Cards by Apple - App Review

There are plenty of excellent greeting card companies; I'm sure you have already had occasion to send, or receive, some excellent cards from one of these services. They all seem to have one important drawback; you need to be online to create your card. Cards by Apple differentiates itself by being able to be used without an Internet connection.

Now for the ACIDS test:

Aesthetics
The bottom of the screen allows you to choose from a variety of basic layouts. These include thank you, travel, birthday, baby, love, get well, Mother's day, Christmas, as well as an 'any' where you have less included graphics.

Having chosen your basic greeting you can now customise various areas:

Outside
Tapping on the photograph will allow you to either pick a background picture from your existing library, or take a photograph. You also get to personalise the text but not the font or layout, nor can you alter the graphics. This is of course both a benefit (it will look good) and a drawback (lack of creativity). Once your are happy with this, just press 'apply'.

Inside
This is actually just an area for text, again the graphics being fixed.

Envelope
The 'Add recipients' box allows you to pick someone from your contacts and the address is neatly entered. You can edit this address. Then you can (and indeed must) enter a return address, which will be added to the top left of the envelope.

All that remains now is to press the value box at the top right of the screen to process your card and have it sent. This part of the operation needs to be done with an open Internet connection.

Cost
The App is free and does not carry advertising. You are however charged for the card being printed and posted, at a similar price to other such services.

Indispensability
It really is a good way to prepare your card off-line, a real boon to frequent travellers.

Dependability
No problems during testing.

Security
You need to be aware about information, such as photos and contacts, that you share through the App.

ACIDS Test Rating:

If only the card could be sent my email...

To find out how the ACIDS Test works, click here.

You can get Cards by Apple here and support for the App here.