Technology has become one of the most effective tools for living sustainably and creating social impact. Every day, new apps are helping people reduce waste, track their carbon footprint, shop more ethically, and give back to meaningful causes with just a few taps on their phones.
These platforms turn everyday actions—like buying groceries, traveling, or donating spare change—into opportunities for positive change.
In this post, we highlight some of the best sustainability and social good apps designed to make eco-friendly living and conscious giving simple, practical, and accessible.
Whether you’re passionate about cutting carbon emissions, supporting fair trade, fighting hunger, or planting trees, these apps put impact right at your fingertips and empower you to take part in building a better future for both people and the planet.
Commons
In the Commons: Spend Sustainably app, users are introduced to the concept that every purchase they make has a carbon footprint, representing an opportunity to contribute to the fight against climate change.
This app emphasizes that the daily purchases of individuals collectively influence 65% of global emissions and underscores the importance of sustainable spending to advocate for a low-carbon future for the planet.
Through “Commons,” users can explore the environmental impact of their purchases and access user-friendly methods for making eco-friendly choices. The app offers several features to facilitate sustainable spending:
- Cash Back for Sustainable Purchases: Users are encouraged to make sustainable spending decisions in their daily lives, such as opting for public transit, choosing plant-based meals, or engaging in secondhand shopping. “Commons” rewards sustainable choices with cash back incentives available until October 31.
- Discover Sustainable Brands: The app helps users identify and switch to brands that actively work to reduce global emissions. Users can explore a wide range of eco-friendly brands that support low-carbon business models or responsibly offset their carbon emissions.
- Buy Less: “Commons” provides personalized and practical guides for eco-friendly living, covering topics like sustainable laundry, greener travel, eco-conscious banking, secondhand furniture, composting, and supporting local businesses.
- Lower Your Carbon Footprint: Users can monitor their personal carbon footprint using a personalized tracker, enabling them to track the emissions associated with each purchase and assess their progress over time. The app calculates emissions for each transaction based on the user’s carbon profile and purchase history, providing personalized advice for reducing their carbon footprint.
- Offset Your Emissions: “Commons” offers a feature for users to offset their unavoidable emissions by investing in a curated portfolio of climate solutions. These solutions work toward lowering global emissions, supporting local communities, and restoring ecosystems.
Ecosia
Ecosia is a search engine app that plants trees with ad revenue from users’ web searches. Every search contributes to reforestation projects around the world, from restoring biodiversity to supporting communities with sustainable livelihoods. Ecosia has planted over 200 million trees worldwide.
abillion
Abillion is a global online marketplace and community committed to creating a positive impact for the planet, animals, and people. The app connects users with countless vegan and plant-based food options and cruelty-free products, promoting healthy living habits.
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Sustainability is a top priority, with over half a million sustainable products from around the world, including food, beauty, and fashion. Join a growing community of like-minded individuals passionate about making a difference through healthy living and sustainability with abillion.
Olio
Olio is a community-driven food sharing app that helps reduce food waste by connecting neighbors and local businesses. Users can list surplus food items or household goods they no longer need, making them available for pickup.
Olio also partners with restaurants and grocery stores to redistribute unsold food, ensuring it reaches those in need instead of landfills.
Good On You
Good On You serves as a trusted resource for sustainability ratings in the world of fashion. With over a million users globally, the Good On You app empowers individuals to make more responsible shopping choices and contribute to a sustainable future.
Users of the Good On You app can effortlessly assess the impact of their favorite fashion brands on issues that matter to them. The app offers insights into ethical fashion shopping, presents better alternatives, and provides exclusive offers from leading brands.
The app boasts a collection of over 3,000 brands, all subjected to a comprehensive rating system. Each brand is assigned a user-friendly rating on a scale of one to five, ranging from ‘We Avoid’ (1) to ‘Great’ (5). These ratings cover the brand’s impact on people, the planet, and animals.
The Kiva App
Kiva is an international nonprofit organization that envisions a financially inclusive world where all people have access to the financial services they need to improve their lives. Kiva aims to expand financial access to underserved communities by crowdfunding loans and unlocking capital.
