# LB: Universal Scanner — ingredient scanner app > ingredient scanner app (iPhone/iPad app by Balint Laszlo.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/lb-universal-scanner/id6761266794 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [Balint Laszlo](https://appshunter.io/developer/1888511892) - Category: Food & Drink, Utilities - Price: Free with in-app purchases - Age rating: 4+ - Requires: iOS 26.0 · 6 MB - Languages: American English - Released: 2026-04-03 - Data updated: 2026-08-19 - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/lb-universal-scanner/id6761266794/reviews.md ## What is LB? Take control of what you scan with LB: Universal Scanner, a privacy-respecting product scanner for food, cat food, cosmetics, and cleaning products. Whether you are checking groceries, reviewing an imported ingredient list, scanning a cosmetic label, or looking up a household product, LB helps you understand what is inside with fast barcode lookup, text scanning, translation, and clear ingredient insights. WHY CHOOSE LB? No Accounts, No Hassle: Just download and start scanning. LB does not require your name, email, or phone number. Privacy First: Your scan history is stored on your device. You can disable history at any time, and you stay in control of your data. Multiple Scanner Modes: Switch between food, cat food, cosmetics, and cleaning products so each product type gets the right database and ingredient analysis. CORE FEATURES: Multi-Source Barcode Scanning: LB checks public product databases such as Open Food Facts, Pro Open Food Facts, Open Pet Food Facts, Open Beauty Facts, Open Products Facts, and FoodRepo where available. Advanced Text Scan: Barcode missing, damaged, or not found? Take a photo of the ingredient list and LB will use text recognition to analyze it directly. Ingredient Insights: See highlighted ingredients grouped by concern or benefit, including warnings, allergens, helpful ingredients, and lower-concern items. Smart Translation: Translate product names, ingredients, warnings, and spoken summaries into your preferred language. Useful for imported products or travel. Allergen & Warning Alerts: LB checks ingredients against local databases for common allergens and ingredient warnings, including gluten, milk, peanuts, soy, sesame, sulfites, and more. Nutrition, Nutri-Score & Eco-Score: For food products, quickly review available nutrition details, Nutri-Score, Eco-Score, and high sugar, salt, or saturated fat alerts. Cosmetic & Chemical References: For supported cosmetic ingredients, LB can help open free external references such as PubChem, CosIng, ECHA, and EWG. Voice Assistant Mode: Enable spoken summaries for a more accessible scanning experience. Optional Tips: LB stays free. Optional tips are available if you want to support development, but they do not unlock features or bonuses. HOW IT WORKS: 1. Choose a scanner mode: Food, cat food, cosmetics, or cleaning products. 2. Scan a barcode: Get product details from supported public databases. 3. Review the results: See ingredients, warnings, allergens, nutrition, and ingredient insights. 4. Use photo scan if needed: Take a picture of the ingredient list when barcode results are missing. 5. Translate and revisit: Translate results into your preferred language and revisit past scans from history. Database coverage depends on public sources, so some products may be missing or incomplete. LB is an informational tool and does not replace medical, veterinary, or professional safety advice. ## Pricing and in-app purchases Base price: Free. **One-time purchases** | Purchase | Price | Type | | --- | --- | --- | | Small Tip | $0.99 | one-time | | Medium Tip | $3.99 | one-time | | Big Tip | $8.99 | one-time | | Large Tip | $22.99 | one-time | | Massive Tip | $44.99 | one-time | ## Version history (last 5 releases) ### 1.2.11 — 2026-08-19 V1.2.11: Codes, Context & Clarity - Rebuilt barcode handling with local EAN, UPC, and GTIN validation. - Added UPC-E expansion and normalized lookup alternatives. - Added support for more barcode formats. - Added GS1 element-string and Digital Link decoding for batch, serial, production, packaging, best-before, sell-by, and expiration information. - Added barcode-based date warnings with clear reminders to verify the physical package. - Non-product QR codes, websites, Wi-Fi details, and contact data are rejected before product lookup and never opened automatically. - Added optional GS1 linked-source checks with request limits, caching, response fingerprints, identifier-conflict warnings, and confirmation before opening external pages. - Added a pinned official GS1 syntax dictionary and expanded App Health diagnostics. - Improved privacy, cancellation handling, scanning reliability, and edge-case barcode normalization. ### 1.2.10 — 2026-08-01 Version 1.2.10 introduces clearer voice assistance and safer, evidence-based product answers. • Choose Brief, Standard, or Detailed answers. • Ask follow-up questions using information from the current scan and trusted ingredient data. • See clearer explanations when information is missing, uncertain, or only database-reported. • Improved automatic reading, spoken warnings, ingredient grouping, pauses, and voice controls. • Added speech setup checks and session-only product conversations. • Added clearly labelled creator links and verified official app-store listings. • Additional