Hey Kosher

Hey Kosher is a free barcode-scanning app that gives a sourced kosher verdict for a food product. It is also available for scanning on the web. It covers five traditions: Biblically clean, Reform, Conservative, Messianic and Orthodox. Users pick their tradition, and each result names the ruling it rests on. Users can also see how the other four traditions read the same label. No account is needed.

The app describes itself as a reader of certifications and a library of rulings, not a halakhic authority. Text recognition on the phone turns a label into a normalized ingredient list. A rules engine then matches the ingredients and any hechsher against published rulings for the selected tradition. AI is used only to read messy labels and does not decide verdicts. Results read like "Kosher under the OU" rather than a bare yes or no. When a product is not yet on file, users submit three photos to add it. Product data also comes from Open Food Facts, and users can report corrections.

Each tradition is read against a named standard. The Orthodox tier requires a recognized hechsher, with chalav Yisrael and pas Yisrael options. The Conservative tier applies CJLS teshuvot, and the Reform tier shows facts without a verdict, following CCAR guidance. The Biblically clean tier checks ingredients against Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. The Messianic tier reads against the MJRC Standards of Observance. Its summary of those standards is marked as pending MJRC review on every result.

The core lookup is free. At launch, product pages carry affiliate links, and a paid Pro tier with added features may follow. The app states that payment never changes a ruling and that sponsored items are labeled.