AllergenLens with Siri, Shortcuts, Visual Intelligence and a widget

The fastest scan is the one you don't have to dig for. AllergenLens hooks into the parts of iOS you already use, so you can open the camera with your voice, check ingredients from a shop's website without switching apps, or have your allergy card ready the moment you sit down in a restaurant. Each one opens the same screens and the same checks as the app itself.

Siri and App Shortcuts

AllergenLens comes with two shortcuts that work as soon as the app is set up, with nothing to configure:

Siri follows the profile names on your iPhone, so if you check for a child called Leo, Show Leo's allergy card in AllergenLens works. Both shortcuts also appear in Spotlight and the Shortcuts app, and on iPhones with an Action button you can assign one to it in the iPhone's Settings. Nothing opens before onboarding is finished.

Check ingredients from another app

The Check ingredients action in the Shortcuts app takes ingredient text (from a shop's website, a recipe page or a message) and checks it against your profile without opening AllergenLens. The answer comes back in the result screen's words: for example Contains with the allergens it named, or the reminder that nothing was found in the text. It always ends with From text you shared. The pack may differ, so check the label when it arrives.

This action is free, like Type text in the app. It checks the person you are currently checking for; checking the whole family at once needs Plus and happens in the app. If no profile has been set up yet, it says Open AllergenLens to set up your profile first. Our guide on checking labels when buying food online covers why the website list and the pack can differ.

Visual Intelligence

On iPhones with Visual Intelligence and iOS 26, you can point the camera at a label, or take a screenshot of one, and choose AllergenLens. It offers Check ingredients, with the line Read this label in AllergenLens. Tap it and the app opens and reads the picture like a photo from your library, then shows the normal result with its reasons and reminder.

Visual Intelligence never shows a result on its own. The search result says nothing about the product or who it concerns; you always see the answer inside the app, next to the reasons behind it. The picture is kept briefly in the app's temporary folder until it is read, then deleted, and it never leaves your iPhone.

The Allergy card widget

The Allergy card widget puts your card on the Home Screen: Your allergy card, one tap from full screen. It comes in small and medium sizes and shows the card's language, the I can't eat line in that language, the items on the card, a warning sign for a severe allergy, and + N more when the list is long. The medium size also shows the person's name. Tap it and the card opens full screen.

The widget follows the person and card language you picked on the Cards tab, and updates whenever you change your profile, the language or your plan. Allergy cards are part of AllergenLens Plus, so without Plus the widget says Allergy cards are part of AllergenLens Plus. More about the card itself in the travel allergy card post, and about notes, PDFs and the widget in card notes, export and widget.

Saved products in Spotlight

If you save products with Plus, their names appear in iPhone Search. Type granola on the Home Screen and the saved Honey Oat Granola Bar shows up with the day it was scanned; tap it to open its result in History. Only the product name and scan date are indexed. No result, allergen or person goes into Spotlight, and the index stays on your iPhone.

FAQ

Download AllergenLens and put your next scan one phrase away.