Bobby Approved vs Olive: Free vs Subscription Scanner

Bobby Approved and Olive are both listed as free to download, but they differ on subscriptions, how they report an ingredient, and how far their product claims reach. Bobby Approved shows a Free price with no in-app purchases section on iOS and sorts products into Approved or Not Approved. Olive is listed as Free with in-app purchases, scores products across several ingredient groups, and also covers cosmetics, bottled water and food logging. The listing figures below are placed side by side so you can weigh them yourself.

Key takeaways

• Bobby Approved is listed as Free on iOS and Google Play, with no in-app purchases section on the iOS listing.
• Olive is listed as Free with in-app purchases, with Premium Monthly at $7.99 and $14.99 and Annual from $29.99 to $69.99 on the iOS listing.
• Bobby Approved reports Approved or Not Approved against a list of over 100 harmful ingredients. Olive reports scores across seed oils, dyes, additives, preservatives, hidden sugars, gluten and allergens.
• Database claims are self-reported and do not match: Bobby Approved says less than 10% of grocery products qualify, while Olive's listing says 1.3 million+ food products and its website says 10M+ foods and personal care products.

Bobby Approved vs Olive: Which Costs Money and What Is Free?

Bobby Approved is listed as free with no in-app purchases section on its iOS page, while Olive is free to download with in-app purchases that include subscriptions. That difference in price model is the first thing to check before installing either app.

Is the Bobby Approved app free?

Yes, the iOS listing shows a price of Free, and the Google Play listing shows 1M+ downloads. The listing shows no paid tier for Bobby Approved. Whether any paid option exists beyond what the listings show was not disclosed.

Is the Olive app free?

Olive is free to download, but its iOS listing says 'Subscription required' and lists Olive Premium (Monthly) at $7.99 and $14.99, and Olive Premium (Annual) at prices from $29.99 to $69.99. Its website lists $14.99 monthly or $69.99 yearly. New members can start with a free trial, but the trial length was not disclosed.

Which Olive features work without a subscription and which require Premium was not disclosed, so the listing does not say which parts of the app are available for free. Olive also offers a separate Olive Protocol program with physician-prescribed peptides, including GLP-1 programs, at its own price. That program is outside the scope of this comparison.

Bobby Approved vs Olive: How Each App Flags an Ingredient

Bobby Approved gives a product an Approved or Not Approved result and highlights bad ingredients in red, while Olive assigns scores across several ingredient categories and suggests cleaner swaps for low scores. One design is a pass or fail rule, and the other is a graded score.

What does Bobby Approved flag?

Bobby Approved's listing says it has 'created a list of over 100 harmful ingredients' and that flagged items 'include natural and artificial flavors, fake sugars, food dyes, chemical additives, inflammatory seed oils, preservatives and more.' Tapping a highlighted ingredient shows why it was flagged, according to the listing. The full list, and any count beyond 'over 100', was not disclosed.

The Bobby Approved website lists '10 commandments' that include:

• free of seed oils
• free of refined or artificial sugars
• free of harmful preservatives
• free of GMOs
• free of artificial or 'natural' flavors
• free of artificial food colorings
• free of ultra processed ingredients

A product that is not Bobby Approved results in Not Approved, and the listing says the app will then give healthy alternatives.

How does Olive score a product?

Olive's listing says it scores 1.3 million+ food products for seed oils, artificial dyes, additives, preservatives, hidden sugars, gluten and allergens. It states 'No brand can buy a better score.' The scoring formula and the weight given to each category were not disclosed. A separate guide on Olive vs Yuka covers how Olive describes itself next to another scanner.

Because one app returns a binary result and the other returns a score, the same product may look different in each. No independent accuracy testing of either app is cited on its listing or website.

Bobby Approved vs Olive: What Does Each Database Claim to Cover?

Olive publishes more than one product count, and Bobby Approved gives a qualification rate rather than a database size. Both sets of numbers are self-reported by the app makers.

Bobby Approved's website says 'less than 10% of products found at most grocery stores qualify for the Bobby Approved stamp of approval.' That describes how many products pass its rules, not how many products are in its database. Bobby Approved's product database size was not disclosed.

Olive's figures differ by page. Its App Store listing describes '1.3 million+ products' scored for food, while oliveapp.com says '10M+ foods and personal care products.' The website also reports '2 million+ users' and '40,000+ five-star reviews.' The listing adds '540+ bottled waters scored for PFAS, microplastics and fluoride.' Because the two Olive product figures come from different pages, they should be read as separate claims rather than one total.

Bobby Approved vs Olive: Which Platforms and Store Ratings Are Listed?

On iOS, Bobby Approved shows 4.9 stars from 166K ratings, and Olive shows 4.8 stars from 40K ratings. Android star ratings for either app were not disclosed.

