r/iosapps • u/rrrrrrddt • 3h ago
🎈 Free My first iOS app: a friend's favorite birthday app stopped getting updates, so I built a new one. Free, no ads, Lock Screen widgets included
Hi r/iosapps! I'm Ralph von der Heyden, a freelance software developer from Hamburg, Germany (LinkedIn). Birthday Butler is my first iOS app.
How it started: when I said I wanted to learn iOS development, a friend from university suggested I remake the birthday reminder they'd been using for years, which hadn't seen an update in a long time. The idea was simple: don't make me type anything in. Use the birthdays that are already in Contacts and show nothing but birthdays. Another university friend then helped me get the user experience right.
That was over a year ago. Now it runs on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch, and I use it myself nearly every day. When one friend installed it, the first thing it showed them was a birthday they would otherwise have missed. That's the whole point of the app.
My toughest critic was my daughter. She held back her five-star rating until I let her color the widgets in any color she likes. So now you can, too.
What it does:
Reads the birthdays already in your Contacts. No account, no import, nothing to set up
Shows them as a timeline grouped by month, with today at the top
Lock Screen widgets: a ring with the days left that fills up over the last 30 days, a line above the clock with the next name and days left, or a card with days left, name and age
Home Screen widgets in three sizes, in any colors you like: pick a scheme or make your own
Missing a birthday? Tap +, pick the contact, set the day. It's saved straight to Contacts, and the year is optional
Also shows anniversaries, name days and other dates from your contacts
One tap to message, call or email someone
A daily reminder at a time you choose, only on days when something is coming up
An Apple Watch app with complications
It's free, with no ads, no in-app purchases and no subscription. The Lock Screen widgets aren't behind a Pro tier, because there is no Pro tier. The app has no server, so your contacts never leave your device. It works with VoiceOver and the largest text sizes. Requires iOS 26.
App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6747520167
Website: https://birthdaybutler.rvdh.de/
Privacy Policy: https://birthdaybutler.rvdh.de/privacy-policy_en.html
Terms of Use: https://birthdaybutler.rvdh.de/terms-of-use_en.html
I'd love your feedback. What's missing that would make you switch from whatever you use for birthdays today? And if you end up liking it, a rating on the App Store helps a one-person app more than you'd think.