Your Allergy Profile
Select Your Allergies
When you or a loved one has food allergies, you have to tell a lot of different people — some who have higher food allergy IQ's; others who are totally uninformed — about them and how they can help you. You also have to research food choices to be sure all your food is allergen-free.
The Allergy Force app has features that make all these communication and research efforts much easier and more efficient for you.
To get the most out of the app, the first step you need to take after downloading is creating your Allergy Profile. This profile informs other features in the app (*see list below) about your food allergies so they can work on your behalf.
How Do You Set Up an Allergy Profile?
Demo of Allergy Profile Set-Up
Setting up Your 'Allergy Profile' is as Easy as 1-2-3!
Step-by-Step Details
1. If you did not set up your 'Allergy Profile' when you downloaded the app, you can do it from the 'Home' page. Just tap 'My Allergies' on the 'Home' page and you will land on the 'Select Allergies' page.
2. Scroll down the ‘Select Allergies’ page and you will see there are 12 pre-populated allergens in the app that you can tap to toggle ‘ON’.
To toggle an allergen ‘ON’, tap the greyed-out square labelled with the allergen’s name that you want to add to your profile. When you toggle ‘ON’ an allergen, the image of the allergen becomes clearly visible and the text disappears.
Image #1 below: No allergens selected.
Image #2 below: All allergens selected.
Image #3 below: Some allergens selected.
Certain choices cover multiple allergens like:
Tree Nuts = ALL Tree Nuts
Milk = ALL Dairy
Shellfish = Crustacean + Mollusk Shellfish
If you want to remove an allergen from the profile, just tap the image again to toggle it ‘OFF.’ The image will become greyed-out and will once again be labelled with the name of the allergen.
3. Scroll further down the ‘Select Allergies’ page you will see an ‘Add More’ button. Tap that button to add any allergies that were not covered by the pre-populated choices.
When you tap the 'Add More' button you will land on the ‘Add More Allergies’ page
Type in up to 12 more food allergies that are unique to you. List them as they would be listed on a food ingredients label (e.g., Not 'Mammalian Meat' but 'Pork,' 'Beef,' 'Lamb'.)
When you’ve finished, click ‘Done’ at the bottom of your screen to return to the ‘Select Allergies’ page.
4. Scroll to the very bottom of the ‘Select Allergies’ page to choose how you want to share your allergen information inside the Allergy Force community.
At this time, the app does not share anyone’s allergen information with other app users within the community, even when ‘Public’ is selected.
Tap 'Done' to return to the 'Home' page where you will now see the allergens you added displayed in the 'My Allergies' grid at the top of the 'Home' page.
6. Expert user tips:
As you encounter different situations in daily life, you may want to adjust the allergens on your 'Allergy Profile.' They're easy to toggle 'ON' and 'OFF.' As examples:
To respect an additional family member's dairy-free lifestyle choice when you grocery shop for the family you could easily toggle 'Milk' (= Dairy) 'ON.'
When dining out, you might want to edit your profile by removing your Oral Allergy Syndrome (OAS) trigger foods to make it simpler for a chef to prepare your meal.
Your 'Allergy Profile' might usually list all your kids' allergens, but you could adjust it to reflect just one child's allergens when you send a 'Friends/Family Food Allergy Explanation' to a party, playdate, or sleepover host.
*What App Features Does the 'Allergy Profile' Inform?
A mix of Free Forever and Premium {paid} features in the app rely on the 'Allergy Profile' information to work.
Generally, these features help you easily communicate your allergies to others using pre-filled text and built-in email, text, or print features. They also help you research food options so you can make better (safer) food choices. Here they are:
Restaurant Allergy Explanation Card (aka: Digital Chef Card): alerts restaurants to your food allergies in 21 languages. (free)
Friends/Family Food Allergy Explanation: helps you easily & consistently explain your food allergies to friends & family. (free)
Food Barcode Scanner: banishes unsafe food from your grocery cart with a quick barcode scan. (premium)
Food Search: search by food category, brand or exact label (premium)
Recipe Search: finds safe recipes free of your allergens that you can save to build your own library of allergy-friendly recipes or share with friends and family. (premium)
Food Preparation Explanation: this step-by-step guide educates people how to safely prepare food for you. (premium)
Get The App
The app offers Free Forever and Premium access. You can try out Premium during a 14-day, no commitment free trial. We want you to get to know us and trust us. We hope you will come to love us.
…empowering you to live your best life with food allergies.
The purpose of the App User Guide series of posts is to educate the food allergy community about the Allergy Force food allergy app — what it can do, how it works, how to get the most out of it. We're committed to helping you live freely with food allergies — with less fear, less anxiety, more confidence — through technology and education. Our app is peace of mind in your pocket.