• Bobby Approved, iOS: 4.9 stars, 166K ratings, Age Rating 9+, 38 MB, requires iOS 15.1 or later
• Olive, iOS: 4.8 stars, 40K ratings, Age Rating 16+, 258.8 MB, requires iOS 16.4 or later
• Bobby Approved, Google Play: 1M+ downloads
• Olive, Google Play: 50K+ downloads, with in-app purchases listed

Ratings and download counts change over time, so these are the figures the listings showed when this comparison was written. The age ratings differ, which may matter when deciding who in a household uses an app.

Bobby Approved vs Olive: Beyond Food Labels, What Else Does Each Scan?

Olive's listing describes skincare, cosmetic, bottled water and recall features, while Bobby Approved's listing describes food ingredient flags, healthy alternatives and product search. Olive covers more non-food categories than the Bobby Approved listing does.

Olive's non-food claims include skincare and cosmetic scanning for 'fragrance, parabens, phthalates and endocrine disruptors,' bottled water scoring, FDA recall alerts, and a food log showing calories, protein, carbs, fat, fiber, sugar and sodium. Its food-ingredient checker page lists '34 + filters,' 'Customizable No-Go Filters,' and allergy, gluten-free and dairy/lactose scanning. Which of these require a subscription was not disclosed.

Bobby Approved's listing says users can 'Search products, ingredients, or browse products by store.' It also references '12+ million people who follow Bobby @flavcity,' which describes a creator's following rather than a count of scanned products. No cosmetic, water or recall features appear on its listing.

Bobby Approved vs Olive: Side-by-Side Comparison Table at a Glance

The table places each app's own listing claims in one place, without a ranking.

Item	Bobby Approved	Olive
Listed price (iOS)	Free	Free, with in-app purchases
Subscription	No paid tier shown on listing	Subscription required per listing
Premium prices	None shown on listing	Monthly $7.99 and $14.99; Annual $29.99 to $69.99 (iOS); website $14.99 monthly or $69.99 yearly
Result style	Approved or Not Approved	Scores by category
Flagged or scored items	Over 100 harmful ingredients (full list not disclosed)	Seed oils, artificial dyes, additives, preservatives, hidden sugars, gluten, allergens
Database claim	Less than 10% of grocery store products qualify (not a database size)	1.3 million+ food products (iOS listing); 10M+ foods and personal care products (website)
Non-food scanning	Not described on listing	Skincare and cosmetics; 540+ bottled waters
iOS rating	4.9 stars, 166K ratings	4.8 stars, 40K ratings
Google Play	1M+ downloads	50K+ downloads, in-app purchases
iOS size and requirement	38 MB, iOS 15.1 or later	258.8 MB, iOS 16.4 or later
Age rating (iOS)	9+	16+
Seller	BA GLOBAL HOLDINGS LLC	Giga Studios, Inc

Bobby Approved vs Olive: What Details Were Not Disclosed or Could Not Be Confirmed?

Several details that affect a purchase or a label check are missing from both listings and websites. These gaps are listed so you can check them directly in each app.

• The full list of Bobby Approved's flagged ingredients, beyond 'over 100'
• Bobby Approved's product database size
• Olive's scoring formula and category weights
• Which Olive features are free and which are Premium-only
• Whether Bobby Approved has any paid tier beyond what its listing shows
• Android star ratings for either app
• Independent accuracy testing of either app
• The length of Olive's free trial

The listings describe what each app claims. They do not show how closely either app's flags match the ingredient list on a specific package, and results may differ by product, region or app version. No independent study of either app was identified, so this comparison makes no claim about health outcomes.

Bobby Approved vs Olive: How Do the Two Apps Relate to Label Literacy?

Both apps summarize ingredient information, but the printed label remains the primary record of what a package contains. Reading the label yourself lets you check any app's result against the source.

The FDA states that 'color additives are safe when they are used in accordance with FDA regulations.' It also says that 'parents who wish to limit the amount of color additives in their children's diet may check the food ingredient list on labels.' A dye flag from either app tells you the ingredient is present or how the app classifies it. It does not by itself state how regulators assess that ingredient.

A simple label checklist:

• Read the ingredient list in order, since ingredients are listed by predominance.
• Check the Nutrition Facts panel and the serving size. For how Yuka grades the same kinds of products, see Yuka vs Bobby Approved: How Each App Grades Food.
• Look for allergen statements and 'contains' lines.
• Compare similar products' ingredient lists. For more scanner apps side by side, see Best Yuka Alternatives in 2026: 8 Food Scanner Apps Compared.

People managing allergies, gluten sensitivity or dairy intolerance should read the label directly, and Olive lists allergy, gluten-free and dairy/lactose filters. Bobby Approved's allergen coverage was not disclosed. Neither listing can establish how an individual responds to a given ingredient, and research on many ingredients in everyday foods remains open, so a clinician is the right contact for personal dietary questions.