Buying, writing, and finally getting to the post office to send holiday cards to faraway friends and family can take a good chunk of time. If you’re a connoisseur of greeting cards, then you probably won’t need any help with the process. But if you’re like me—short on time and a bit of a holiday procrastinator—it’s helpful to have an easy and quick way to let people know you’re thinking of them this season.
We’ve covered five different ways to create and send holiday photo cards, but for those who are always on the go, iOS apps are a more convenient option. You can create and send personalized cards in no time, whether it’s during your bus commute to and from work or while on a half-hour lunch break. Apple’s Cards is one of the better available apps (for more information, check out our full review), but if you’re looking for different card designs or less expensive options, here are some alternatives to consider. (All apps are available for free in the App Store, unless otherwise noted.)
Sincerely Ink
Sincerely’s Sincerely Ink app is made specifically for the holiday greeting card season, offering more than 30 Christmas, Hanukkah, and general cold-weather cards. The app has only flat, postcard-style options, but if you’re looking for cute and classy designs, Sincerely Ink offers some of the best. When you launch the app you’re taken to a virtual shelf that displays thumbnails of the card designs, which are organized into three tabs: Photo, Illustrated, and Saved. If you choose to use one of the photo card options, you will be able to resize your own image, as well as apply a black and white or sepia filter. Unfortunately it’s not possible to flip or rotate your photo within the app, so you will need to do this elsewhere before using the photo in Sincerely Ink.
You can edit the text on the front and back of the card, though you won’t be able to change the font—Sincerely Ink automatically uses the font in the card’s design. A Fullscreen button lets you preview your card to make sure it’s exactly what you want. Once you’re done you can easily input multiple recipients either manually or by choosing contacts from your Address Book, and Sincerely Ink will send the cards directly to the people on your list for you. Paying for the purchase is incredibly simple: You can either use a credit card at checkout, or purchase credits from the Account settings.
Requires iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad running iOS 4.0 or later.
Pros: Easy-to-use interface; great card design options; simple payment process
Cons: No font customization; not as many card designs to choose from as other options
Price: $2 per card (U.S. shipping only). Bulk discounts available, from $1.69 per card.
Red Stamp
What makes Red Stamp stand out among other card-making apps are its photo layouts: Depending on the design, you’re able to add up to four different images on a single card. So if you don’t have a perfect group shot, you can combine portraits of everyone to create a nice photo collage. You can add a short message on the front of the card, but you won’t be able to write anything long on the back. On the plus side, you can easily share the card via Facebook, Twitter, email, or text—a great feature if you want to limit the number of physical cards you send. The app will, however, send the card by mail to up to to 189 recipients, so even if you have a long list, Red Stamp will be able to handle it.
Requires iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad running iOS 4.0 or later.
Pros: Cute, modern designs; lots of photo layout and color options; sends cards to individual recipients; can pull images from Instagram and Facebook; great photo-adjusting mode
Cons: Not able to write longer messages on back of card; no font customization; some card designs require in-app purchase of $1
Price: $2 per card (U.S. shipping only). Bulk discounts available from $1.
SnapShot Greeting Card
The app lets you choose between 11 fonts for the caption on the front of the card, but oddly, does not offer any font options for the message inside the card. Once you’re finished, you can easily add recipients manually or by accessing your Address Book; SnapShot will send all of the cards directly to your contacts at once. In order to purchase cards, you need to buy credits through your Account settings first. It’s slightly inconvenient that you have to do this in a separate area from the checkout, but the process is simple enough to follow.
Requires iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad running iOS 3.0 or later.
Pros: Folded card options; possible to rotate photos on card
Cons: Not many built-in themes and artwork; slightly inconvenient payment method; more expensive than other options
Price: $4 per card (U.S. shipping), $6 per card (International shipping). Bulk discounts available, from $1.60 per card (U.S. shipping).
Bill Atkinson PhotoCard
You can choose from dozens of fonts and change the font size of your message. The app also includes around 400 stickers—little themed illustrations—that you can use to decorate your card. The app lets you resize, rotate, and duplicate, or just swipe them right off the page. The holiday-themed stickers include illustrations of snowmen, stockings, and more—while they aren’t the most beautiful images, they add fun and color to short messages. Once you’ve finished your masterpiece, you can send the card via email, or by mail. You will need to purchase credits in order to go through the checkout process. (See our full review of the app here.)
Requires iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad running iOS 4.0 or later.
Pros: Fun stickers to decorate the postcard; easy-to-use interface; lots of font customization
Cons: Must buy credits to purchase cards; no built-in holiday themed photos
Price: $1.90 per card (U.S. shipping), $3 per card (International shipping). Bulk discounts available, from $1.50 per card (U.S. shipping).
Postagram
What makes Postagram cards unique is the ability to pop the image out from the postcard. So even after the holidays pass, and the message on your card is outdated, your cousin across the country will still have a cute, square photo to hang on her refrigerator all year long. You can send Postagrams to multiple recipients at once; choose contacts from your Address Book or enter them manually.
Requires an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad running iOS 4.0 or later.
Pros: Cost-effective; integrated with Instagram and Facebook; photo pops out of the card
Cons: Nothing specifically holiday themed; space to write only a very short message
Price: $1 per card
Postino
One cool feature that’s unique to Postino is the ability to draw your signature onto your postcards. While the iPhone screen isn’t particularly great for handwriting, if you have a small stylus, it can add that special touch of handwriting to your digitally-produced holiday card. Once you’re done, Postino makes it easy to preview both the front and back of your postcard and send it to multiple recipients at once. To send the card, however, you will need to purchase Postino stamps, through the app’s Stamps tab. Unfortunately you can only purchase them via PayPal, but the process is still fairly simple—and you’ll always be able to keep track of how many stamps you have via a red indicator bubble over the Stamps tab. (See our full review of Postino here.)
Requires an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad running iOS 3.0 or later.
Pros: Fun signature feature; easy-to-use interface; downloadable frames for various occasions
Cons: Limited to PayPal for payment; no font customization;
Price: $2 per card (U.S. shipping only). Bulk discounts available, from $1.60 per card.
[Staff editor Alexandra Chang is on a holiday card-making frenzy.]