It’s the most wonderful time of the year… and also the most stressful. Shopping for gifts, prepping meals, and entertaining family members are just a few of the tasks that can pile up around the holidays. Good news: We’re here to help.
- If you want help for Turkey Day, check out our Thanksgiving-specific app picks.
- Need an easy way to manage a family-wide gift exchange? See our best Secret Santa app picks.
- If you need help with holiday travel, check out our Best Apps for Your Holiday Travel Plans guide.
If you want some apps for the holidays overall, we've compiled the best apps to help you plan for the holiday season right here.
Below you’ll find a list of the best apps to help you manage this holiday season, along with advice on navigating the app stores. These apps allow you to turn your phone into an all-in-one problem solver.
And finally I wouldn't leave you without the WhistleOut.com basics: How to make sure you’ve got the best cell phone plan for your brand new apps.
How we picked the best apps for holiday planning
-
Easy to use
We leaned towards simple and intuitive interfaces so you can get to work right after downloading. -
Year-round use
These selections shine at your holiday season, but they’re also helpful tools throughout the calendar year. -
Availability
We chose apps that are available for both iOS and Android. The more the merrier!
Best apps to hack your holiday planning
| App | Best for | |
|---|---|---|
| Fetch | Cash back | Learn more |
| Giftster | Gift list management | Learn more |
| Cookpad | Holiday dinner recipes | Learn more |
| Plan to Eat | Meal planning | Learn more |
| Heads Up! | Family game | Learn more |
Best app for
holiday shopping
Fetch
Whether you’re shopping for Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanza, it doesn’t take long for the expenses to pile up. You might as well earn some money back in the process. That’s the concept behind Fetch, an app that rewards you every time you make a purchase.
The app allows you earn cash back for your regular purchases on groceries, gas, and shopping—all you need to do is scan your receipts. In addition, you get the chance to earn Daily Rewards and take a spin on the deals wheel, turning the arduous process of holiday shopping into an exciting game. Sure, the real reward for buying holiday gifts for loved ones is the look of joy on their faces… but wouldn’t it be nice to also score some money back in the process?
Best Christmas
wishlist app
Giftster
Shopping for the perfect gift can be an excruciating task and one that only grows more difficult with age. We recommend moving away from letters to Santa and towards a wishlist app, which simplifies gifting and assures everyone involved walks away happy.
The best among them is Giftster, which allows users to post wishlists that other users (designated within their family or friend groups) can view. Users can control the specificity of their lists’ items, all the way down to URLs where those items can be purchased. Once a gift has been bought for a user, it’ll be marked as purchased to avoid the same gift being bought twice. Don’t worry, though: That info won’t ever be visible to the recipient. What would be the fun in that?
Giftster is a fairly straightforward app, which is why we like it so much: It seamlessly integrates links from Amazon and other online retailers, though it’s not riddled with ads or in-app purchases. It simply automates a process that would otherwise be a headache.
Extra tip: Are you trying to keep your Amazon gift purchases a secret? Learn how to delete your Amazon shopping history with our easy guide.
Best recipe apps
Cookpad
There’s no shortage of free online recipes, but if you’ve ever Googled instructions for a meal then you know that the results are littered with pop-up adds, misleading articles, and lukewarm recommendations. Cooking itself is already hectic enough. Moving your recipe search from the web to an app helps streamline the whole process.
We like what the relatively new recipe app Cookpad offers: no sign-up fee, a wealth of user-submitted recipes, and a clean, easy-to-read interface. You can search by the dish you’re looking to make or the ingredients you’re looking to use, allowing you to whip up your next dish based on grand plans or what you have lying around. (Seriously, what am I supposed to do with these shallots?)
You can save other users’ recipes or add your own, turning the app into a rolodex of instructions for your holiday gathering. Whether you’re aiming for a classic Christmas meal or looking to find a way to make dairy-free cookies for your vegan cousin, Cookpad provides more than enough quick-and-simple recipes to get you started.
The app is free, though it also offers a Premium subscription for $3.99 a month, which includes some perks, like the ability to save an unlimited number of recipes. We think the free version is more than fine, but if you find yourself using it on a nightly basis, we like that the subscription is reasonably priced.
