WIC Companion — Source library
Public documentation snapshot: 2026-09-08
Know it qualifies before you get to the register.
Check what your WIC benefits actually cover, plan the trip, and spend it before it expires.
Know it qualifies before you get to the register.
Built for: A parent or caregiver on WIC who is tired of guessing in the aisle and finding out at the register · Spanish-speaking families who want the whole app in Spanish, not two translated screens · WIC clinic staff and peer counselors who get asked 'can I buy this?' all day and want to hand over something better than a booklet · Community food-access and outreach programs helping families use benefits before the month ends
WIC Companion exists because of this.
WIC does not hand you money for groceries. It hands you categories: so many ounces of cereal, a pound of cheese, a set dollar amount for fruit and vegetables. Which exact products count is decided by your state, product by product, right down to the barcode. Two loaves of bread sitting side by side on the same shelf can be a yes and a no, and nothing on either package tells you which one is which. So you stand in the aisle and guess. You squint at a printed booklet, you scan things one at a time, you put things back. Sometimes you only find out at the register, with a line behind you, that the cereal you picked is not on the list, and you have to decide right there whether to hold everyone up or go without. Meanwhile the clock is running. Benefits are issued for a period and then they are gone. Whatever you could not figure out how to spend does not roll over, and nobody calls to remind you it is about to lapse. The app most families get pointed to answers one narrow question, one item at a time: scan this, is it approved. It does not help you plan before you leave the house, it does not tell you whether the store you are driving to actually has the thing, and plenty of people are uneasy about what it does with their information. Being on WIC says something private about your income and your family. That should not be the price of finding out whether a box of oatmeal counts.
WIC Companion exists because of this.
Privacy is a code fact, not a policy page: there is no advertising component, no advertising identifier and no analytics or tracking library anywhere in the source, and nothing identity-linked is shared with a retailer or anyone else.
WIC Companion exists because of this.
It starts from the benefits you have left and ends with a list, instead of only answering 'is this one approved?' after you have already picked it up.
WIC Companion exists because of this.
Real per-state approved-food data for California, Colorado and New York, built from each agency's own published product list.
WIC Companion exists because of this.
Bilingual all the way down, including error messages and the reminder emails, and the search box understands fifty common Spanish food words even though the state's item names are in English.
WIC Companion exists because of this.
Expiration reminders, so a benefit you earned is not lost to a date nobody told you about.
WIC Companion exists because of this.
Honest about certainty: the store register is always described as the final word, retailer stock is labelled an indication rather than a guarantee, and the limits are written down instead of buried.
WIC Companion exists because of this.
The state-agency consent box is opt-in and unchecked by default, and no export exists behind it yet, so nothing about you has ever been sent anywhere on the strength of it.
How WIC Companion works, start to finish.
