If you want a Birthday Manager alternative with gift ideas, widgets and no ads, Dearly brings those features together in one Android app. It keeps birthdays, anniversaries and little things about each person in one place.
Birthday Manager is useful if you want dates kept in sync with Google Contacts and a daily reminder of upcoming events. Dearly suits people who also want a place to save gift ideas and give different groups of people different reminder schedules.
We make Dearly. Here is how the two apps compare.
Dearly vs Birthday Manager: features compared
| Feature | Dearly | Birthday Manager |
|---|---|---|
| Cost and ads | Free, no ads | Free with ads; one-time purchase removes them |
| Occasion types | Birthdays, anniversaries, adoption days and memorial dates | Birthdays, anniversaries and custom events |
| Birthday reminders | Different schedules for groups of people | Daily reminders with advance notice |
| Contacts | Import selected dates as a copy | Two-way sync with Google Contacts |
| Adding dates | Add people and dates, or import contacts | Add dates in the app or Google Contacts |
| Birthday calendar | List and month-by-month calendar | Contact list sorted by days remaining |
| At a glance | Home screen widgets and countdown timers | Days-remaining badges and today’s events |
| Look and feel | Person pages, occasion cards, light, dark and AMOLED modes | Material Design layout with contact photos |
| Personal touches | Gift ideas and Little things saved for each person | Daily horoscope in contact details |
The features above come from the Dearly and Birthday Manager Google Play listings.
Birthday and anniversary reminders with time to plan
A birthday might need a message on the day, a gift ordered a week ahead, or a visit planned earlier. Dearly lets you give each group its own reminder schedule, so family can get several advance reminders while colleagues stay on an on-day schedule.
You can track wedding, relationship and work anniversaries too, as well as adoption days and memorial dates. There are also Special Days such as Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, and custom countdowns for a trip, reunion or another date you are looking forward to.
Both apps help you remember upcoming dates. The choice is whether you want Birthday Manager’s contact sync or Dearly’s planning features around each person.
Save gift ideas alongside birthday reminders
When someone mentions a book they would like, save it on their page in Dearly. Keep preferences such as their coffee order or favorite author in Little things. When a reminder arrives, you already have somewhere to start.
Widgets keep upcoming occasions on your home screen. Inside the app, you can switch between a list and a birthday calendar, or choose a dark or pure-black AMOLED appearance.
How to move your birthdays to Dearly
- Check that the birthdays and anniversaries you want are visible in your phone’s Contacts app.
- Open Import from contacts in Dearly, review the people and dates, and choose what to add.
- Add any missing dates and gift ideas, then choose reminder groups and allow notifications.
Dearly imports a copy of the dates you select. Later changes in Google Contacts do not automatically change that copy, so keep your dates up to date in Dearly as well. Your old app’s reminder settings do not transfer.
For more options, see our best birthday reminder apps for Android guide. Our birthday reminders on Android guide covers notification setup.
A look inside Dearly
Here is how upcoming birthdays and anniversaries look together in Dearly.
