If you’re anything like us, you’re always looking for ways you can fight climate change. And if you want to make greener choices but don’t know where to start — you’re not alone! All the information out there can be overwhelming, to say the least.
Lucky for us, the App Store is loaded with eco friendly apps to help us make more sustainable choices. You can reduce your carbon footprint through food choices, figure out your household carbon footprint, and adopt green consumer behavior using apps for green living.
Do you run an online store? Click to learn more about how you can quickly integrate sustainability into your business.
42 Sustainability Apps to Get You Started in Your Eco Journey
Whether you’re a certified carbon-neutral recycling master or just starting your eco journey, we can all make small changes to have a big impact! As climate and greenhouse gas emissions become more pressing, companies are committing to more sustainable choices — and we can too.
Collectively, we have the power to change how industrial processes impact the planet, and it can start with small actions like choosing zero-waste products or shopping with carbon-neutral fashion brands. For sustainable shopping apps, take a look at our guide on How to Shop Sustainable Online.
And while the top 10% of the wealthiest consumers are responsible for 44% of the consumption-related carbon emissions, when we make realistic adjustments to our consumer behavior, we can reduce our carbon footprint by 25%. Pretty compelling, right?
Since we know that household items like food, furniture, and clothing are the worst industries for creating emissions, we’ve compiled a pretty impressive list of the best environmental apps you can use to make these everyday activities a little bit greener.
Joulebug
Learning how to offset your carbon footprint doesn’t sound too thrilling — that’s why we love Joulebug. The app has compiled and gamified simple ways to make everyday habits at work, home, school, or play more sustainable. With their hand-picked combo of mobile gaming, social media, and educational tools (or, as they call it, “a giant burrito of wonderment and awesome”), you can learn new ways to go green. And who doesn’t love a little friendly competition? Join in local challenges, track your impact, and share your unique impact story with your friends!
Joulebug is free to download from the App Store and Google Play.
Sustainability Aware
Are you a parent or teacher wanting to teach your kiddos about climate and sustainability? Sustainability Aware is an app for sustainability created to engage kids and inform them about how the ways we live impact the Earth.
Aimed at youngsters from 8 to 12 years old, this go-green app shows age-appropriate ways to live a more sustainable lifestyle. There are two ecological apps to download, Eating green and Animals under threat, available in the App Store.
NoWaste
Would it surprise you to learn that food production creates 14% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and rising? Not only that but over one-third of food produced globally is wasted.
NoWaste wants to reduce food waste and save you money at the same time! You’ll reduce unnecessary purchases by keeping track of what you have and what’s soon to expire and planning meals and shopping lists.
Never toss another rotten tomato; find this app for sustainability on the App Store and Google Play.
Kitche
Kitche is another eco-friendly app designed to save money and reduce food waste. Scan your food purchases, find recipes to use what you already have, and track your achievements toward becoming a Food Waste Warrior.
For parents, there is also a campaign to inspire kids to become helpers in the kitchen so they can learn meal planning, food storage, and cooking as they raise the next generation of eco-conscious consumers.
Download Kitche on the App Store and Google Play.
OLIO
Hunger hits closer to home than you might think, with 1 in 4 people globally experiencing food insecurity. We love how OLIO addresses this issue on a micro-scale by sharing food with our neighbors.
Neighbors and local businesses use this sustainability app to give away surplus food — feeding someone and keeping edible food out of landfills. Over 65 million food portions have been shared, and OLIO gets eco-friendly bonus points for being carbon negative.
Feed someone in your community; find OLIO on the App Store and Google Play.
Too Good To Go
Are you looking to reduce food waste and save money? Too Good To Go is an app that connects people with cafés, restaurants, stores, and manufacturers who want to sell surplus food at a discount.
We probably have all seen dozens of baked goods (muffins, donuts, and bread) get thrown away at the end of the day in restaurants and cafés. Too Good To Go wants to change how we think about food waste and see that more of it finds its way onto a plate near you.
Get a “Surprise Bag” of goodies; get Too Good To Go from the App Store or Google Play.
Karma
Hungry? There’s an eco-friendly app for that!
Using Karma, you can get a delicious meal from a restaurant at a discount. When businesses have meals that would otherwise be thrown out near the end of the day, they list them on Karma for hungry people to grab. It’s a win for the environment (less waste) and for you (more taste).
Find Karma in the App Store and Google Play.
HappyCow
Traveling vegans rejoice! If you’re visiting a new city or need help finding somewhere for dinner this weekend, HappyCow can help. The app lists nearby vegan restaurants with ratings and reviews from the community so you can eat with peace of mind.
Since we know eating less meat is an effective way to reduce our ecological footprint and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Even if you’re not a full-time vegan, using HappyCow to find a restaurant for a night out is another effortless want to incorporate sustainable habits into your everyday life.
