Bringing cheer this season with apps

With the right apps, your smartphone can get a little merrier and can even help you plan for the holidays.

Among the thousands of holiday apps, Santify stands out for its entertainment. It is one of many photo booth apps that take selfie photos and transform them to look more seasonal. Santify does an amazingly good job of turning your selfie into a Santa-like face. It can also create an animated video that can be shared through services like Twitter.

When you open Santify, it shows your phone’s camera, overlaid with handy guidelines about where to place your face. When you have snapped a suitable photo, the app tries to guess where your eyes and mouth are. For the best final effects you can move these marked positions on the screen to better match your image.

Then, with one click, the app processes your photo to add some Santa smile lines, the costume, glasses and more. It also creates a looping video that has a gentle 3-D effect.
You can adjust features like beard or moustache style. The results are impressive.

The free app is on iOS. Its downside is that only a few faces (like Santa and Mrs. Claus) are free. You have to pay $1 (Rs 63) for each additional face effect.

You can also find photo booth apps with seasonal flavor in Google’s Android app store, but many are disappointing. The free app Kringle Me is an exception. Though it lacks the pizazz of Santify, it’s easy to use and has a bunch of nice holiday-themed effects.

On a more practical note, with Christmas gift apps like Santa’s Bag (free on iOS), your phone can take some of the burden from holiday shopping. It is essentially a Christmas to-do list. When you add an item to your gift list you can note whom it’s for and how much you have budgeted for it.The app’s home page summarises all your gift plans, reminding you of how many shopping days you have left, how many gifts you have to buy and whether you’re on target for your overall budget.

The Christmas List is a great iOS alternative with slightly more features like per-person budgets, but it costs $2 (Rs 126). On Android, Christmas Gift List has sophisticated features to help you plan and budget, and it has a modern, minimalist design.

Cooking is a big part of the holiday season, and there are many recipe apps to choose from. I’ve found Mary Berry: In Mary We Trust a great option on iOS. Berry has a longstanding reputation as a great cook in Britain. The $3 (Rs 189) app is well designed and beautifully illustrated. On Android, Christmas Recipes Free by Endless is also nicely designed, and comes with hundreds of recipe options.

Of course, we can’t forget about seasonally themed games like the free Talking Santa from Outfit7. It shows an animated 3-D graphical Santa on the screen. You can tickle Santa’s tummy, get him to repeat what you say in a deep Santa voice, and even feed him cookies with taps on the screen. It’s available for iOS and Android.

For more seasonal fun for you or older children check out Hidden Object: Christmas Magic, free on Android. You search a detailed painting for a list of objects, and advance by tapping on the objects when you find them. It’s simple and addictive.