Apple Is Giving Away Apps on the App Store This Christmas

In addition to a six-month free trial of Apple Music, it looks like Apple has another holiday gift up its sleeve, offering a new surprise deal on the App Store every day from Dec. 24 through Dec. 29.

9to5Mac reported earlier this week that the deal had already landed on the Australian App Store, since they’re a day ahead of the rest of us, and it appears to have rolled out in other countries. iPhone in Canada and Engadget both discovered that it went live in Canada yesterday, ahead of the U.S., with the first free app on offer being Looney Tunes World of Mayhem, and today Apple is offering up Clash Royale. Although the promotion seemed to launch early in Canada, it should now be available to U.S. App Store customers and likely those in other countries as well.

Each of the daily surprise apps is being featured in an App Store editorial story, and the deals, which seem to be more focused on in-app purchases so far, are available for a limited time.

From December 24 to 29, you’ll find a new surprise every day on the App Store. Come back daily to discover which treat we have waiting for you!

Looney Tunes World of Mayhem is an action RPG that was released last year, while Clash Royale is a card-based tower defence and strategy game. While these are “freemium” games, and therefore already free downloads anyway, Apple’s promotion is offering enhanced in-game bundles with higher value and special limited-edition items, such as a special brand-new card in Clash Royale. Since each day is a surprise, it’s unclear whether this trend of promoting free-to-play games will continue over the next four days or if Apple will switch it up and offer something different tomorrow.

This new promotion is actually a revival of sorts of the 12 Days of Gifts deal that Apple launched back in 2008. This took the form of an app that users could install from the App Store that would offer a free download of an iTunes or App Store item during each of the 12 days leading up to Christmas. The 12 Days of Gifts promo spanned a much wider range of content, however, with Apple offering up free songs, books, and movies in addition to apps and games. The 12 Days of Gifts campaign disappeared in 2014, and this new daily surprise App Store deal is the first time we’ve seen this sort of thing return in any form.

More Bonuses

In addition to the daily deals, MacRumors notes that Apple is also promoting holiday content in a selection of popular free-to-play games like Fortnite, PUBG, Candy Crush Saga, and Mincraft.

The company has sent out emails to at least some customers highlighting the popular games and pointing out the holiday bonus content that’s available in each. For example, Fortnite players can get an exclusive holiday outfit over the Christmas season, while Clash of Clans is offering five times the number of goodies thanks to a set of limited-edition Christmas bundles. To be clear, these aren’t necessarily giveaways but rather limited-edition deals that still require you to make in-app purchases to take advantage of them, either at discounted rates or to get your hands on exclusive items.

The e-mail also highlights several other games such as Pocket City and Knights of Pen & Paper 2, but there don’t appear to be any holiday bonuses in those ones.

All of these promotions appear to be in start contrast to Apple’s new Apple Arcade service, which offers over 100 games with no in-app purchases or ads. Of course, by highlighting these apps, Apple is also obliquely pointing out the advantages of Apple Arcade, although of course Apple also wants to continue to support its more traditional developers on the App Store, since it still collects a 30 percent cut of any in-app purchases.