CandelinaBirthday Reminders on iPhone: Setup Guide
Set up birthday reminders in iPhone Contacts and Calendar, choose alert times, and check why a birthday or notification is missing.
For iPhone 13 languages nothing leaves your phone
Nobody important
slips through.
Candelina is a birthday reminder app for iPhone. Candelina gathers every birthday you have, from every place you keep them, and makes sure you hear about it in time to say something real.
Reminders are free forever — every person, no account, no limit. Candelina Unlimited adds knowing two weeks ahead, an AI wish for everyone and the card as a picture, for $2.99 a month, $14.99 a year, or $39.99 once.
13 languages, written not translated
No account, ever
Your list never leaves your phone
Reminders free forever
Your birthdays are scattered, and not by accident. Some are in Contacts. Some are in a calendar you set up years ago. Some are in a chat you scrolled past. Some are only in your head, and those are the ones you lose. Then one morning the messages are already piling up for someone you have known for years, and you are the only one who said nothing.
Bring them in from wherever they already are.
Contacts. Calendar. Telegram. A Google Contacts export, a WhatsApp chat export, a PDF, a calendar file, or a photo of any list — read on your phone, never uploaded. Anything else, you share into Candelina from whatever app it is already in. And for everyone else, one link you drop into a chat, which your friends fill in themselves.
- Contacts
- Calendar
- Telegram
- Google CSV
- WhatsApp chat
- A photo of a list
- Share into Candelina
- One shared link
Candelina only ever sees the people you pick — it uses the system contact picker, not full access to your address book.
Scheduled with iOS read back just now
The evening beforeso tomorrow is no surprise
11 Sep, 19:00 ✓On the morningturning 63
12 Sep, 08:00 ✓That eveningonly if you still haven't written
12 Sep, 18:00 ✓Read back from iOS, not from our own records.
A reminder you can see, not one you hope for.
Three per birthday by default, and never a fourth unless you add it: the evening before so tomorrow is no surprise, on the morning, and one quiet nudge that evening only if you still haven't written. Every scheduled reminder is shown in the app, read back from the system, so you can check it instead of trusting it.
Send yourself a test reminder. It arrives in five seconds.
You'll have something to say.
Three drafts in the tone you pick, built from what you actually know about them: the line you typed or said out loud, and what you sent last year so it doesn't repeat itself. Then you change a word and send it yourself, from your own messenger. Candelina never sends anything for you.
“Oliver, hope the new place already feels like home and your legs have recovered from the last marathon! Sending you a really warm birthday hug today.”
“Still can't believe you unpacked boxes and trained for a marathon in the same month - take today to just relax and enjoy your birthday, friend.”
Both came out of the app exactly as they are, from one line typed into the note: runs marathons, just moved house.
Thirteen languages, not one translated.
Each language has its own set of wishes, written in that language rather than run through a translator, with the grammar that matches who you're writing to — the formal and the familiar, and the right endings for a man or a woman where the language needs them. Candelina guesses the language from the person's name, and you can always override it.
- English
- Русский
- Українська
- Deutsch
- Français
- Español
- Italiano
- Português
- Polski
- Türkçe
- Hrvatski
- Srpski
- Български
It already happened
Forgot someone? Still fixable.
Candelina keeps the last week in one place, and the wish it writes there opens with the apology already in it, so you are not sitting there composing the awkward part yourself.
Who's next, without opening anything.
The Home Screen widget shows the next birthday and the button writes the wish. On the Lock Screen it can be a ring that fills as the day gets closer, a line with the name and the date, or a single line of text above the clock. Five sizes in all, and Siri answers when you ask when a birthday is.
Tap the name and you are on their card. Tap Write and you are in the wish, already addressed.
What leaves your phone, exactly.
Never leaves
Names, nicknames, photos, dates, notes, gift ideas, the gift log, wish history. On your iPhone, and in your own iCloud when you are signed in. There is no Candelina account and no server that holds your list.
Leaves only if you switch cloud drafts on
The first name, your relation tag, their gender and the age they turn, the tone and language, whether it is a milestone, your one-line note, last year's text, your own first name, and the year. No account, and nothing that ties two requests to the same person.