They also address the underlying barriers to financial access worldwide. Since their inception in 2005, Kiva has helped 3.4 million borrowers in over 90 countries by crowdfunding $1.4 billion in loans from a community of 1.9 million people.
Lenders can choose borrowers to support by browsing by category and making a loan with as little as $25. Kiva borrowers have a 96% repayment rate historically, and lenders can choose to relend their money or withdraw their funds.
Kiva’s loans have a significant impact on the lives of their borrowers, who include entrepreneurs, students, farmers, single mothers, and refugees.
They can use their loans to pay for tuition, start businesses, invest in equipment, or afford needed emergency care.
Lending on Kiva is not a donation, but a loan that creates a partnership of mutual dignity. Kiva believes that lending alongside thousands of others is one of the most powerful and sustainable ways to create economic and social good.
Lenders can choose where to make an impact, whether it’s in their community or halfway around the world. Loans on Kiva are not just about money; they are also a way to create connections and relationships.
Too Good To Go
Too Good To Go fights food waste by helping users purchase unsold food from restaurants, bakeries, and cafes at a discounted price.
Known as “magic bags,” these surprise meals let users save money while reducing waste. Operating in over 17 countries, the app has saved millions of meals from going to waste.
Zero Waste Store
The Zero Waste Store mobile app is a pioneering sustainable shopping platform. It empowers users to effortlessly explore eco-friendly product alternatives and sustainable brands, all from the convenience of their mobile device.
Users can shop confidently, knowing that all orders placed within the ZWS app are handled sustainably, featuring plastic-free packaging and carbon-neutral shipping. Additionally, 1% of all sales contribute to environmental causes.
Key Features of the ZWS App:
- Shop Green-on-the-Go: The app offers enhanced search capabilities and an express checkout, enabling users to instantly browse and purchase the latest low waste and zero waste products. It provides access to a diverse range of sustainable collections and brands, allowing users to make eco-conscious choices in various aspects of their lives.
- Rewards and Special Offers: Users can benefit from app-exclusive special offers and discounts. ZWS Rewards members can earn even more exclusive rewards.
- Wishlist and Gift Registries: The app provides a convenient way to create and customize sustainable Wish Lists and Gift Registries, making it easier for users to share their eco-friendly preferences.
- Account Management: Users have immediate access to their accounts through the ZWS app, allowing them to track current and previous orders at any time.
- Discover the Sustainable You: Whether users are new to sustainable living or seasoned zero-waste enthusiasts, the app offers a platform for exploring and adopting eco-friendly practices. Users can discover trending and top-selling products that align with their sustainability goals. Furthermore, the ZWS app provides a source of inspiration from the @zerowastestore community, offering guidance and insights on-demand.
Humanity
Join nearly 100,000 users on Humanity, the top app for increasing health span (years of healthy living). Discover your biological age and receive personalized guidance based on AI algorithms validated against real-world health outcomes.
Continuously monitor your actions in four categories and receive an H Score for every positive step taken. Strive towards a healthier future with goals like staying fully functional for more years, reducing stress levels, and increasing happiness.
Earth Hero
Earth Hero simplifies taking action on climate change and discovering sustainable ways of living. Join a global movement dedicated to addressing climate change and rapid species loss.
Connect with a community of change-makers, personalize actions in areas such as travel, food, energy, and advocacy, and discover healthy, smart, and satisfying ways to live.
Use the carbon tracker to calculate and understand your carbon footprint, compare it with science-based recommendations, set green goals, and share your actions with others. Let’s rise to the challenge of our age through personal change, collective action, and advocacy.
Daffy
Daffy helps you turn giving into a habit by allowing you to contribute cash, stock, or crypto to your tax-free fund and donate to over 1.5 million charities in the U.S. Join a community committed to helping those less fortunate than themselves.
Here’s how it works:
Take the Daffy Pledge and choose how much money you want to put aside for charity every week, month, or year, or make a one-time contribution to start.
Contribute any amount you like in cash, stock, or crypto. Invest your Daffy fund in one of our nine modern investment portfolios, including Standard, ESG, and Crypto.
Watch your fund grow tax-free and donate more to charities over time.
