Popular iOS Apps Now Free or Discounted for the Holidays

ituneslogo.jpgEach year during the holidays, app developers offer deals on a wide variety of apps and games, giving customers a chance to purchase popular content at a significant discount. This year is no exception, with a slew of fantastic apps and games available at low prices.

Our sister site AppShopper tracks prices in real-time and is a great resource to use to keep an eye on app sales during the holiday. We've also listed some of the best deals on apps below:

- Fantastical 2 for iPhone ($1.99, down from $3.99): Popular calendar app, at its lowest price ever [Direct Link]
- Fantastical for Mac ($9.99, down from $19.99): Popular Mac calendar app that syncs with Fantastical 2 for iPhone [Direct Link]
- djay 2 ($4.99, down from $9.99): Popular DJ iPad app [Direct Link]
- vjay (Free, down from $9.99): Video and music remixing app [Direct Link]


- Inspire Pro (Free, down from $4.99): App for drawing and sketching [Direct Link]
- ArtRage ($2.99, down from $4.99): Popular iPad painting app [Direct Link]
- ReadKit ($2.99, down from $6.99): Read-it-later/RSS app for the Mac [Direct Link]

Along with the apps listed above, several developers have teamed up to offer an App Santa promotion, offering discounts of up to 60 percent off apps like Twitter client Tweetbot, scanning app Scanner Pro, package tracking app Delivery Status Touch, password management app 1Password, and note taking app Vesper.

A forum member on our sister site TouchArcade has aggregated an extensive list of all the games on sale. Multiple studios, including Electronic Arts, Taito, CAPCOM, Square Enix, and Warner Bros. are offering deep discounts on their entire game catalogs. We've listed some of the more notable sales below:

- Angry Birds Star Wars II (Free, down from $0.99) [Direct Link]
- LostWinds (Free, down from $3.99) [Direct Link]
- Infinity Blade III ($2.99, down from $6.99) [Direct Link]
- XCOM: Enemy Unknown ($9.99, down from $19.99) [Direct Link]
- Final Fantasy V ($7.99, down from $15.99) [Direct Link]
- Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 ($0.99, down from $4.99) [Direct Link]
- Bastion ($0.99, down from $4.99) [Direct Link]
- Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga ($9.99 Full Unlock, down from $14.99) [Direct Link]
- Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic ($4.99, down from $9.99) [Direct Link]
- The World Ends With You: Solo Remix HD ($8.99/9.99, down from $17.99/$19.99) [Direct Link: iPhone/iPad]

Discount pricing on many of these apps will be in place for at least a week, as Apple will shut down iTunes Connect from December 21 to December 27, preventing developers from implementing app changes. For more sales, check out AppShopper's price drop section.

Popular Stories

New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

20 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Monday December 16, 2024 8:55 am PST by
Apple released iOS 18.2 in the second week of December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. Apple has added a handful of new non-AI related feature controls as...
iphone 16 apple intelligence

Apple Drops Plans for iPhone Hardware Subscription Service

Wednesday December 18, 2024 11:39 am PST by
Apple is no longer planning to launch a hardware subscription service that would let customers "subscribe" to get a new iPhone each year, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman first shared rumors about Apple's work on a hardware subscription service back in 2022, and at the time, he said that Apple wanted to develop a simple system that would allow customers to pay a monthly fee to gain...
blackmagic vision pro

Blackmagic Debuts $30K 3D Camera for Capturing Video for Vision Pro

Monday December 16, 2024 4:17 pm PST by
Blackmagic today announced that its URSA Cine Immersive camera is now available for pre-order, with deliveries set to start late in the first quarter of 2025. Blackmagic says that this is the world's first commercial camera system designed to capture 3D content for the Vision Pro. The URSA Cine Immersive camera was first introduced in June, but it has not been available for purchase until...
mac pro creativity

Apple Launched the Controversial 'Trashcan' Mac Pro 11 Years Ago Today

Thursday December 19, 2024 7:00 pm PST by
Apple launched the controversial "trashcan" Mac Pro eleven years ago today, introducing one of its most criticized designs that persisted through a period of widespread discontentment with the Mac lineup. The redesign took the Mac Pro in an entirely new direction, spearheaded by a polished aluminum cylindrical design that became unofficially dubbed the "trashcan" in the Mac community. All of ...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature Single Camera 2 Redux

Top 5 Apple Products to Look Forward to in 2025

Friday December 20, 2024 2:22 pm PST by
It's looking like 2025 is going to be an important year for Apple, with the company planning to revamp the iPhone, push further into smart home products, and improve Apple Intelligence. There are tons of new products rumored for 2025, including new iPhones, M4 Macs, a smart home command center, and much more. We've highlighted the top five Apple products that will have the biggest impact in...
apple tv 4k yellow bg feature

New Apple TV Rumored to Launch Next Year With These Features

Tuesday December 17, 2024 9:02 am PST by
The current Apple TV 4K was released more than two years ago, so the streaming device is becoming due for a hardware upgrade soon. Fortunately, it was recently rumored that a new Apple TV will launch at some point next year. Below, we recap rumors about the next-generation Apple TV. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman last week reported that Apple has been working on its own combined Wi-Fi and...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Rumored to Stick With 'Triangular' Camera Design

Wednesday December 18, 2024 2:36 am PST by
Contrary to recent reports, the iPhone 17 Pro will not feature a horizontal camera layout, according to the leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post on Weibo, the leaker said that a source has confirmed that while the appearance of the back of the iPhone 17 Pro has indeed changed, the layout of the three cameras is "still triangular," rather than the "horizontal bar spread on the...
elevation lab airtag battery

Your AirTag's Battery Will Last for Up to 10 Years With Elevation Lab's New TimeCapsule Enclosure

Wednesday December 18, 2024 10:05 am PST by
Elevation Lab today announced the launch of TimeCapsule, an innovative and simple solution for increasing the battery life of Apple's AirTag. Priced at $20, TimeCapsule is an AirTag enclosure that houses two AA batteries that offer 14x more battery capacity than the CR2032 battery that the AirTag runs on. It works by attaching the AirTag's upper housing to the built-in custom contact in the...

Top Rated Comments

acfusion29 Avatar
144 months ago
make 1password 99 cents so i can buy it.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SirithX Avatar
144 months ago
How long was The Elements free? The app store page says it's free and this story is only 3 hours old but it says $13.99 right now.

If it really expired that fast this feels more like a publicity stunt to me.

I'm very disappointed if I missed out.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
xmichaelp Avatar
144 months ago
Just got all free ones, like I always do. (despite not having an iOS device) :cool:

They'll come in handy some day.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Hihowareyou Avatar
144 months ago
Just got all free ones, like I always do. (despite not having an iOS device) :cool:

They'll come in handy some day.

Lol @ digital hoarding!!!!!!!! =P
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Razeus Avatar
144 months ago
This is why I didn't buy IB3 until this time. I've been waiting.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SeaFox Avatar
144 months ago
How long was The Elements free? The app store page says it's free and this story is only 3 hours old but it says $13.99 right now.

If it really expired that fast this feels more like a publicity stunt to me.

Edit: Went back to app's own website and clicked "buy now" iTunes reloaded the store page and it says Free now, but when I try and get it I'm still prompted on whether I really want to BUY it or not, and this right after downloading Inspire Pro with no issues.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)