I recently tried out this app on my iPhone, and I've got to say, it's pretty cool, especially if you're trying to avoid those iffy vegetable oils in your food. It's like Google Maps but for checking out what oils restaurants are cooking with. Super easy to use.But, there's a bit of a downside. Turns out, a ton of places actually use vegetable oils, and a lot of them don't really offer alternatives. It's kind of a bummer when you're hoping to find more options to eat out. It's a bit of an eye-opener, honestly, about how common these oils are in the restaurant scene.Despite that, I think the app is really useful. It's great for making sure you know what you're getting into before you choose where to eat. And honestly, it's made me think more about just cooking at home more often. That way, I know exactly what's going into my food.So, if you're trying to stay away from certain oils, I'd recommend checking out Seed Oil Scout. It's a handy tool, even though it might show you how hard it is to avoid those oils when eating out. But hey, it might just inspire you to become a master chef in your own kitchen!

Just another organization who claims to carry about public health but keeps everything hidden behind a paywall. When I first downloaded this app it was free to use. I found it “somewhat” useful then, and even added a few restaurants I’ve dined at that don’t use seed oils. I didn’t enjoy that the majority of the food joints listed were all “dine shamefully” or “dine cautiously”, most of which were obvious…like fast food places. I had to sift through countless restaurants to find just one that was listed as not using seed oils. I get that that’s because the majority of places DO use seed oils, but maybe just only have the locations that don’t in your database. Even if they only use seed oils for some things, they simply should not qualify. Either way it no longer matters because you can no longer access ANY aspect of the app without paying for it. You can’t even bypass the free trial for use of limited features within the app. It’s ALL or nothing. I hope this blows up in their faces. You had a good idea, with good intentions, and let greed take over. I get we all have to make money but $9 a month for an app….that’s not even a great app to begin with, just a good idea, is a bit rich for most people’s blood. Deleting this app. I hope someone else comes along and does it better without a stupid pay way. Use ads, or something, it’s not that difficult to make it free or affordable if you actually cared about people’s health.

I am incredibly unimpressed. Not only is there virtually no way to filter the restaurants, but several cities I looked at on the app have no results at all. Even for chain restaurants. I have a soy and corn allergy so I was hoping this would be a great resource for me, but I was very disappointed to find out that they don’t even include corn as an allergen option. I had very high hopes that this would make my life easier, but this seems to be nothing but a gimmick. From what I can tell, they rely on users to review the majority of the establishments on their app themselves. This app is basically a sham. Don’t waste your time or your money at some app pretending to help people. This app seems tone deaf to what their target audience wants. Clearly the team at seed oil scout doesn’t care about anything but getting people to pay them for a platform that is poorly made. How is this any different than reading reviews on yelp? I can get the same information by doing 5 seconds of research for a restaurant or chain I want to go to. I encourage the developers to reach out. I have consulted in tech before and have very valuable feedback, especially on UI and user experience. I would be happy to help you improve your platform, but frankly I don’t think you care.

I’d really love to try this app out, but I am unwilling to sign up for a paid version that I have to cancel after I try it. Network effect is a powerful tool in the freemium space. Look at apps like Strava as examples of companies collecting meaningful data from users on the free version while offering premium components to subscribers. In this case, the developer is hiding everything behind a paywall in a manner that would make it difficult or impossible for non-paying users to contribute valuable information to others. Furthermore, the “free” trial is listed in the App Store as 7 days but only 3 days within the app and you have to cancel 24 hours before the billing would start on the third day… and there’s no obvious way to try the free version without first agreeing to pay. No thank you. I don’t like to be scammed and I don’t like to work with companies that don’t put customer value first. Not understanding the value of network effect will likely make the benefit of this application short-lived. Hopefully the developer will realize this quickly and make a change. If not someone else will come and eat their seed oil free lunch.