Support

What Prova does

Prova is a food product scanner. You point your phone's camera at the barcode on a packaged food product, and Prova shows you what is in it — so you can decide whether you want to eat it.

• Scan a barcode to get the product's nutrition information and ingredient list
• See an at-a-glance verdict on the product, with the reasoning behind it
• See ingredients and additives explained in plain language
• Set a dietary profile (for example gluten-free, vegan, low sugar, or your own allergens) and have products checked against it
• Look back over the products you have already scanned in your history

You do not need an account and you never have to give us your name or email address to use the app. Your scan history and dietary profile are stored on your device, not on our servers. Full detail is in the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

How we grade products

Prova does not assign grades arbitrarily and does not accept payment from brands to change them. Every score you see is derived from the product data available at lookup time, using published methods and our own algorithms. Grades are informational estimates — not medical advice, not official safety certifications, and not purchasing recommendations.

Nutri-Score (A–E)

When the source database includes it, Prova shows the Nutri-Score ↗ letter grade. Nutri-Score is a front-of-pack nutrition label scheme developed by public-health researchers in France. It ranks products on a scale from A (more favourable nutrient profile) to E (less favourable) based on per-100g values for energy, sugar, saturated fat, salt, fibre, protein, and fruit/vegetable/nut content. Prova displays the grade from the database; we do not recalculate it unless the underlying nutrient fields change.

NOVA processing group (1–4)

When available, Prova shows the NOVA ↗ group, which classifies foods by degree of processing (1 = unprocessed, 4 = ultra-processed). This comes from the same open databases and may be missing for many products.

Additives & substances

Where an ingredient list exists, Prova flags additives and substances against a watchlist built from published regulatory positions and major scientific reviews (for example EFSA, IARC, and national food-agency guidance). Each flag links to the source reference where possible. These summaries explain published positions in plain language — they are not medical diagnoses.

AI verdict summary

When enough data is present, Prova may generate a short plain-English summary from the Nutri-Score, NOVA group, nutrient values, and flagged substances. This text is produced by an automated language model, is capped at a few sentences, and is written to be calm and factual — not alarmist marketing copy. It can be wrong or incomplete when source data is wrong or incomplete. Treat it as a readable digest of the numbers, not a definitive judgment about a brand or product.

Healthier alternatives

When a product scores poorly, Prova may suggest other products in the same category with better Nutri-Score grades from the same databases. Alternatives are algorithmic matches on category and grade — not endorsements, and brands cannot pay to appear or disappear from this list.

Reporting a wrong or missing product

Prova does not maintain its own catalogue of products. It looks each barcode up in public and third-party food databases, starting with Open Food Facts ↗. That means coverage varies by country and brand, and the details shown come from whichever source held the record.

If a product is not found

When a barcode returns nothing, Prova shows a "Product not in database" screen with an Identify with photos button. Tap it and photograph the packaging — the front of the pack and the ingredients panel — and Prova will read the label directly to produce a result for you.

If a product is found but the information is wrong

Prova cannot guarantee that every record is accurate. Database entries are contributed by volunteers, manufacturers, and automated imports — errors happen. You have three ways to help fix a record:

Option A — report it in the app (from version 1.3)

On any result screen, open Report a problem, pick what is wrong — wrong product for this barcode, ingredients wrong or outdated, nutrition wrong, grade seems wrong, or other — and add a note if you like. Reports reach us with the barcode attached, so there is nothing to copy out. For a wrong product or outdated ingredients the app also offers Photograph the label to fix it, which re-reads the ingredients panel right away; that uses one of your free monthly AI analyses. Reports are limited to five a day.

Option B — correct it at the source

Most Prova lookups come from Open Food Facts ↗, which anyone can edit. Correcting the product there fixes it for every app that uses the database, including Prova.

Option C — email us

Email [email protected] and we will investigate — useful for anything the in-app report cannot express. So that we can trace the record, please include:

Other common questions

The camera will not scan

Prova needs camera permission to read barcodes. If you declined it the first time, grant it in your device settings under the Prova entry, then reopen the app. Barcodes also scan more reliably in good light, with the whole barcode inside the frame and the packaging flattened out.

Which allergens can Prova check?

All 14 allergens regulated in the EU — gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soya, milk, tree nuts, celery, mustard, sesame, sulphites, lupin and molluscs — which also cover the nine the US FDA regulates. For each product Prova distinguishes contains, may contain (traces, from the label or the database), and no allergen data. Database and label data can be incomplete, so always confirm on the physical packaging. The full 14-allergen list and may-contain tier arrive with version 1.3.

How do I move to a new phone?

Prova has no accounts, so use Profile → Settings → Back up my data to export your history, favorites and profile to a single file and send it wherever you like (AirDrop, Files, email). On the new phone, Restore from backup reads that file, shows you what it found, and merges it with anything already there without duplicates. From version 1.3.

I opened a Prova link someone shared

Links that look like provascan.com/p/… open the product directly in Prova when the app is installed. Otherwise they show a page with the app store links; install Prova and tap the link again.

How do I delete my data?

Your scan history and dietary profile live on your device. Profile → Settings → Reset all my data removes everything the app stores locally in one step (from version 1.3), and you can also clear your history on its own. Uninstalling Prova removes all local data as well. Back-label photos are processed for extraction; a front-label photo may remain as shared product-reference data. Scheduled cleanup removes stored photos after 90 days once they are no longer in use — see the privacy policy.

Is Prova medical or nutritional advice?

No. Prova is an information tool that reports and explains what food databases and product labels say. It is not medical, dietary, or nutritional advice. Grades and AI summaries are algorithmic estimates, not purchasing recommendations. If you have an allergy or a medical condition, always check the physical packaging and speak to a qualified professional — never rely on the app alone. See our Terms of Use for full detail.

Are you affiliated with the brands shown?

No. Product and brand names appear only to identify the item you scanned. Prova is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any food manufacturer or retailer.

Contact us

Email is the best way to reach us. We aim to reply within a few working days.