Where to actually find free iPhone app deals

"Free app of the day" used to be a genuinely useful category of site. A lot of it isn't anymore — worth knowing why before you spend time on the wrong ones.

What happened to the old free-app-of-the-day sites

Two things broke the format. First, App Store pricing itself shifted heavily toward freemium and subscriptions, so there are simply fewer traditional paid-up-front apps left to discount. Second, a lot of the surviving sites turned into ad farms — pages padded with sponsored placements, fake countdown timers, and "deals" that are really just affiliate links to apps that were never actually paid to begin with.

What still genuinely works

• Direct developer giveaways. Indie developers running real App Store promo or offer codes around a launch or update — distributed through Apple's own redemption system, not a third-party download. This is the model FreeAppDrop runs on: live listings link straight into Apple's official redeem flow, and the remaining-codes count is real, not decorative.
• Indie-dev communities. r/iOSProgramming, r/apple, and Indie Hackers regularly have developers posting genuine giveaways alongside their launch — often before the codes hit any deal site at all.
• Following specific developers directly. Once you've found a developer whose apps you actually like, their own social accounts are usually the fastest way to hear about the next one.

How to tell a deal site is actually legitimate

A few quick tells. Does the "claim" button take you straight into the real App Store, or does it route through extra pages first? Does the remaining-codes count ever actually change, or does it reset every time you reload? Is the app itself something you can find independently on the App Store with a real developer behind it, or does the listing only exist on that one deal site? If you're ever asked for payment details to unlock a "free" code, see our guide on promo code safety — that's not how any legitimate redemption works.