I was referred to this great new mobile application called dishfreely, which introduces a new way to find and organize gluten-free dishes.  I haven’t tried the app yet because I have an Android and it’s built for the iPhone.  But, I started thinking about what other existing gluten-free mobile applications exist .  Doing a quick search in the Android App Marketplace, I found 133 results for the search, “gluten free.”

So which one should I download?  Perhaps this post is not as much about gluten-free needs as it is about improved mobile app discoverability.  After a little research, it looks like FindMeGlutenFree is the most popular gluten-free specific application (with currently over 170 downloads).  But it begs the question, why so few downloads given the enormous gluten-free market?

Do people just not know these apps exist?  Are these apps no good?  Are they not fitting our needs as consumers?  All I want is an easy to use mobile application that can tell me where, to the nearest 5 mile radius, is there a gluten-free option.  The few apps I’ve tested don’t seem to have rich content or comprehensive restaurant listings.  I believe DishFreely is trying to solve this issue by exploring a user-generated content model, and allowing other gluten-free consumers validate the listings by rating each gluten-free dish when they eat out.

Based on the marketplace, these look to be like the most promising Gluten-free applications:

Restaurants and Gluten-free Food (Android) – an app that allows you to look-up the gluten-free dishes at 100 popular restaurant chains.

FindMeGlutenFree (Android)- an app that allows you to search for local gluten-free listings (and also post gluten-free listings).  You can rate and review the contest.

DishFreely (Iphone) – New York specific at the moment, but looking to expand in other markets as the team tests out the first beta launch.  The application allows you to find and explore new gluten-free dishes.

Great concept, sad execution…

Glutenfree Scanner (Android)- the idea is to scan the barcode and cross-reference the ingredients list with a database to see what foods are safe to eat.  Great concept but apparently very bad execution (scanning doesn’t quite work).

We’d love to hear your thoughts on any great gluten-free apps you’ve tried.