WIC Companion works the other way round from a scanner. You tell it which state you are in and which benefit categories you still have left, and it gives you back a shopping list: real products that are on your state's own approved list, grouped either by store aisle or by benefit category, ready before you leave the house. On the website you can also search Kroger-family stores by ZIP and pick one, and then each item can carry whether that store shows it in stock, which aisle it sits in, and the shelf price. That store lookup runs on Kroger's developer environment rather than production data access, so it is an indication to plan around, not a promise; everything else in the plan is eligibility, which does not depend on any retailer at all. You do not have to know which benefit category a food belongs to. Type 'bread' or 'rice' or 'cereal' and it searches your state's whole approved list. Because a word like bread can match hundreds of items in a real state file, results come back grouped by subcategory with a count and a few examples in each group, and you open the one group you meant. Bread-named groups sort above things that merely share a broad category, so you are not scrolling past two hundred pastas to find a loaf. Fifty common Spanish food words are mapped through as well, so 'leche' and 'pan integral' find milk and whole wheat bread even though the state's item names are written in English. In the store, you can point the camera at a barcode and get a straight answer for your state: on the list, or not. In the Android app the camera is never requested as a permission at all, the picture is handled on your own phone, only the decoded digits are sent to do the lookup, and if scanning will not work you can type the digits in by hand. In a phone browser, scanning uses the browser's own barcode support, and where that is missing you search the item by name instead. Anything you find you can save as a list, and a saved list can be reused next month instead of rebuilding the whole trip from scratch, with each line keeping its quantity and its checked-off state while you shop. For the fruit and vegetable dollar benefit the website keeps a running total, so you can see where you stand against the amount you have left. The part families lose the most money to is the calendar, so you can record when a category expires and how much is left on it. Three days before it lapses, WIC Companion emails you, in English or Spanish depending on what you chose, listing exactly which categories are about to go. It sends once per benefit period, so correcting a balance does not start a stream of duplicate reminders. The whole thing is bilingual end to end: every screen, the sign-in page, the error messages and both reminder emails. Switching language takes effect immediately, and if you have an account the choice follows you to your other devices. There are no ads, no advertising identifier and no analytics or tracking code anywhere in it - not disabled, not present. Your email address and any dollar figure you type are stored encrypted, your password is never kept in readable form, and nothing identity-linked is ever handed to a retailer or anyone else. At sign-up there is one optional consent box, unchecked unless you tick it, recording your permission for anonymized, aggregate stock patterns to go to your own state WIC agency if such a report is ever produced; no export of any kind exists today. And if you want out, the Account screen deletes your account, your lists and your reminders permanently after you re-enter your password.
Everything in the current release.
Each of these is built and working today. Nothing on this list is a roadmap item.
Your state's real approved list
Every check runs against the approved-food data your state agency actually publishes, not a generic national guess. Three states are loaded today: California, Colorado and New York. Because the data is per state, the answer you get is the answer your register is working from.
Search by food, not by benefit category
You should not have to know that tortillas live under whole grains before you can look them up. Type the food and WIC Companion searches item names, categories and subcategories at once. Every word has to match, so 'whole bread' finds whole wheat loaves instead of everything with the word whole in it.
Results grouped so they are readable
A search for bread in a twenty-thousand-item state file matches hundreds of products, and a flat list of them is useless. Results come back grouped by subcategory with a count and four examples in each, and you expand only the group you meant. Groups whose own name matches your search sort to the top, so a broad category does not bury the thing you asked for.
Spanish search over English item names
State agencies publish their item descriptions in English, which normally means the search box stops working the moment you switch the app to Spanish. Fifty common Spanish food words are mapped through, so leche, pan, queso, huevos, arroz and frijoles all find the right items. Accents are handled either way, so it works whether or not you type them.
Build the trip from what you have left
Pick the categories you still have benefits in and WIC Companion assembles the eligible products for each one into a single plan. That is the whole point of it: you leave the house with a list instead of a question. Save the plan as a list and you can work down it in the store, ticking items off as they go into the cart.
Per-store stock and aisle for Kroger-family stores
On the website you can search Kroger-family stores by ZIP, pick one, and have each item on the plan checked against that store for stock, aisle and shelf price. Every other retailer choice shows eligibility without stock. This runs on Kroger's developer environment rather than production data access, so treat the stock line as an indication and the shelf as the truth.
Sort by aisle or by benefit
On the website one button flips the same plan between grouped by store aisle and grouped by benefit category. Aisle order is how you actually walk a store; benefit order is how you confirm nothing is left unspent. Switching is instant and does not rebuild the plan.
Barcode check in the aisle
Point the camera at any barcode and get a straight yes or no for your state. In the Android app no camera permission is requested at all, the image is processed on your own phone, only the barcode digits are sent to do the lookup, and there is a manual digit-entry fallback. In a phone browser it uses the browser's own barcode support, and where that is missing you search by name instead.
Reusable lists between trips
Save a trip as a list and reuse it next month instead of building it again. Lists keep their items, quantities and checked-off state, so you can put the phone away mid-shop and pick up where you left off. Add items, remove items, or delete the whole list whenever you want.