Plan to Eat
If you’re looking for the premium cooking experience, we recommend Plan to Eat. In many ways, it’s similar to Cookpad, allowing you to organize your recipes in an easy-to-navigate app. Plan to Eat, though, is a bit fancier, giving you the ability to import recipes from across the web, build out a calendar of meals (and their corresponding recipes), and even arrange for the ingredients to be delivered from your local grocery store.
A premium experience, of course, comes at a premium: Plan to Eat users pay an annual or monthlyfee and a relatively pricey one at that. If you’re looking for an all-in-one meal planning app, this is one of the best you can find. If you’re looking for a simple and clean way to find some culinary inspiration, though, we recommend Cookpad’s free version.
Honorable mention: Paprika, the recipe app that makes cooking simple. Easily organize and save recipes, summarize ingredients, and create digital shopping lists for just $4.99.
Best holiday
entertainment app
Heads Up!
Gifts have been exchanged, dishes have been cleaned, and now you’re left wondering one thing: what am I supposed to do with all of these people? Having an all-ages, interactive game at the ready is a crucial part of any holiday gathering. We recommend Heads Up!, an app-based game of charades.
The game play is simple: You select a deck/category (including celebrities, movies, animals, as well as themed options like Harry Potter and Marvel) and then hold your smartphone on your forehead. Others in the room can see the phrase on the screen and provide enough hints until you guess it.
Heads Up! isn’t free, but it isn’t expensive. For just $1.99, you get access to dozens of decks, ensuring hours and hours of gameplay. If you want to keep going, you can purchase additional decks if you get tired of the ones included at purchase.
How much data do apps use?
Every time you use an app, you’re using some of your cell phone plan’s monthly data. Most apps, though, don’t use much data–browsing Facebook only uses approximately 80MB per hour, while listening to podcasts uses approximately 60MB per hour.
What uses data: an analysis
| Data per hour | Risk | |
|---|---|---|
| Online gaming | From 3MB | Mild |
| Podcasts | Approx. 60MB | Low |
| Web browsing | Approx. 60MB | Low |
| Approx. 80MB | Low | |
| FaceTime | Approx. 85MB | Low |
| Music streaming | Up to 150MB | Mild |
| Snapchat | Approx. 160MB | Mild |
| Facebook video | Approx. 160MB | Mild |
| YouTube | Approx. 300MB | Mild |
| Netflix | From 250MB | High |
| Lossless music streaming | Approx. 640MB | High |
| Approx. 720MB | High | |
| TikTok | Approx. 840MB | High |
If you’re planning to put your new holiday or Christmas planning apps to use this winter, you might want to consider a cell phone plan with unlimited data. Although some unlimited plans aren’t truly unlimited, all offer unlimited access to your data, ensuring you’ll be able to use your apps, even if you’ve exceeded your monthly allowance of premium (full-speed) data. Just watch your usage since some apps like Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok quickly drain your data allowance.
We like plans that offer a good amount of data for an affordable monthly price, like Visible's $35 unlimited plan, which offers unlimited full-speed data on the Verizon network at a bargain-bin price.
Visible $35 Visible+ Plan
| Carrier | Visible |
|---|---|
| Data | Unlimited Data |
| Type | No Contract |
| Total Price |
$35 per month
Taxes & Fees included
|
| View Plan |
If you’re looking for something a little cheaper, we recommend Mint Mobile's unlimited data plan. Mint operates on the nationwide T-Mobile 5G network, with plans that offer high-speed service and large data chunks for a fraction of T-Mobile's prices.
Mint Mobile Unlimited Data Plan
| Carrier | Mint Mobile |
|---|---|
| Data | Unlimited Data |
| Type | No Contract |
| Current Deal | Get this plan for just $25/mo. when you switch to Mint Mobile using promo code 15OFF at checkout. Upfront payment required |
| Total Price |
$25 per month
$75.00 upfront payment for 3 months (equals to $25.00/month). Intro pricing for new customers only.
|
| View Plan |
Kevin Kearney
Sr. Staff Writer
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