# Beat the Microbead > Fight plastics in cosmetics! Canonical page: [https://chrome-stats.com/d/id573546717](https://chrome-stats.com/d/id573546717) ## Overview - **ID:** `id573546717` - **Platform:** Apple - **Type:** Apple app - **Status:** Available - **Publisher:** Plastic Soup Foundation - **Category:** Health & Fitness - **Rating:** 4.50 / 5 (28 ratings) - **Version:** 3.1.1 - **Last updated:** 2024-04-02 - **First published:** 2012-11-03 - **Size:** 52 MB - **Data as of:** 2026-09-06 - **Store listing:** [Apple App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/beat-the-microbead/id573546717) - **Privacy policy:** [https://www.beatthemicrobead.org/privacy-statement](https://www.beatthemicrobead.org/privacy-statement) ## Description The Beat the Microbead app is the fastest way to learn if your cosmetics and personal care products contain plastic ingredients. This app uses state-of-the-art text recognition technology. Just scan the ingredients of your products and check them for microplastics. Not only that, but you can also get to know microplastic-free brands certified by us. How does it work? It’s straightforward: you can scan products with four easy steps: - Find the ingredients list on your product. - Position the full list within your camera frame. - Make sure the ingredients are clear to read. - Take a picture to scan! A traffic light rating system - RED: Products that contain microplastics. - ORANGE: Products that contain what we call “sceptical” microplastics. With this, we mean synthetic polymers for which there is not enough information available. - GREEN: Products that do not contain microplastics. Help us enrich our database! Every time you add a product to our database, you help us build a case against microplastics. With every product information, we can create evidence and convince authorities about the extensive use of plastic ingredients. A bit of extra effort on your side makes you a part of the fight against microplastics in cosmetics and care products. So, go ahead, scan the barcode of your product and help us get some more information! By adding the products to our database, you can also discover our certified microplastic-free brands. These brands have their entire range of products free of all known microplastic ingredients. Why is it important? Plastic in cosmetics is a global problem! Microplastics are hardly visible ingredients that pollute our planet & may pose health risks. These microplastics, hardly visible to the naked eye, flow straight from the bathroom drain into the sewer system. Microplastics are not biodegradable, and once they enter the (marine) environment, they are almost impossible to remove. Sea animals absorb or eat microplastics; these particles are passed along the marine food chain. Since humans are ultimately at the top of this food chain, it is likely that we also ingest microplastics. Using body washes or cosmetics that contain microplastics can put the ocean, ourselves, and our children at risk! With this app, you can get aware of this issue and make environmentally friendly choices. Who is behind this app? The collaborators behind this app include the following partners: Plastic Soup Foundation: NGO based in Amsterdam, initiators of the worldwide campaign “Beat the Microbead”. Their mission: No plastic in our water or our bodies! PINCH: a renowned mobile development agency from Amsterdam that is proud of their work for the Plastic Soup Foundation. ## Rankings - #219,404 — Overall - #49 — plastic bottles ## Review summary Users largely praise the app for its mission to educate about microbeads and microplastics and for its community-driven goal of expanding a product database. However, the reviews consistently cite reliability problems: a sparse, hard-to-navigate database; a finicky scanner; and frequent submission errors that hinder adding new products. These consistency issues—database coverage, scanning reliability, and data submission—drive most of the negative feedback, underscoring the need for better data coverage and a smoother user workflow to realize the app’s educational potential. ### Pros - Clear concept/mission to educate users about microbeads and microplastics and to reduce exposure. - Educational value highlighting the harms of microplastics and microbeads across products. - Community-driven feature allowing users to scan and submit products to help expand the database. ### Cons - Sparse and frequently incomplete database with many products shown as unknown. - Scanner is unreliable and often fails to recognize barcodes or read images. - Submission/upload flow has errors, preventing users from adding data to the database. - Search/navigation is confusing with duplicates and inaccurate results. ## Similar extensions and apps - [Polycheck - Find Microplastics](https://chrome-stats.com/d/id6739971441) — 4.10 / 5 - [Microplastics AI](https://chrome-stats.com/d/id6739386497) — 4.10 / 5 - [Plack: Microplastics Scanner](https://chrome-stats.com/d/id6740711020) — 4.70 / 5 - [Toxic Microplastics Scanner AI](https://chrome-stats.com/d/id6759188471) — 5.00 / 5 - [Microplastic Free: Scanner](https://chrome-stats.com/d/id6740706362) — 4.60 / 5 - [MicroPlastics - Food Scanner](https://chrome-stats.com/d/id6741938548) — 5.00 / 5 - [Purity: Microplastic Scanner](https://chrome-stats.com/d/id6784782271) — 5.00 / 5 - [PlasticFreeFuture](https://chrome-stats.com/d/id6746025794) — 3.80 / 5 - [PlastIQ: Detect Microplastics](https://chrome-stats.com/d/id6744667443) — 5.00 / 5 - [Plastic Scan](https://chrome-stats.com/d/id6757223529) — 3.00 / 5 - [MicroTrack](https://chrome-stats.com/d/id6787749979) — 5.00 / 5 - [Clea: Microplastics in Food](https://chrome-stats.com/d/id6791468479) --- Source: [Chrome-Stats](https://chrome-stats.com/d/id573546717)