Sleigh the season with these 5 festive apps

Key Takeaways

With the festive season already kicked off, now is the perfect time to get into the holiday spirit.
Warm ambiance and joyful musical scores can be achieved via the use of purpose-built software.
I personally rely on several apps to jump start the holiday period — here are my absolute favorites.

With both Black Friday and the Thanksgiving weekend now fully in the rearview mirror, it’s the perfect time to ramp up the seasonal holiday vibes. A mix of warm and cozy ambiance, cheery festive tunes, and wintery wonder make this one of my personal favorite times of the year. Luckily, through the use of third-party software, I’m able to power up my holidays one application at a time.

Mariah Carey has defrosted, and so, without further ado, here are the five best apps that always launch me right into the holiday spirit.

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1 Fireplace 3D

The best virtual fireplace app available for the Mac

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Fireplace 3D

A beautifully designed live wallpaper and screensaver application for macOS, that brings a warm and rustic fireplace onto your computer screen.

Fireplaces have long been heralded as an ideal method for achieving winter coziness. There’s nothing quite like the sound and warmth of a crackling Yule Log in the room, and this is especially true during the holiday season.

There’s nothing quite like the sound and warmth of a crackling Yule Log in the room.

Virtual fireplaces are nothing new, but they certainly vary in both quality and in user experience. The Fireplace 3D app has been my go-to app for a number of years now, thanks to its friendly interface, customization options, and lack of ads in its optional paid tier.

Of course, you could always just pull up an eight-hour-long YouTube fireplace stream, but then you’d be missing out on fun options like swapping log styles, adding a mantel and a grate, and taking advantage of the included screensaver mode.

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2 Christmas Wallpapers Countdown

A joyous iPhone app for counting down the holidays

Christmas Wallpapers Countdown screenshots

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Christmas Wallpapers Countdown

A Christmas themed app for the iPhone that provides a holiday countdown timer, as well as a selection of festive wallpapers to choose from.

Christmas Wallpapers Countdown is an application for the iPhone with a rather matter-of-fact naming convention. The app’s main page is dominated by a countdown until Christmas, with a selection of holiday music playing in the background. The second page on the right-hand side provides a massive catalog of wallpapers to choose from, ranging from snowfall, to Christmas trees, and everything in between.

Christmas Wallpapers Countdown is free to download and install, and is ad-supported by default. A paid ad-free tier is available for purchase within the app’s settings page. Thankfully, even with the free version, you’re able to play the provided music while the app is running in the background.

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3 Christmas Radio+

The best app for lovers of festive holiday music

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Christmas Radio+

A mobile app that provides on-demand access to holiday radio stations and festive musical tracks.

Christmas Radio+ is my go-to holiday music streaming application. The app’s main page provides a selection of themed stations with live music playing on a consistent basis. These stations include Christmas Classical, Christmas Lounge Radio, Cross Country Christmas, and a number of others.

My personal favorite of these holiday music stations has to be Christmas Oldies — I find there to be a particular charm in mid-century Christmas music, with it strongly eliciting nostalgia of a bygone era.

My personal favorite of these holiday music stations has to be Christmas Oldies.

Christmas Radio+ is a free ad-supported app, and you’re able to run it in the background and with your screen turned off. There are tons of other methods for streaming holiday music, including via Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and others, but something about the bespoke nature of a Christmas radio app has me always coming back for more.

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4 NORAD Tracks Santa

The Christmas spirit — with a dash of homeland defense

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NORAD Tracks Santa

The official Santa tracking app, provided by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).

NORAD Tracks Santa is an app with a rather fascinating backstory. The organization behind it, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), is a joint governmental body shared between the United States and Canada. NORAD specializes in aerospace control and security, and has used its prowess to track Santa Claus in a tradition spanning well over 65 years.

In its app form, NORAD Tracks Santa provides a number of useful holiday-themed tools and goodies. These range from an official Santa tracker countdown, musical tracks, daily holiday mini-games, and more.

The organization’s advanced radar, satellite, and jet fighter technologies are able to track Father Christmas.

NORAD Tracks Santa is a charming (and free) app that adds to the festive spirit, and its tracker is backed by the real deal: the organization’s advanced radar, satellite, and jet fighter technologies are able to track Father Christmas’ lift-off from the North Pole in incredibly precise detail.

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5 Festivitas

Spruce up your MacBook’s application dock just in time for the holidays

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Festivitas

A fun macOS utility that brings holiday string lights to your Mac’s application dock.

Festivitas is a lovely utility that decorates your Mac’s application dock with a string of festive lights. The app offers customizations in the form of color and temperature controls, light size and flashing pattern options, and more. You can even place lights under your menu bar at the top of the screen, which is a nice touch.

Festivas is available via the Gumroad e-commerce platform, and it’s well worth its price of entry. The app is well-designed, stable, and charming to the gills. Personally, I plan on leaving my string lights powered on well into the New Year.