Download HappyCow from the App Store or Google Play
FarmDrop
Small is delicious! Using FarmDrop to support small-scale food producers close to home, you can break up with factory farming and high-emission global food supply chains. Reduce the distance your food travels before it reaches your plate, and you’ll get more nutritious, less ecologically damaging meals.
FarmDrop is a virtual farmer’s market – shop locally made and grown products online, which are then collected from producers and bagged for you to pick up from a local hub.
HowGood
This one is for business owners — measure your product formulas’ environmental and social impact by each ingredient. Your customers can see your HowGood rating for your products, which drives an average of 3.9% increase in sales, by the way.
If you’re looking for apps to reduce the carbon footprint of your business, our carbon offset Shopify app should be on your radar. With EcoCart Shopify, you empower your customers to make more eco-conscious ecommerce choices, as they can choose to offset the carbon of their purchase through our easy-to-use plugin.
Scone (formerly For Good)
Chart your personal #PathToZero with Scone. Challenge yourself to reduce your carbon footprint with personalized insights to reduce CO₂ in a fun and achievable way. You can even organize an emissions-reduction challenge with your colleagues or community.
The makers of Scone believe becoming carbon neutral should be easy, affordable, and comfortable — and using technology is the way to get here.
Try Scone for yourself in the App Store and Google Play.
TreeApp
A tree a day keeps climate change away? Well, it can’t hurt!
It takes less than a minute to plant a tree for free with TreeApp. Individuals or businesses can use the eco-friendly app to make their global impact. As deforestation is a major contributor to climate change, reforestation is an obvious way to reduce its effects. Plantings trees improves carbon capture, soil stabilization, and water regulation — not to mention the habitats of tens of thousands of species!
Start planning today; find TreeApp in the App Store and Google Play.
Freegle
Have you ever looked around your home and wondered, “how did I get all this stuff”? Yup, us too! Some great online marketplaces exist to buy and sell used items, but items on Freegle are 100% free. Giving away in the community helps reduce the production of new things and keeps useable goods out of landfills.
If you have things you don’t need — appliances, furniture, art, sports equipment — you can list them on Freegle for someone in your community to take home. Alternatively, if you’re the one in the market, you can get something new to you from a neighbor.
Find Freegle, “online dating for stuff,” on the App Store and Google Play.
BlaBlaCar
This one is for the eco- and cost-conscious traveler in Europe. Take your pick of rides at low prices with BlaBlaCar. Whether you’re driving and want to share the cost and carbon emissions with other travelers or if you need a ride, you can get to where you need to go with less environmental impact. There are even options to travel by bus, depending on your destination.
Be on your way; find BlaBla Car in the App Store and Google Play.
Swapabee
We all know the saying — one person’s gently used item is another person’s treasure. Join Swapabee if you’re looking for a virtual swap meet. List any goods you have that you don’t want, get matched with someone who has something you do want, and swap! It’s a simple way to get new to you items that you’ll use and get rid of clutter from your home — no landfill required.
Refill
Plastic pollution is an environmental crisis— less than 10% of plastic produced has ever been recycled. Eco-conscious consumers looking to reduce or eliminate plastic waste from their lives will love Refill.
This eco-friendly app connects you to places to eat, drink and shop with less waste; from water refill stations to plastic-free stores to cafés and restaurants, you can bring your own containers.
Refill puts the power to go zero-waste at your fingertips; find it on the App Store and Google Play.
Litterati
What if you knew exactly what was littering your community? Litterati knows. And this app for sustainability in communities empowers people to create a cleaner planet. You can find an analysis of where exactly in your neighborhood is attracting more litter than others and why. Get insights into what type of trash is in your area by the object, material, and even brand.
With their Analyze platform, governments, communities, and enterprise customers can diagnose the causes of litter and take action to prevent it.
Clean up your community; Download Litterati from the App Store or Google Play.
Love Clean Streets
Love Clean Streets is the UK’s most used environmental reporting service connecting the public to the council. The app tracks the issue from when you report it until it’s resolved, so you can be confident that the proper authorities have taken care of things.
If you live in the UK, get Love Clean Streets on the App Store and Google Play.
Flora
Does your phone distract you from getting the things you want to be done? You’re not alone! And that’s why the eco-friendly app Flora was designed; it merges productivity with sustainability. Set a focus-time duration, and your Flora app will grow you a tree as long as you stay off social media.
You can make your virtual trees a reality when you opt-in to the paid version of the app. Flora partners with Trees for the Future and Eden Reforestation Projects, working with local communities in Africa, East Asia, and South America to plant fast-growing soil-rebuilding trees.
Improve your focus and the environment; find Flora on the App Store, Google Play, or Chrome Extension.
