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.

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Top Rated Comments

acfusion29 Avatar
157 months ago
make 1password 99 cents so i can buy it.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SirithX Avatar
157 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
157 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
156 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
157 months ago
This is why I didn't buy IB3 until this time. I've been waiting.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SeaFox Avatar
157 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)