Deleting the app does not cancel a subscription.

Sign in with the same Apple ID you subscribed with, open Checkly and tap Profile › Restore purchases. The paywall has a Restore button too.

Subscriptions are sold and billed by Apple, so refunds are Apple's to give. Request one at reportaproblem.apple.com.

In the app, open Profile › Redeem a code.

No. Checkly has no account and no login, and never asks for your name, email address or date of birth.

Your photos, your scan history and your shelf stay on the phone. What goes out is only what a feature needs: the barcode or your search, to look a product up; on iPhones without Apple Intelligence, the words read from a pack — never the photo — to find the ingredient list or the product's name; a product you add or ask Checkly to score, and any problem you report; a question you put to Ask Checkly; and your App Store purchase, which Apple handles. The privacy policy lists each one and who handles it.

Open Profile › Your data. Delete scan history removes every scan from the phone, Clear your shelf removes every product and its reminders, and Reset Checkly clears your answers, your history, your shelf and the cached product data. Deleting the app removes everything on the phone too. Products you shared with other Checkly users are removed in Profile › Products you added; for anything else, write to us with the product's barcode.