Today we have a treat for all of you smartphone users out there. Jane Johnson joins us as a guest blogger sharing the best vegan apps of 2012 (bio below). These sound like a great resource for making the shift to a vegan lifestyle even easier. Has anyone tried any of these or other vegan apps? Let me know what you think!

The Top Vegan Apps for 2012

5 tools for eating and buying cruelty-free

If you are new to the vegan lifestyle, having vegans over for dinner, or just looking for a way to incorporate more cruelty-free recipes into your weekly meal planning, then look no further than your smartphone.

There are thousands of smart phone apps available to make your switch to veganism easier. The following five apps for vegans focus on travel, recipes, cruelty-free restaurant options and even product directories to put the very best of the veggie experience in the palm of your hand…

1. Cruelty-Free (Free – for iPhone)

This great app will come in handy whenever you shop because it tells you which products have and have not done testing on animals. The Cruelty-Free app will save you a lot of time trying to decipher product small print. It features testing information provided by the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics’ (CCIC) Leaping Bunny Program for more than 200 companies in North America that don’t test ingredients or products on animals. Users can search the directory alphabetically or browse it randomly before making any purchases so you feel confident about your cruelty-free consumer purchases. 

2. Vegan with a Vengeance ($9.99 – for BlackBerry)

If you’re vegan, and maybe even if you’re not, you’ve definitely heard of Isa Chandra Moskowitz, author of the famed cookbook Vegan with a Vengeance and host of the vegan cooking show The Post Punk Kitchen. Well now her unique personality, kitchen wisdom, and delicious recipes are available via Blackberry with the Vegan with a Vengeance app. This app features over 150 recipes, plus Moskowitz’s anecdotes and her in your face cooking philosophy that will have you rocking your veggies in the kitchen. Packed full of sensible nutrition and cruelty-free recipes, you’ll learn to steer clear of corporate brand-name products and experiment with delicious foods—such as stuffed mushrooms and gingerbread cupcakes!

3. Veggie Passport ($0.99 – for iPhone)

The Veggie Passport app will ensure your travels are animal—regardless of the country you visit. This app is a translation tool that communicates your veganism in 33 other languages! To use the app, simply:

• Choose your language—from English, Arabic, Albanian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Vietnamese, and many more
• Then choose the message you want to communicate—for instance, “Can I have my stir fry with tofu instead of chicken?”
• Then show the translated screen to your waiter or waitress to read and understand.

4. VeganXpress (Free – for Android)

If you’ve ever been stuck with a grumbly tummy and no fast-food options then the VeganXpress is the app for you! This tool is a complete on-the-run guide to dining vegan at popular restaurant chains. Use the app to discover more than 110 fast-food and chain eatery options within North America. So the next time you go for lunch with a bunch of non-vegans, you can still satisfy your hunger in a cruelty-free manner.

5. Vegan Recipe Finder ($2.99 – for iPhone)

The Vegan Recipe Finder features the full recipe data base from the popular website VegWeb.com. You’ll never be stuck on what to make for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, or deserts. Browse over 15,000 user-submitted recipes from VegWeb’s own recipe box and even get tips for grocery shopping to track down those unique ingredients.

Bio: Jane Johnson is a writer for GoingCellular, a popular site that provides cell phone related news, commentary, reviews on service providers and devices like the popular T-Mobile Android Samsung phone range.