Reviews

It takes a lot to get me to look at another App in a category that I've already made a choice in. It takes even more to get me to switch to another App in the same category. However, if such an App comes along I'll gladly switch even if it means paying for the App and setting it up from scratch. On my iPhone I use the great Occasions App to manage reminders for birthdays and anniversaries. I use Nice List as a Christmas List App. I've been toying with Gifts HD as a Christmas Gift Management App on the iPad. Now I'm thinking of replacing two if not all three of these Apps with Gift Plan. The reason I say two and not all three is that I use Occasions as a reminder for lots of birthdays that I don't necessarily buy gifts for and I'll have to think about having all those contacts in the one App (Gift Plan). However, for any kind of Gift List management, Gift Plan just about nails it. The UI (user interface) is GORGEOUS and is very well thought out. Unlike the dozens of Christmas List Apps out there, Gift Plan makes sense to use all year long for any occasions that you buy gifts for. To get started Gift Plan can automatically pull in your Contacts from your iOS device or Facebook if they have birth dates filled in. As a matter of fact those are the only contacts it will see (more on that in a minute). You can of course add gift recipients manually. Once those contacts with birthdays have been imported you can then assign them to any other lists you want (Christmas, Anniversaries, Graduations, etc.). You can create any holidays or occasions you need. They can be annual or one time. 

Gift Plan went beyond my expectations

I figured the usual stuff would be there like adding names, gifts, costs of the gifts, checking them off as you buy them, etc. However, I was pretty impressed by the attention to detail such as the ability to add SIZES, Likes and Dislikes. How freakin' convenient to have the person's various sizes for clothing right there on the spot. Also things like favorite colors, gifts they like and gifts they don't like. (please don't buy me another tie EVER. Please! ). There is passcode protection to keep prying eyes away. The App does push notifications (very key) as reminders come up and visually does a good job counting down the days till an event is here. There's also a nifty calendar view built right in. They thought of just about everything. However, there is one thing keeping me from giving this App a 5th star. It's actually the thing that drove me crazy about it and it's so simple (I'm sure they'll put this in an update right?). You can't import any of your contacts unless they have a birthday filled in! I guess for many this wouldn't be a problem, but here is where I ran into it as an issue: I have a few contacts that I buy annual holiday gifts for. These are business contacts and quite frankly I don't buy them birthday gifts. I wanted to add these contacts to my Christmas List, however they wouldn't even show up until I went in and put fake birthdays in their contact records. Sure I could have added them manually, but then I would have had to find pictures for them too. They are already in my contacts. I shouldn't have to enter them manually. The App should allow you to import ANY of your contacts whether they have a birthday filled in or not. I should be able to say Add Contact and choose it from the list just like all the other Gift List Apps do. (Please tell me I'm wrong and that you can already do this. If you can I can't find it). Other than that I can't really find anything wrong with the App. It rocks! My other wish is not a show stopper, but I would not only love to see an iPad native version of this App, but I want it SYNC with the iPhone version. Giving me an iPad version that doesn't talk with the iPhone version is useless. I want to be able to manage the lists I have on either device and have them update in the cloud with offline viewing of course. 

You can get Gift Plan for $1.99 here from the