iPhone users can now celebrate Christmas in the traditional way, by playing traditional carols and hymns with handbells. Well, maybe it’s not so traditional, because these handbells are in your iPhone.
Holiday Bells, the popular Christmas handbells app for iOS devices, has been updated for 2016 with a new song (Pat-A-Pan), a new holiday sticker pack for iMessages, and Auto-play. Holiday Bells has been on iOS since 2008, offering users “a fun and interactive Christmas musical experience” by playing their favorite holiday songs on the handbells. Now with Auto-play, users can either play the songs themselves or have the app play it for them.
Holiday Bells for iOS features these 20 classic Christmas carols:
- 12 Days of Christmas
- Angels We Have Heard On High
- Auld Lang Syne
- Away In A Manger
- Deck The Halls
- God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
- Good King Wenceslas
- I Saw Three Ships
- Jingle Bells
- Joy To The World
- O Holy Night
- Oh Christmas Tree
- Oh Come All Ye Faithful
- Oh Little Town Of Bethlehem
- Pat-a-pan
- Silent Night
- The First Noel
- Up On The Housetop
- We Three Kings Of Orient Are
- We Wish You A Merry Christmas
Users simply choose a song, and then follow the snowflakes on screen to tap the bells and play the song. Or, they can simply hit “auto-play” and the app will play the song with no wear and tear on the user’s finger. If desired, the app can auto-play all of the songs one after the other.
New for this season is a holiday-themed sticker pack for iMessage. Stickers include golden bells, stars, “Merry Christmas” and “Ho ho ho!” stickers, animated music notes, a music sheet and songbook, an animated glowing candle with flickering flame, a green wreath with gold ribbon and bells, birds (cedar waxwing, cardinal, and peace dove), and a red poinsettia. All of the stickers are original hand-drawn artwork by artist and app developer Kira Matrejek.
Holiday Belles is available for iOS devices running iOS 10 or later, and is $0.99 in the App Store. [GET IT HERE]
