We wish there was a standout app for greeting cards, but the current crop is less than impressive. While a few are adequate, most are downright awful, with lame cards that look like they were created by a fifth grader. Even though some of these apps are free, the cards are so poorly designed that you still wouldn’t want to send them to your friends. Fortunately, there are a few apps worth a download – here’s what to look for (and what to avoid) when shopping for an iPhone greeting card app.

American Greetings

The American Greetings app (free, iTunes link) has a solid selection of card genres to choose from, including Holiday, Birthday, Thank You, and I’m Sorry categories. You can also create your own card using custom backgrounds, text, and your own images. The app’s greeting cards are delivered via email, and although the designs are pretty basic, both the app and cards are free. Compared to other greeting card apps currently available, American Greetings is by far your best bet. Recommended.

Overall rating: 7.5/10

HiCard Suite

There are three main categories in the HiCard Suite app ($1.99, iTunes link), including Birthday, Thank You, and Holiday greetings. There’s also a miscellaneous section that includes a couple cards each for Congratulations, Get Well Soon, and Anniversaries. The cards are simple and look great on the iPhone, but they are small and a tiny bit fuzzy when they show up in your recipient’s email box as a JPEG attachment. American Greetings is a better option because it’s free, but HiCard will do in a pinch. Recommended.

Overall rating: 7/10

Hallmark Mobile Greetings

The Hallmark Mobile Greetings app (free, iTunes link) sends a text message with a link to a greeting card, which must be opened in a browser. Although the app is free to download, sending a card will cost you $0.99 (charged to your iTunes account) plus any text message charges. The card types feature the typical categories—Birthday, Congratulations, Thank you, etc. The cards look better than most greeting card apps, but the selection could be beefed up a bit. Overall, $0.99 seems too steep for a single card. You can add cards to your favorites for fast access later, and you’ll receive a text when your card is viewed. Limited recommendation.

Overall rating: 6.5/10

D’Cards

D’Cards (free, iTunes link) has an interesting selection of categories, including Father’s Day, graduation, get well soon, and even seven cards in the Michael Jackson tribute gallery. There’s also a ‘Monkey Day’ gallery, but no Mother’s Day? No holiday or Christmas cards? You can record a personalized message to accompany the card, which is a nice touch. Most greeting cards apps send the card as an email attachment, but D’Cards sends a link to your card instead. All the cards are free, but this app is hard to fully recommend because the cards are so lame. Limited recommendation.

Overall rating: 6.5/10

HelloCards

HelloCards ($1.99, iTunes link) has a wide assortment of cards, including greetings for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Valentine’s Day – categories that are often absent from other iPhone greeting card apps. The cards, which are sent as a JPEG attachment via email, are basic and very unimpressive, complete with stick figures or cheesy smile faces. Some cards have space to upload a picture, which can jazz them up a bit. Unfortunately, the cards just aren’t good enough to justify a $1.99 price tag. Not recommended.

Overall rating: 5/10

Free Greeting Card Messages

When I opened Free Greeting Card Messages (free, iTunes link) I was greeted with the following message: ‘Congratulations! You win. Enjoying your reward below. Tap here for sexy boy or tap here for sexy girl.’ Uh, not really what I had in mind. Even the messages are laughably horrible:

Needless to say, this app is really bad and definitely not recommended.

Overall rating: 1/10

Conclusion

There’s still a lot of room for improvement when it comes to iPhone greeting card apps. Some developer could make a killing if they created an app with cards that are actually decent. Our advice: don’t pay for a greeting card app, at least not yet. Download the free American Greetings app and save yourself a lot of hassle.