Fruit and vegetable dollar tracker
The produce benefit is a dollar amount, not a product count, so it needs a running total rather than a checklist. On the website you enter what you have left and add prices as you shop to see where you stand. The price field only appears on produce items, where it belongs, instead of cluttering every line.
Reminders before the money is gone
Record when a benefit category expires, and optionally how much is left on it, and WIC Companion emails you three days ahead. The email names exactly which categories are about to lapse, in the language you chose. It sends once per benefit period, so correcting a balance will not trigger a second nag.
English and Spanish, all the way through
Both languages cover every screen, the signed-out pages, the error messages and the reminder emails, not just the home page - 131 interface strings carried in each. The switch applies immediately with no reload, and signed-in users keep their choice on every device. A first-time visitor gets the language their phone is already set to.
No ads, no trackers, nothing sold
There is no advertising component, no advertising identifier and no analytics or tracking code anywhere in the website or the Android app. Nothing identity-linked goes to a retailer or any third party. The one consent box at sign-up, unchecked by default, records permission for a future anonymized, aggregate stock report to your own state agency; nothing is exported today.
An account you can end yourself
Sign in with an email and password, reset it by email if you forget, and delete everything from the Account screen without emailing anyone. Deletion asks for your password, warns you it is permanent, and removes your lists and reminders along with the account. Your password is never stored in readable form, and your email address and any dollar figure you enter are stored encrypted.
Numbers we can stand behind.
Every figure below comes from the product's own release record or test suite, not from a marketing estimate.
Numbers we can stand behind.
One account works on the website, on a phone home screen, and in the Android app.
Surfaces and status.
Status as of 2026-09-02. Re-checked on 2026-09-02: the public site at wic.autosecurelogin.com returns 200, its health endpoint answers ok, and its approved-states endpoint returns California, Colorado and New York - the three states whose real approved-food data the repository records ingesting on 2026-08-01 and 2026-08-18. The Android app reached version 1.1.0 (version code 2) with a recorded acceptance run on an emulator and a Pixel 8 against that same live service, dated 2026-08-23; it is signed and ready but no Play application record has been created, so today the app is used through the website, which installs to a phone home screen.
Worth more together.
Products on this platform share one sign-in, one support queue, and one engineering standard. These pair naturally with WIC Companion.
HomelessHelper
Families stretching a WIC benefit usually need the rest of the local safety net too. It finds nearby services and is careful never to promise a bed or a slot that may not be there.
Aya Scam & Privacy Lookup
The same households get the most scam calls and texts. Aya turns an unknown number or message into a practical next step instead of a shrug.
Colorado Complaint Access
If a store turns down an item that really is on the approved list, this helps you pick the right agency and keep a record of what happened.
What does it cost?
No price has been published yet. There are no ads in it, no advertising identifier, and nothing about you is sold, so it will never be funded that way. If cost matters to how you would use it - a clinic handing it to families, for instance - ask and you will get a straight answer rather than a quote generator.
We already use the app our clinic hands out. Why would we switch?
You do not have to switch to try this; there is nothing to uninstall and nothing to migrate. The difference is direction: the usual app answers 'is this one approved?' after you have already picked something up, while WIC Companion starts from the benefits you have left and hands you a list before you leave home. It also warns you before a category expires, and it carries no advertising or analytics code at all.
Is it actually ready, or is this something coming later?
The website is live now at wic.autosecurelogin.com, with real approved-food data for California, Colorado and New York, and it installs to a phone home screen. The Android app is finished, signed, and has passed a recorded acceptance run on an emulator and a Pixel 8 against that same live service; the remaining step is creating and submitting the Google Play listing. Everything described here exists today unless it is named under limits.
What do you do with my information?
