We've rounded up our favourite apps for their useful features and pure festive fun. This list is for iPhone users, but many of these will be available from the Android store too. All can be downloaded from the App Store on your iPhone or iPad.

Shopping

1. Get organised this year with a proper Christmas shopping list. Christmas!! is a free app from Gourmet Pixel with a shopping list feature that you can tick off as you make your purchases. The best thing about this app is the list is lockable, so no-one can peek if you leave your phone unguarded. The app also includes an advent calendar and Christmas songs.

2. Gift Plan costs $2.99 but it is ideal for anyone who gets a little overwhelmed at Christmas, birthdays and other gift-giving occasions. The app imports all your contacts from Facebook and allows you to build a profile for loved ones complete with crucial information such as birth dates, anniversaries, clothes size and preferences. It will then remind you before the actual date. In fact, it will do everything but actually go shopping for you.

3. Cards from Apple is a free app that enables you to create personalised cards to send anywhere in the world straight from your phone. Take a photo, write your message, choose a design and select an address from your contact book. Each card costs $4.99 to send anywhere in the world, including postage. Too easy.

Games

4. If you love Christmas and the phenomenon that is Angry Birds, combine the two with Angry Birds Seasons. It's 25 levels of festive fun for $0.99.

5. Talking Santa ($0.99 from Abson Developments) does what it says: you speak and Santa repeats what you say. It also turns your phone into a snow globe when you shake it.

6. If you haven't experienced the addictive fun of Cut the Rope, Chillingo Ltd is offering a festive version for free. Cut the Rope: Holiday Gift features new levels and a bonus greeting card feature.

Recipes

7. Margaret Fulton – Christmas is an app with 60 Christmas recipes for a very Aussie Christmas, including barbequed king prawns, beef wellington and of course, mince pies. Shopping lists and menu builders are included in the app. At $7.49, it's a bit pricier than other Christmas apps but if you're planning to do a lot of cooking and eating over the festive season, it's good value.

Carols

8. There is an app for one of the most traditional of Christmas activities: carol singing. The Christmas Carol Songbook from Musicroom.com gives you the lyrics, melody line and backing piano music for 40 of the most popular Christmas carols. Perfect for carolling outside or just with friends in your own home. It is $5.49, which is fairly expensive for an app, but a great resource if you want to organise an impromptu concert this year.

Merry Christmas!