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Hold the phone steady with the date filling the frame, in good light, and avoid glare on shiny packaging. On the review screen you can pick a different date it found, or choose “None of these” and set the date yourself.

Names come from Open Food Facts, a free community database. Supermarket own-brand products are sometimes missing; type the name in and it'll be saved with your item.

Live scanning needs an iPhone with the A12 chip or newer and camera access. You can turn camera access on in the Settings app → Zero Bite. You can always choose a photo of the label instead.

Check Zero Bite → Settings → Expiry reminders is on, and that notifications are allowed in the Settings app → Notifications → Zero Bite. Use “Send a test notification” to check. Reminders arrive at the time you choose, a set number of days before the date.

It downloads the Food Standards Agency's public recall and allergy alerts for the UK and compares them with what's in your fridge, using the product name, brand, barcode and batch dates.

Recall notices rarely include barcodes, so matches are a warning to check, not a certainty. Compare the batch code and date on your pack with the notice. If it isn't affected, tap “Not my batch” and we won't flag it again.

Choose your allergies in Settings → Your allergies. Allergy alerts for those allergens appear under Food alerts → For you. Zero Bite is not a substitute for reading labels or medical advice.

Your list is stored on your iPhone and included in your normal iPhone backups. There's no Zero Bite account, so it isn't stored anywhere else.

Go to Settings → Data → Delete everything, or delete the app. See the privacy policy for details.