Your email address and any dollar amount you type in are stored encrypted, and your password is never kept in a readable form. Nothing identity-linked ever goes to a retailer or any other company, and there is no advertising or analytics code in either the website or the app. The single consent box at sign-up is unchecked by default and records permission for a future anonymized, aggregate stock report to your own state agency - no such export has been built, so nothing is being sent. Barcode pictures taken in the Android app are handled on your phone; only the digits are sent to do the lookup.
Do you see my WIC card or my balance?
No. There is no connection to your eWIC card and none is asked for. You enter what you have left yourself if you want the reminders and the produce dollar tracker, and you can use the whole approved-food search and the barcode check without entering any balance at all. Never type a card number or a PIN into WIC Companion, and treat any app that asks you to as a warning sign.
My state isn't in the list. Can you add it?
California, Colorado and New York are loaded today, each one built from that state's own published approved-product data. Whether yours can be added next depends on how it publishes its list - some states put it out openly, some share it only by agreement, and one of the three here was only reachable through the state's public dashboard export. Tell us which state you are in; those requests are what set the order.
Will the store definitely have what the list shows?
No app can promise that, and this one does not pretend to. For Kroger-family stores the website checks each item against the store you picked and shows stock, aisle and shelf price - fetched at the moment you build the plan, and on Kroger's developer environment rather than production data access, so treat it as an indication and rebuild the plan if it has been open a while. Every other retailer choice shows eligibility without stock. The register is always the final word, which is why the barcode check exists as a second opinion in the aisle.
What happens to my lists if I stop using it, or want out?
You can delete your account yourself from the Account screen. It asks for your password, tells you plainly that it cannot be undone, and removes your saved lists and benefit reminders along with the account - no support ticket, no waiting period. Nothing about you is sold or shared while you are using it either, so leaving does not mean chasing copies of your data somewhere else.
What should I know before I rely on it?
We would rather you hear this from us than discover it later. As of 2026-09-02:
What should I know before I rely on it?
Three states are loaded today: California, Colorado and New York. Adding another depends on that agency publishing its approved list or sharing it, which is an access question rather than a build question.
What should I know before I rely on it?
State approved-product data is loaded by hand, not synced nightly. Each state's list is refreshed when someone re-runs its ingestion, and Colorado's source in particular has no stable download URL and must be re-exported manually, so treat item data as current to the last load rather than to today.
What should I know before I rely on it?
Item names come from each state's own files and are in English, even when the rest of the app is in Spanish. The search box bridges fifty common Spanish food words, but the product descriptions themselves are not translated.
What should I know before I rely on it?
Per-store stock and aisle exist only for Kroger-family stores, only on the website, and run against Kroger's certification developer environment rather than production data access. Treat the stock line as an indication and confirm at the shelf. Choosing Walmart returns no store list and no stock at all - it shows eligibility only, exactly as choosing no retailer does. No other chain is integrated.
What should I know before I rely on it?
The stock and aisle answer is fetched once when you build the plan, and no screen shows the time it was fetched, so if a plan has been sitting open for a while, rebuild it before relying on it.
What should I know before I rely on it?
WIC Companion cannot see your eWIC card or your real balance. You enter what you have left yourself; there is no connection to the card and none is requested. Never type a card number or PIN into it.
What should I know before I rely on it?
It does not decide eligibility and cannot promise a register will approve a purchase. Your WIC agency, your current balance and the store's own system are the authorities.
What should I know before I rely on it?
For a very large benefit category, up to 150 items get a live store check in one request, which keeps the plan fast; the rest still show as eligible with stock unknown.
What should I know before I rely on it?
The optional state-agency consent box is recorded at sign-up only. There is no in-app control to change it afterwards, and no aggregate report or export has been built behind it, so ticking it does not currently cause anything to be sent anywhere.
What should I know before I rely on it?
Your email address and any dollar amount you enter are stored encrypted. A reminder's category name and its date are kept in readable form so the reminder can be found and scheduled on time; the stored data as a whole is not encrypted.
Know it qualifies before you get to the register.
Prefer email? contact@autosecurelogin.com