The best Beans alternative for better coffee.
Beans is a sweet photo journal for the bags you've loved. Filtru is that journal plus the brewing: guided timers, live scale data, espresso tools, and a scanner that reads the bag for you.
Available for iPhone and iPad. Free to download.
Beans - Coffee journal, on the App Store
First, some honesty.
Beans keeps a photo-first memory of your coffees with a flavor wheel and seasonal recaps, and it's genuinely free.
It's also only that. No brew timers, no recipes, no scales, no espresso, no AI scanning (you snap and type), and it needs iOS 26. Filtru does the remembering and the brewing.
Filtru vs Beans,
feature by feature.
Based on each app’s public App Store listing and documentation, as of July 2026.
| Feature | Beans |
 Filtru
★ Recommended
|
|---|---|---|
| Guided step-by-step brew timers | No. Not advertised | Yes. Guided timers for 15 methods |
| Brew recipes | No. Not offered | Yes. Baseline + community recipes, 15 methods |
| Bluetooth scale support | No. Not advertised | Yes. 14 brands with live weight + flow rate |
| Live brew graphs (weight + flow) | No. Not advertised | Yes. Weight + flow-rate brew print per cup |
| Espresso tools | No. Not advertised | Yes. Dial-in, shot recording, TDS + extraction |
| Coffee journal | Yes. Photo-first, flavor wheel | Yes. Tasting notes with customisable bag styles |
| AI bag scanning | No. Manual photos; no AI claimed | Yes. AbolBuna, on-device, 50,000+ bags |
| Stats & insights | Partial. Seasonal recaps + origin map | Yes. Cost per cup, origins, varietals over time |
| Works on older iPhones | Partial. Requires iOS 26 | Yes. Supports a wider range of iOS versions |
| Price | Yes. Free (tip jar) | Yes. Free · optional PRO from $3.49/mo |
| Track record | Partial. Launched March 2026 · no rating yet | Yes. 4.8★ from 11,914 ratings · est. 2016 |
“I just needed an app to guide me through the process of brewing my Chemex and AeroPress, I like how this does just that.”— App Store review of Filtru
Why people switch from Beans to Filtru.
The journal that writes itself.
In Beans you photograph the bag and type the rest. Filtru's AbolBuna scanner reads the label on-device, and each guided brew adds its own entry with the recipe and graph.
Remembering is half; brewing is the other half.
Filtru turns those remembered bags into better cups: fifteen guided methods, live scale data, espresso dial-in with TDS.
On the iPhone you already have.
Beans needs iOS 26. Filtru supports a wider range of iOS versions, on iPhone and iPad.
What you get when you switch.
AbolBuna, the on-device bag scanner
Point your camera at any coffee bag and the label becomes a journal entry. No server, no cloud AI, no typing. See the scanner →
Guided brewing for fifteen methods
AeroPress, V60, Chemex, French press, espresso, siphon, and more. Each has a baseline recipe and a guided timer that keeps pace with you. See every brew method →
Accessibility is a feature, not a checkbox
Filtru works properly with VoiceOver, including live spoken readouts of your scale's measurements while you brew, as often or as rarely as you like. And you can switch the whole app to fonts like OpenDyslexic, Lexend, or Atkinson Hyperlegible.
The answer is YES
Switching from Beans? These all have the same answer:
- Can I keep a photo journal of my coffees in Filtru? Yes
- Can I scan coffee bags in Filtru instead of typing? Yes
- Can I brew with a guided timer in Filtru? Yes
- Does Filtru work with VoiceOver? Yes
- Is Filtru free to try? Yes
Filtru is free to download and works with the gear you already own. No subscription needed to start brewing.
Compare Filtru with more coffee apps.
Filtru vs Beanconqueror · Filtru vs Bloom · Filtru vs Coffee Book · Filtru vs Beanie · Filtru vs Beanstats · Filtru vs The Great Coffee App · Filtru vs Single Origin · Filtru vs FourSix · Filtru vs Pour-Over Coffee Recipes Timer · Filtru vs Acaia Brewmaster · Filtru vs iBrewCoffee · Filtru vs Aeromatic · Filtru vs BeanBook · Filtru vs Coffi · Filtru vs Burrfect · Filtru vs Act Four · Filtru vs BrewIQ · Filtru vs Beany · Filtru vs Roast · Filtru vs brevv · Filtru vs Coffee Master · Filtru vs Moka Pot Brew Guide · Filtru vs Siip · Filtru vs Brewly · Filtru vs Roastguide · Filtru vs Breve
Beans is a trademark of its respective owner; Filtru isn’t affiliated with or endorsed by it. Feature and pricing information comes from public listings and documentation as of July 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell me and I’ll fix it.