What we can never do
Read your list, sell data, run ads, or track you across apps. Candelina never shows the tracking prompt, because it doesn't track.
And a few things it does quietly
- Any wish becomes a festive card you send as a picture.
- The gift idea rides along in the reminder a week before.
- Say one thing out loud and it lands inside the wish.
- Save a birthday back into your Contacts, when you want it there too.
- A Sunday digest, only when someone actually has a birthday.
- Export everything as CSV or JSON, any time you like.
What it costs.
Remembering is free. Forever, for everyone, with no account and no limit on how many people you add.
Candelina Unlimited — reminders two weeks, a week and three days ahead, an AI wish for everyone in their own language, the card saved and sent as a picture, the widgets, and birthdays pulled out of a file, a screenshot or Telegram — is $2.99 a month, $14.99 a year, or $39.99 once; the yearly plan starts with a seven-day free trial. Remembering stays free. Unlimited pays for the model that writes the drafts and for keeping the app alive. No ads, no gift shop, nothing about you to sell.
Questions people ask
What is Candelina?
A birthday reminder app for iPhone and iPad. It gathers the birthdays you already have in Contacts, Calendar, chats and files, reminds you in time, and helps you write the wish — in thirteen languages, with no account.
Is Candelina free?
Reminders are free forever, for as many people as you like. Candelina Unlimited adds reminders two weeks, a week and three days ahead, an AI wish for everyone, the card as a picture, widgets, and imports from a file, a screenshot or Telegram. It costs $2.99 a month, $14.99 a year with a seven-day free trial, or $39.99 once.
How do I get birthdays from Contacts, WhatsApp or Telegram onto my iPhone?
Candelina reads birthdays from the contacts you pick and from your calendars for free. With Unlimited it also reads a WhatsApp chat export, a Google Contacts CSV, a vCard, a PDF, a calendar file, a screenshot or photo of a list, and Telegram. Files and photos are read on your phone and never uploaded. For everyone else, send one link and your friends fill in their own birthday.
How do I stop forgetting birthdays?
Keep them all in one place and get reminded early enough to act. Candelina reminds you the evening before and on the morning, and once more that evening only if you still haven't written. Every scheduled reminder is shown in the app, read back from iOS, so you can check it instead of hoping.
Can Candelina write a birthday message for me?
Yes. It suggests three drafts in the tone you pick — warm, funny, short, formal, heartfelt, or how you actually text — using a detail you type or say out loud, and it avoids repeating last year's wish. Ready-made wishes work offline in every language; AI drafts are optional and stay off until you allow them. Candelina never sends anything itself: you send the wish from your own messenger.
Which languages does it support?
Thirteen: English, Russian, Ukrainian, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Turkish, Croatian, Serbian and Bulgarian. The wishes in each language are written in it rather than translated, with the formal or familiar form and the right endings for a man or a woman where the language needs them.
Do I need an account? Where are my birthdays stored?
No account, ever. Your list stays on your iPhone and in your own iCloud when you are signed in; there is no Candelina server that holds it. Only if you turn on cloud AI drafts does a short set of details — such as the first name, relation, tone and your one-line note — leave the phone to write the wish, with nothing that links two requests to the same person. No ads and no tracking.
I missed a birthday. What now?
Candelina keeps the past week's birthdays in one place, and the wish it writes there already opens with the apology.
Is there an Android version?
No. Candelina is for iPhone and iPad and needs iOS 26 or later.
Birthday guides for iPhone
Practical guides to birthday reminders, importing dates, writing wishes, cards and widgets in Candelina.
Google Contacts Birthdays on iPhone: Sync & Import
Sync Google Contacts birthdays to your iPhone or export a CSV for Candelina. Understand the difference between syncing and importing a file.
Collect Friends’ Birthdays with One Link
Collect birthdays through a shared link instead of asking each friend separately. Bring the replies into your Candelina birthday list.
Nobody important slips through.
Candelina is on the App Store. Reminders are free forever — every person, no account, no limit.