Forest
Like Flora, Forest is an app for sustainability designed to help you focus. Your forest will grow as long as you don’t exit the app when you’re supposed to concentrate. As you build the habit of daily focus time, you’ll find your trees turning into a lush forest, and you’ll earn virtual coins.
Forest partners with Trees for the Future to plant real trees when you donate virtual coins. Sustainability, reforestation, and productivity together in one app.
Grow your Forest; find it in the App Store and Google Play.
Bikemap
Here’s an eco-friendly app for the biking enthusiast. Bikemap has helped over 7 million cyclists discover 11 million cycling routes worldwide. Cycling is a great exercise and one of the most environmentally friendly ways to get around. Whether you’re looking for new bike paths at home or planning a bike tour on vacation, you can find safe, well-maintained bike routes.
Find your perfect path; Get Bikemap on the App Store and Google Play.
PlugShare
Do you drive an electric vehicle? First of all, congrats on reducing your reliance on fossil fuels! If you’re planning a trip in your EV, bring PlugShare along for the ride. You’ll have access to a map with over 600,000 charging stations with tips, reviews, and photos.
Find PlugShare on the App Store and Google Play.
SDGs in Action
No Poverty. Zero Hunger. Affordable and Clean Energy. Responsible Consumption and Production. These are just a few of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals to transform our world by 2030.
The SDGs in Action app is here to help you learn about the 17 goals, track their progress, and create your own events to mobilize others in sustainable action.
Get the ultimate app for sustainability; find SDGs in Action on the App Store and Google Play.
Plume Labs: Air Quality App
Looking for transparency about the air you breathe? Then the Air Quality App from Plume Labs is your ecological app download. Plume Labs provides real-time air pollution in your community and around the globe. Users can get clean-air coaching — perfect if you’re going running, biking, or even just on a picnic.
Breathe freely; find Air Quality App on the App Store and Google Play.
GridCarbon
If you’re in Great Britain and want to know the carbon intensity in the power grid, we have an app for you! GridCarbon summarizes the generation mix data broken down into major categories of fuel type and interconnectors.
Find GridCarbon on the App Store and Google Play.
We Don’t Have Time.
Ever wanted to speak directly to world leaders and CEOs of global companies about their sustainability commitments? We sure have. Join We Don’t Have Time. It’s a social network for the eco-conscious where you can review companies, organizations, and politicians.
Use the app to praise a leader you think is leading the way in sustainable business practices, suggest improvements to those you recognize can do more, and use warnings to demand an end to harmful practices.
Make your voice heard; Download We Don’t Have Time on the App Store and Google Play.
iRecycle
If you’ve got something that needs to be recycled, chances are iRecycle can show you where to do it! Pop open your iRecycle app and discover over 1.6 million places to recycle more than 350 materials in the US. That’s a lot of recycling! Not only that, you get access to daily sustainable living articles, podcasts, and recycling how-to guides.
Level up your recycling; iRecycle is available on the App Store and Google Play.
GreenChoice: Grocery Shopping
Grocery stores are full of an overwhelming number of consumer choices. And, unless you’ve done extensive research, it’s hard to know which products are sustainable and which are ecological disasters.
It’s a lot for a person to handle, and that’s why we love GreenChoice — it allows you to compare foods for their impact on your health and the environment. The app also makes personalized recommendations for lower carbon footprint alternatives to your frequent purchases. Talk about empowering users to make more sustainable shopping choices at the supermarket!
Know what’s in your cart; Find GreenChoice on the App Store and Google Play.
PaperKarma
Imagine having an ad-blocker for your mailbox at home — that’s essentially what PaperKarma does. You can opt out of thousands of verified mailers instead of getting unwanted paper junk mail that goes right into the recycling bin.
Reduce the carbon footprint of your household and block catalogs, direct marketing, donation requests, and credit card offers from reaching you… Sounds like a win-win!
Download the PaperKarma app to get started.
Ecosia
How much energy does it take to power a single web search? Well, according to Direct Energy, about 1KJ. That’s not much for an individual search, but compound that by the 40,000 searches happening every second, and you can see how quickly the energy consumption can spike!
That’s where the Ecosia search engine comes in. It’s a search engine that plants trees. Every time you use Ecosia, the ad revenue is donated to an ecological project planting trees in the most climate-change-vulnerable places on earth.
Try carbon offset search; Find Ecosia on the App Store, Google Play, or Chrome Extension.
Tap
Tap has some of the coolest environmental apps of 2022. Not only does Drinkware OS help you remember to hydrate, but it also calculates the environmental impact of using a refillable bottle. Did we mention the rewards? There are prizes to be won weekly! All this is part of an effort to eliminate single-use plastics that end up in our oceans, including the #drinkdifferent pledge — a challenge where users give up single-use plastic bottles for 30 days.