Donate to any of over 1.5 million charities in the U.S. whenever you want to give, right from your phone.
ThredUP
ThredUP is one of the largest online resale platforms for secondhand fashion. By shopping pre-loved clothing or selling your own, you help reduce textile waste and extend the life of garments, making fashion more sustainable.
Peekabond
Peekabond aims to become a digital playground for families, where they can enjoy playful activities and spent quality time together. The app is now available — a video messenger to connect families using science-based play activities.
Using technology for good, they help strengthen real-life relationships. With simple, engaging, and clever content ideas at the touch of a button, it’s easy for every member of the family to get a little closer, even when you are not close by.
PalmOil Scan
The PalmOil Scan app allows users to shop with the knowledge that their purchases are helping to save tropical species and their habitats from deforestation.
Created in collaboration with the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) and led by conservation-minded zoos worldwide, the app enables users to determine if a product is sourced from a company committed to using sustainable palm oil.
The app’s database includes products from thousands of brands and hundreds of consumer product manufacturers to showcase their commitment to certified sustainable palm oil.
The app educates users on the importance of sustainable shopping choices and why boycotting palm oil is not a solution.
Users can scan barcodes or search for products by keyword to shop sustainably and play a role in contacting companies to ensure they use certified sustainable palm oil.
Additionally, the app offers information on how to help protect wildlife and wild places.
Klima
With Klima, a carbon neutral life has never been simpler. Calculate your carbon footprint and neutralize 100% of your CO2e emissions in just three minutes. How?
By funding science-based climate projects that capture or prevent the same emissions elsewhere. Next, learn how to shrink your own footprint sustainably and watch your positive impact grow.
Share the Meal
ShareTheMeal is an initiative of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger.
Each year, WFP reaches 80 million people with food assistance in around 80 countries. WFP is 100% voluntarily funded, so every donation counts.
WFP’s administrative costs are among the lowest in the non-profit sector – with 90% of donations going directly to WFP operations that are building a world with zero hunger.
Charity Miles
Charity Miles is a free app that allows you to earn money and raise awareness for charities by walking, running or biking– all courtesy of our corporate partners. Just choose a charity and hit the streets.
As you walk, run or bike, the app will measure your distance and you will earn money for your charity: 10¢ per mile for bikers; 25¢ per mile for walkers and runners, all up to our initial $1,000,000 corporate sponsorship pool.
Curtsy
Curtsy is a mobile app that allows women to buy and sell secondhand clothing from their own closets or from other users. The app was founded in 2016 by four college students who saw a need for a more streamlined and convenient way for women to sell and buy clothing.
The app has quickly gained popularity, with over 1 million downloads as of 2021.
The app features a simple and easy-to-use interface that allows users to list items for sale quickly and efficiently.
The app also offers features such as in-app payments, shipping labels, and pre-paid shipping bags to make the buying and selling process as smooth as possible.
Curtsy also provides a rating system to ensure that buyers and sellers can trust each other, and a chat function to allow communication between users.
One of the unique features of Curtsy is the ability to search for clothing by size, style, and occasion. This allows users to quickly and easily find exactly what they’re looking for.
Additionally, Curtsy offers a feature called “Curtsy Cash,” which allows users to earn credit on the app by referring friends or by selling items. This credit can then be used to purchase items on the app.
Curtsy has been praised for its commitment to sustainability, as the app encourages users to buy and sell secondhand clothing instead of contributing to the fast fashion industry.
The app also partners with a number of non-profit organizations, such as Dress for Success and The Princess Project, to donate clothing to those in need.
Flourish
Flourish offers users the opportunity to make a difference for causes they care about, even if they can’t afford to donate significant amounts of money.
With Flourish, users can give to nonprofits in a variety of ways, including rounding up and giving spare change from credit/debit card purchases, setting daily donations, giving one-time donations, and more.
The platform enables users to build relationships with the nonprofits they support by funding specific projects, giving input on how their money is used, and receiving progress updates.
Users can customize donations to fit their lifestyle and needs, setting limits on monthly donations or suspend giving at any time. Flourish makes giving in small ways both easy and impactful, allowing users to see the direct change they make.
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