It must be Christmas — it's snowing in the Apple Store app!

Apple Store app (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

It's Christmas, which means it's snowing in the Apple Store.
You can fill the Apple Store app with snow by searching for three simple words.

Every Christmas Apple flicks a special Apple Store app switch. It doesn't make a new product available to buy, but that doesn't mean there isn't a fun time to be had. See, this switch makes it snow!

Only in the Apple Store app, mind.

Just as was the case in previous years, typing "Let it Snow" into the App Store app's search box is enough to fill your device's screen with snowflakes. Is it the best iPhone feature around? Probably not, but it's one that we all find ourselves grinning at every December.

Check out Rene's Instagram video to see why the snow isn't the only thing that's cool!

(opens in new tab)
A photo posted by on

Want to get some snow of your own? Of course you do. Here's how it goes down.

Open the Apple Store on an iPhone or iPad.
Head to the Search tab and enter "let it snow" into the text field. No need for the quotes.
Watch as snow falls from the top of your screen.
As if that wasn't enough to fill your heart with joy, give your iPhone or iPad a shake and watch as it turns into a giant metal and glass snow globe.

Don't worry — you won't need to clean any of that snow up afterwards! This'll work just as well whether you're using a brand new iPhone 13 or something a little more vintage — have you tried it out yet?

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.