Think Dirty®
Ever wonder about the origins of the ingredients in your skincare routine? Do the chemical names of household products cause you concern? We get it, there are many products out there, and it’s not always clear what’s in them!
Take the guesswork out of selecting the greenest options for your beauty, personal care, and household products. Think Dirty® app is the easiest way to learn ingredients —scan the product barcode and see easy-to-understand info on the product, its ingredients, and cleaner alternatives!
Think dirty; shop clean on the App Store and Google Play.
#climate
If you’re ready to take action against climate change, you belong on #climate (hashtag climate).
This eco-friendly app is a platform for change, harnessing social power for the greater good. You’ll receive personalized actions you can take in your home or community and easily share with your network to scale your impact.
Start taking #climate action on the App Store and Google Play.
Dropcountr
Maybe your utility company is already using Dropcountr to track your water use and share actionable insights to reach your water goals. If not, let them know you want to save 9% in monthly water use like Dropcountr users! Awareness is the first step to action, and seeing up-to-date water usage stats from your home can help you find ways to conserve water.
Save water, time, and money; find Dropcountr on the App Store and Google Play.
RecycleNation
Recycling old electronics can be daunting, especially for phones and computers, as we keep so much of our personal data on them. If you’ve got some unwanted electronics that you’d like to recycle safely, try RecycleNation. This go-green app is powered by a cybersecurity-focused hardware destruction company, making them a good option to handle getting those electronics out of your house and on their way to their next life.
Find RecycleNation on the App Store and Google Play.
EWG’s Healthy Living
Scan a product. View its rating. Pick the best option. Making green consumer choices is really that simple with EWG’s Healthy Living app.
We know choosing nutritious food that is free of harmful pesticides and contaminants and is processed sustainably is a lot of work! When shopping with Healthy Living, you can scan or search for the product and instantly get an easy-to-understand 1-10 score backed by science you can trust.
Live a healthy, green life; find Healthy Living on the App Store and Google Play.
The Planet App
Small actions made by many can change the world! The Planet App is your personal sustainability coach, helping you understand and ultimately reduce the emissions caused by your daily activity. You can calculate your carbon footprint, learn with sustainability courses, and set (and attain) personal goals for living a greener lifestyle.
Change the planet; find the app on the App Store and Google Play.
Good On You
There are some amazing sustainability apps for ecommerce to help shoppers and support brands that align with their beliefs. Good On You has rated over 4,000 brands against their people, planet, and animal practices. Only the top rankings (Good or Great) make the cut for their Rated Good On You recognition.
Join over one million users (including Emma Watson) to find the most sustainable fashion from ethical brands.
Find ethical fashion; Get Good On You on the App Store and Google Play.
Cleanfox
Did you know that every newsletter in your inbox generates 10 grams of CO2? It may not sound like much, but if you’re anything like us and you get loads of emails each week, it adds up! Cleanfox can help you keep unwanted emails out of your inbox and reduce your ecological impact at the same time. You read that right; you can reduce your carbon footprint by getting rid of junk email.
Find Cleanfox on the App Store and Google Play.
Fat Llama
You can rent pretty much anything from your neighbors for jobs at home, fun outings, or even work. Fat Llama is an app where you can borrow or rent items like cameras, drones, sewing machines, and even campers. Renting items instead of buying them new is a great way to keep our carbon footprint low, reduce manufacturing, and help our neighbors bring in a little cash. Want to make some money too? List your goodies on Fat Llama!
Download Fat Llama on the App Store and Google Play.
Water Footprint Calculator
What’s your water footprint? The Water Footprint Calculator web app helps you estimate your total water use and discover ways to reduce your impact. Use the calculator to understand how much water comes from the tap and how much goes into the food we eat, our gadgets, and the electricity that powers them!
ShareWaste
Do your neighbors have chickens? How about pigs? This is going somewhere, we promise. If you have people in your community composting, worm-farming, or raising farm animals, ShareWaste is a sustainability app for you! Find the people in your area looking for organic materials and share your kitchen waste with them. That’s one way to get to know your neighbors!
Share your waste; find ShareWaste on the App Store and Google Play.
Bonus: OceanHero
OceanHero is another eco-friendly search engine available by Chrome Extension. Save the oceans while you search the web — for every five searches, you remove one plastic bottle from the ocean. In partnership with PlasticBank, OceanHero pays people to recover ocean-bound plastic and return it to plastic collection hubs.
Eco Living Made Easy
We hope this list has given you some ideas on how to use eco-friendly apps in your everyday life to reduce your ecological footprint. Small changes like sharing food and other goods in your neighborhood, keeping usable products out of landfills by renting them out or swapping them, and using less single-use plastics are simple but can compound into significant impact.
No one is perfect, but your commitment matters! Go green and share your sustainability story with your community — you can change the world.
