The best iPhone Christmas apps for celebrating the holiday

Whether you love Christmas or simply want to get in the spirit, there are tons of fun, useful, and unique Christmas apps for iPhone. You can count down to the date, make festive photos, have your kids talk to Santa Claus, and more.

To give you a helping hand this holiday season, we’ve assembled a collection of Christmas apps to bring some joy to your device, and hopefully you as well.

Christmas apps for iPhone

Christmas countdowns

To track how many shopping days are left or just to build that anticipation, check out a cool Christmas countdown app.

Christmas Coundown iPhone Apps

Christmas Countdown!

Watch the days, hours, minutes, and seconds count down with Christmas Countdown!. You can pick from six jolly characters for the view, see the countdown in heartbeats for something unique, and share the countdown with friends and family directly from the app.

Availability: Christmas Countdown! (Free) for iPhone, iPad, and iMessage

Christmas Countdown 3D scene

Add some lights and music to your countdown this year with Christmas Countdown 3D scene. You’ll see a gorgeous 3D decorative tree, a bright countdown to the holiday, and all while you listen to your favorite carols.

Availability: Christmas Countdown 3D scene (Free) for iPhone and iPad

Christmas Countdown (2020)

For a countdown and advent calendar in one, check out Christmas Countdown (2020). The app lets you pick from eight themes, tap to see the countdown in weeks, days, hours, minutes, seconds, or sleeps, and include falling snow.

The surprise you open each day in the advent calendar includes a jolly holiday tune you can listen to or view on YouTube, for that little something extra.

Availability: Christmas Countdown (2020) (Free, in-app purchases) for iPhone and iPad

Christmas photos

Whether you like to elf yourself or someone close to you, these nifty photo-related Christmas apps bring the ha-ha-ha to ho-ho-ho!

Christmas Photo iPhone Apps

ElfYourself

For a hilarious, dancing way to enjoy photos of your family, ElfYourself is awesome. Pick a jolly groove, insert photos of your friends or family, and then watch as you all boogie to the festive sounds of Christmas.

Availability: ElfYourself (Free, in-app purchases) for iPhone, iPad, and iMessage

Dr. Seuss Camera – The Grinch

Who doesn’t love the classic movie and even the remakes of The Grinch at Christmastime? With Dr. Seuss Camera – The Grinch you can put your face on a character, create cool greeting cards, and customize the photos for festive fun.

Availability: Dr. Seuss Camera – The Grinch ($0.99) for iPhone

Christmas Photo Frames

Create your own holiday cards with the Christmas Cards Photo Frames app. Just select a frame, add your photo, and then customize it the way you want. You can share your cards with others or just keep them for your own fond memories.

Availability: Christmas Photo Frames (Free, in-app purchases) for iPhone and iPad

Christmas music

Whether you want to jingle your bells or deck the halls, these Christmas music apps give you your favorites tunes all in one spot.

Christmas Music iPhone Apps

Christmas Radio

For holiday music to keep your clan rockin’ around the Christmas tree, check out the Christmas Radio app. With over 140 on-demand stations, you and your loved ones will be sure to find something you all like to listen to during this festive time of year.

Availability: Christmas Radio (Free, in-app purchases) for iPhone and iPad

Santa Radio

For a cool collection of Christmas classics from then and now, tune in to Santa Radio. The app gives you tons of songs with lyrics when available, a handy sleep timer, an option to take and share a holiday selfie, a way to contact Santa Claus, and much more!

Availability: Santa Radio (Free) for iPhone, iPad, iMessage, Apple Watch, and Apple TV

Christmas Radio+

With over 35 stations to pick from including country, classic, smooth, and favorites, Christmas Radio+ is a good Christmas music app. You’ll hear the holiday songs you love from live radio stations and can move through each one with a tap.

Availability: Christmas Radio+ (Free, in-app purchases) for iPhone and iPad

Calls to Santa

If you have little ones at home who can’t wait for Santa to visit, these apps are just for them. You can make calls to Santa Claus so they can talk directly to the jolly gift-giver.

Call Santa iPhone Apps

Speak to Santa – Santa Tracker

Talk to Santa with a voice or video call and record it with Speak to Santa – Santa Tracker. The app also offers a countdown to Christmas, Santa sleigh data, holiday music, and a Santa tracker, all rolled into one fun app.

Availability: Speak to Santa – Santa Tracker (Free, in-app purchases) for iPhone and iPad

Message from Santa!

With Message from Santa! you can call Santa’s voicemail and interact with the message, receive a call, make a video call, or exchange text messages. The app makes it all super easy so you can get it ready and hand the phone to your little one.

Availability: Message from Santa! (Free, in-app purchases) for iPhone and iPad

Video Call Santa

The Video Call Santa app lets you call Santa Claus or set up a reservation to make sure he’s available. Parents can set up a passcode, make personalizations for the calls, record the calls, and have an overall jolly good time.

Availability: Video Call Santa (Free, in-app purchases) for iPhone and iPad

Advent calendars

Advent calendars have been around forever and are a neat way to count down to Christmas. So give one for your iPhone a try and see what prizes you’ll find.

Advent Calendar iPhone Apps

Emoji Advent Calendar

For tips, quotes, and checking things off your list, Emoji Advent Calendar gives you a holiday emoji and suggestions each day. As bonuses, you get a nice jolly tune and helpful Christmas countdown.

Availability: Emoji Advent Calendar (Free) for iPhone and iPad

Festive fun for the family

For a few additional ways to bring joy to your family this holiday season, here are a couple of bonus apps.

NORAD Santa Tracker iPhone

NORAD Tracks Santa Claus

There’s no better way to keep tabs on Santa’s location than with the NORAD Tracks Santa Claus. Watch the days count down, play fun games, and read entertaining stories with your child. Then keep an eye on Santa’s journey on his busiest night of the year.

Availability: NORAD Tracks Santa Claus (Free) for iPhone and iPad

A Charlie Brown Christmas

Just like The Grinch, Charlie Brown has been a staple for kids at Christmastime for longer than we can all remember. A Charlie Brown Christmas is the tale you remember in a colorful interactive storybook that your child will enjoy. With narration, music, and a customizable Christmas tree, this is an app the whole family can enjoy.

Availability: A Charlie Brown Christmas ($4.99) for iPhone, iPad, and iMessage

Wrapping it up

With this big list of the best Christmas apps for iPhone, there’s sure to be at least one or two that you and your family will enjoy. But if you have others you’d like to recommend, please feel free to comment below.

And be sure to decorate your iPhone with some festive Christmas wallpapers this year!

Merry Christmas from all of us at iDB!