How to Use the Verify Halal App

The Verify Halal app is a free mobile tool from Serunai Commerce Sdn Bhd, endorsed by JAKIM, Malaysia’s Department of Islamic Development, that lets a shopper confirm a product’s halal certification from a phone. It works in three main ways: scan a product barcode or a certificate QR code, search the database by product, brand or premises, or point the camera at a halal logo and let the app authenticate it. Every result is matched against JAKIM’s own records and the records of the International Halal Certification Bodies that JAKIM recognises. This guide covers how to install it, how each feature works, and what it can and cannot tell you.

What the Verify Halal app is

Verify Halal sits on top of JAKIM’s certification data rather than an ingredient database. That distinction matters. The app tells you whether a specific product, brand, premises or abattoir holds a valid halal certificate that JAKIM issues or recognises. It does not analyse a product ingredient by ingredient, and it is not a fatwa. The database covers over two million products and services and pulls from more than 90 certification bodies across roughly 48 countries, which makes it one of the wider certification checkers a consumer can reach without paying.

Because the app answers to JAKIM’s recognition scheme, its verdict lines up with the same authority that decides which bodies enter JAKIM recognition in the first place. That is the reason a match in Verify Halal carries weight in the Malaysian market.

How to install it

The app is free on both major platforms:

iOS: search “Verify Halal” on the Apple App Store, or open the listing under Serunai Commerce, and tap Get.
Android: search “Verify Halal” on Google Play under the package by Serunai Commerce, and tap Install.

You can start searching and scanning as soon as the app opens. For technical issues, the support address is verifyhalal@serunai.com.

How to check a product

The app gives you three ways to reach the same certification record. Use whichever suits what is in front of you.

Scan a barcode or QR code

Tap the scan tool and hold your camera over the product barcode or over a QR code printed on a certificate. If the item is in the database, the app returns its certification record: the certified name, the certifying body, and its status. A barcode scan only works when that exact product has been logged, so a genuine but unlisted product can still come back empty.

Search by name

Type a product, brand, premises or abattoir name into the search bar. The filter option lets you narrow by category, which helps when a brand name returns many lines. Search is the fastest route when there is no barcode to scan, for example a restaurant or a bulk item.

Scan the halal logo with AI

The AI Scan Halal Logo feature, added in October 2024, lets you photograph the certification mark on packaging. The app recognises logos from 88 certification bodies across 49 countries and confirms whether the mark belongs to a Foreign Halal Certification Body that JAKIM recognises. This is useful against a logo that is designed to look official but traces back to no recognised body.

The location feature

Verify Halal also carries a location based service. When you find a certified product on a shelf, you can pin and tag where you bought it so other users within a 20km radius can find the same item. This is community contributed, so treat a pin as a shopping tip rather than proof of certification. The certification record itself is what confirms halal status.

What the app confirms, and what it does not

Read the result the right way and the app is dependable. Read it loosely and it can mislead.

A match confirms that a certificate exists and is recognised. It is strong evidence for that specific product or premises.
A blank result means the item is not recorded, not that it is haram. Check the physical certificate before you decide.
The app reports certification status, not ingredient composition. It will not flag a doubtful additive inside an otherwise certified product.
Coverage is wide but not total. Bodies outside JAKIM’s scheme, and brand new products, may not appear yet.

Where the app fits with your other checks

Verify Halal is one tool in a wider process, not the whole process. When you are holding a paper certificate, the app confirms the record, but you still read the document itself the way our guide to verifying a halal certificate sets out, checking the holder name, scope and validity dates. And when something feels off, a mismatched name or a logo the AI cannot place, the warning signs in our guide to spotting a fake halal certificate tell you what to do next. Used together, the app and those checks give a shopper a fast, official first answer and a way to confirm it.