Apple offering week of App Store freebies for the holidays

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Starting Christmas Eve, Apple will be giving away a series of surprises for customers of the App Store, in what appears to be a reworking of its long-canceled "12 Days of Gifts" promotion.




Appearing within the App Store's Today section, a story titled "A New Surprise Awaits..." tells users of a promotion that will start on December 24 and run until December 29. Customers are told to look for "unwrapped presents" within the App Store's Today, Games, and Apps tabs each day of the week-long offer.

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

Apple doesn't say what kind of gifts customers can expect to receive by taking part in the promotion, but given it operates within the App Store, it is likely to be free or discounted apps. As the offers are replaced each day, it is probable customers will have only a 24-hour window to claim their free or discounted items.

It is unclear what markets will be able to take advantage of the offer. At the time of publication, the notice has appeared in the United States' version of the storefront, but not in the United Kingdom.

At face value, it seems like the event will be similar to another Apple regularly held in its online stores in previous years: The "12 Days of Christmas" or "12 Days of Gifts" promotion.

Originally launched in 2008 and ran for six years before ending in 2014, the 12 Days of Gifts offer gave users in a number of countries free apps, music, e-books, and other content every day for 12 days. The new version very much appears to be a is a revival of that offer, albeit lasting for a shorter timeframe.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 15
    fred1fred1 Posts: 1,147member
    Thank you for this article.  I hadn't seen this/heard about it.   I look forward to some fun gifts.
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  • Reply 2 of 15
    Free trials to Apple Music, Apple News+, Apple TV, Apple Arcade?

    Things that don’t really cost Apple anything...
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 3 of 15
    This will, no doubt, start the plethora of complaints as we had before and I don’t blame Apple for stopping it.  Oh, yes, comment Number 2: that didn’t take long, did it? 
    ronnJaiOh81StrangeDays
     3Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 4 of 15
    ronnronn Posts: 702member
    From MacRumorsThe surprises have gone live in New Zealand, and MacRumors readers ... report that the deals include a special in-app purchase bundle Looney Tunes World of Mayhem and a three-month subscription for the price of one month in Canva. We'll have to see if offers are the same around the world.

    Hoping for different specials stateside.
    edited December 2019
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  • Reply 5 of 15
    I'm hoping for a surprise U2 album. =)
    elijahgdjames4242dewmeSpamSandwichcecil4444randominternetperson
     6Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 6 of 15
    fred1fred1 Posts: 1,147member
    Not working for me.  I have my account in the US but happen to be in Europe right now.  Oh well . . .
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  • Reply 7 of 15
    jdgazjdgaz Posts: 408member
    I must be looking in the wrong places. 
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  • Reply 8 of 15
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,856member
    Is this supposed to be on iOS or macOS, or both?  Not seeing anything in the Today, Games, or Apps sections on iOS. 
    edited December 2019
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  • Reply 9 of 15
    In Canada store, Canva subscription: 3 months for the price of 1 month. I will pass on subscriptions, thanks!
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  • Reply 10 of 15
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    space2001 said:
    In Canada store, Canva subscription: 3 months for the price of 1 month. I will pass on subscriptions, thanks!
    And you just had to make that comment, didn’t you.
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  • Reply 11 of 15
    fred1fred1 Posts: 1,147member
    lkrupp said:
    space2001 said:
    In Canada store, Canva subscription: 3 months for the price of 1 month. I will pass on subscriptions, thanks!
    And you just had to make that comment, didn’t you.
    Yes, it would appear so. I agree with this. I don’t want subscriptions either. Why do you make your comment?
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  • Reply 12 of 15
    Free trials to Apple Music, Apple News+, Apple TV, Apple Arcade?

    Things that don’t really cost Apple anything...
    How do you figure there are no costs associated with providing a commercial service for free to X-thousands of users? Did the musicians/magazines/production-companies provide their work for free? Did the servers become free? Did the networking and database infrastructure become free? Did the IT staff and utilities become free?

    Your comment makes absolutely no sense. I'm going to guess you've never run your own business before. Amirite?
    ronnbeeble42
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  • Reply 13 of 15
    Not seeing anything on my iPhone at 3:00 pm EST.
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  • Reply 14 of 15
    Still nothing, and now into the second day of what the article suggested. Where’d the original info come from? Merry Christmas, nonetheless. 
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 15 of 15
    Free trials to Apple Music, Apple News+, Apple TV, Apple Arcade?

    Things that don’t really cost Apple anything...
    How do you figure there are no costs associated with providing a commercial service for free to X-thousands of users? Did the musicians/magazines/production-companies provide their work for free? Did the servers become free? Did the networking and database infrastructure become free? Did the IT staff and utilities become free?

    Your comment makes absolutely no sense. I'm going to guess you've never run your own business before. Amirite?
    Apple already offers free trials elsewhere.  I logged in and saw zero “gifts”.

    Maybe they consider the Arcade tab that was added, and the free trial offer a “gift”.

    Apple already payed for servers to run these services, and they’re not utilizing to capacity.  Offering free trials in a numbers game, just people forgetting to cancel before they charge the renewal will pay any added costs.  And, yes I used to run my own business.  At one time we offered business email hosting. Guess how much it cost to offer a free trial when everything was automated...
    edited December 2019
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