I've recently been looking at the lists of Buy Canada Apps to see which are useful, accurate:
Check the Label 9/10 - MUST HAVE
Includes an fairly accurate AI evaluation of company country, manufacturing location, whether product is made in Canada or product of Canada. User vote which country is most accurate for product. It's a Canadian company. Has NO ADS, runs on old phones, and if it doesn't have the barcode you can even take a picture of the product and an AI will try to figure out the details with a picture instead. Contains history of all products you scanned for later use(neat!), suggests alternative products that are highly Canadian(ussually related). Limited ability for users to add details not listed.
O'Scanada 7/10
- ads every 2-3 product, "no ads cost" 2.99 a month, Googled Results, Canadian company
Buy Canadian 4/10
- No ads, states when "sold in Canada" - kinda meaningless info, has manufacturing location, company ownership never listed
Shop Canadian
- Ads very noninvasive, user edited and reviewed, rating system by Canadian involvement
Buy Beaver 9/10 - MUST HAVE
- Has user posted pictures of each product, manufacturing location is rated 1-5 of how Canadian it likely is, Ingredients are rated 1-5 on how Canadian they probably are, and it tells you how Canadian the company is that owns the brand. Users can comment on WHY they scored an item the way they did, lists comments for all to see. Content is "user added" rather than "AI added." The overall rating of a score between 1-5 feels a little more accurate because it takes into consideration how Canadian is the manufacturing, ingredients, and company, but being user edited is as accurate are people are informed.
The best thing for people to do is to download two apps, I'd suggest Buy Beaver and Check the Label, though O'Scanada is fine if you don't mind a few short ads during shopping. If one app doesn't have it, often the other app will. When labeling is vague, or misleading, it helps consumers make more informed decisions.
I am looking for people active in the Buy Canada movement who are eager to help these apps be more accurate and comprehensive. By going into the store and scanning a few dozen items and entering the missing ones, these apps become even better tools in Canadians arsenal to Buy Canadian and avoid American products. My email is willfrank84@hotmail.com if you are interested in working together on this project. I have a small website where we could coordinate and work together, or talk about other projects to spread information, help Canadians that are eager to make changes, or encourage companies to make changes in where they get ingredients or products.