reliability and accessibility improvements. ### 1.2.9 — 2026-07-22 V1.2.9: This update makes scan results easier to verify, understand, and share while significantly expanding LB’s local safety knowledge. Review recognized label text before analysis. Correct OCR mistakes, remove unrelated text, clear the result, or retake the photo. Use the new Quick Result Navigator to jump directly to warnings, ingredients, allergens, or nutritional information. Analysis Coverage now shows how much of the parsed label matched LB’s bundled knowledge databases, including matched examples and unmatched label segments. Warnings now provide clearer explanations of why they appeared, such as ingredient knowledge, nutrition data, allergen profiles, caution profiles, or cosmetic sensitivity settings. Cleaning & Art Supplies has evolved into a broader Supply Safety system covering paints, glues, pigments, clay, dyes, solvents, resins, 3D-printing materials, soldering supplies, glitter, and more. Supply Safety can recognize GHS hazard and precaution codes, signal words, Safety Data Sheet wording, and relevant art-material safety information. Always verify the current package and official Safety Data Sheet. Supply results can optionally check the official U.S. CPSC recalls database. Possible matches must still be confirmed using the exact brand, model, date code, package, and barcode. Ingredient knowledge has been expanded across food, cosmetics, pet food, cleaning products, and art supplies, with clearer relationships and more cautious, concentration-aware explanations. The raw-food fiber reference now includes additional fruits, edamame, pistachios, and cooked sweet corn using USDA-based values per 100 grams. Copy Summary and Share Summary provide privacy-conscious scan summaries without including private notes or personal profile settings. Scan History now uses stable product identities, reducing duplicate entries when the same product is scanned again. App Health includes a private, offline Local Analysis Self-Test and clearer information about successful online requests and reused lookups. Language switching now applies more consistently across app and product text, while canceled translations can no longer overwrite a newer language selection. Performance and reliability have been improved for large labels, repeated scans, OCR, product analysis, camera handling, navigation, memory usage, and network requests. Long-running analysis now provides safe retry and return options instead of leaving users stuck on a loading screen. ### 1.2.8 — 2026-07-02 V1.2.8 Focuses a lot on Voice mode, Translations & the App itself to make it better. ### 1.2.7 — 2026-06-21 V1.2.7 "More than just a Hotfix" Improved ingredient detection across food, pet food, cosmetics, and cleaning product scans. Expanded the local JSON ingredient databases with more aliases, warnings, and ingredient insights, including better cosmetic detection for alcohols, aluminum/aluminium compounds, plant oils, extracts, and common label typos. Added cosmetic sensitivity filters for fragrance/parfum, drying alcohols, aluminum/aluminium compounds, exfoliating acids, and essential oils so profile settings can flag scanned INCI lists more clearly. Added an INCI position check for cosmetics, showing whether matched active or notable ingredients appear near the beginning, middle, or end of the ingredient list. Improved matching for OCR labels, slash/hyphen ingredient names, accented text, and longer ingredient phrases so scanned labels are detected more reliably. Added barcode-scan warnings so users know database results can miss ingredients, allergens, warnings, or product details and should be double-checked with the real package or a manual ingredient scan when safety matters. Added LB Blue Background mode with Bálint's bright blue accent and readable dark panels. Added clearer scroll hints on product results and scan history so users know more warnings, tools, basket summaries, reports, and saved scans are available below. Added smoother menu animations: More Options slides sideways, while Scan History and Settings slide up when opened and down when closed. Added a Universal / Auto Detect barcode scan path that checks supported product sources in safe loading stages instead of hitting every source at once. Cleaned duplicate and conflicting aliases in the JSON data so ingredient lookups are more stable. ## Apps similar to LB | App | Rating | Price | Category | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [BiteBack - Rampart](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/biteback-rampart/id6504558175) | — | Free | Food & Drink | | [Gluten Safety: Food Scanner](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/gluten-safety-food-scanner/id6757687502) | 4.6 (34) | Free | Food & Drink | | [GF Scanner - Gluten Free](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/gf-scanner-gluten-free/id6748646842) | 5.0 (2) | Free | Food & Drink | | [Gluten Advisor](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/gluten-advisor/id1643486515) | 5.0 (1) | Free | Food & Drink | | [The Gyro Project](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/the-gyro-project/id6457366175) | 4.8 (224) | Free | Food & Drink | | [REVO Token](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/revo-token/id1617873104) | — | Free | Food & Drink | --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-19.*