Secret Santa on Wishpicks draws names for your group: everyone joins from one link, gets one person to buy for, and nobody sees who has whom.
Open Apps and choose Secret Santa. On a phone, Apps is the grid icon at the top of the screen; on a computer, it's at the bottom of the menu on the left, just above Settings.
Tap Start a group, or New group once you have one, and sign in if you're asked to: running a group needs a Wishpicks account.
Name the group, keep Draw names chosen, and pick the occasion, the budget per gift, the day names are drawn and gift day. The dates come filled in; a note and a cover are optional.
Tap Create and get the link, then send it to your group chat, copy it or show its QR code. The invitation shows you as the organizer, the dates, the budget and how many people are in. Anyone with the link can join until names are drawn.
Names are drawn automatically on the day you picked, at the time shown in the group's plan. Four people joining doesn't start the draw: it only lets you draw sooner yourself, by tapping Draw names. If you don't tap it, the draw waits for your day. Once five are in, you can also add pairs who shouldn't draw each other, such as couples. If names can't be drawn on the day, you get a notice in Updates.
Everyone opens the group and taps See who you got. Reserve a gift from that person's list as on any wishlist (see "How do I reserve a gift?"), then mark it Bought and Given. The group sees how many gifts are ready, never whose.
On gift day, whoever gets a gift taps Got it and can thank their Santa with a ready-made line.
Wishpicks tells everyone when names are drawn, in Updates and by email. It doesn't store anyone's address: ask in your group chat, or give the gift in person. For latecomers, people who leave and gifts that don't arrive, see "What if someone drops out of Secret Santa?".
Until names are drawn, the organizer can change the occasion, budget, dates and reveal choice in Group details on the group's page, below Who’s in; the name, note and cover stay editable until the end of gift day. Until gift day, Cancel this group calls it off: everyone is told, the link stops working, and a gift already bought is the buyer's to keep or return. The organizer can't leave their own group, so cancelling is their way out, and Set it up again starts a cancelled group afresh.
Next year, the organizer can open the past group and tap Run it again. The new group keeps the budget, reveal choice, note and cover, opens on its details so the dates can be checked, and gets a new link everyone joins from again. Last year's members get a notice and an email naming who's running it, so they know whom to ask. If the organizer deletes their account, the longest-joined remaining member becomes its organizer and can run it again. With no remaining member to take over, the group is cancelled and its invitation closes; pending requests do not become organizers. The draw tries to avoid last year's pairs where it can.
Do I need an account to join?
Yes, everyone needs a Wishpicks account, the organizer included. You can read the invitation without one; tap Join the group, sign in or create an account, and you come straight back to finish joining. There's no name to type: the group shows your account's name and photo, on any device you sign in on.
Everyone gets notices in Updates, and Wishpicks emails you when something needs you: names are drawn or the group starts, you're let in, your person changes, the gift you gave arrives or is reported missing, you're asked to step in, gift day is a week away and your gift isn't ready, or the group is cancelled or run again. The organizer also gets an email when someone asks to join, one a day at most. To stop these emails, see "How do I choose which emails I get?".
Do I have to add a wishlist?
No, joining is enough to be in the draw. Tap Add a wishlist to pick one of your lists or start one for the group. Whoever draws you sees that list and nothing else of yours; without one, your Santa gets gift ideas inside the budget. A private list you pick opens to anyone with the link, and stays that way.
Once names are drawn, the list hides what's reserved on it from you until the morning after gift day (see "Can I see what's reserved on my list?"). If you use Change list or Remove from group after someone in the group has reserved on it, Wishpicks asks first, because the old list stops hiding what's reserved.
Can the organizer see who has whom?
No. Each person sees only their own person, the organizer included, and Wishpicks support's tools don't show it either. After the draw, members see only who's in; everyone can see who the organizer is.
The organizer also sees the link, requests to join and the rules on who shouldn't draw whom. Under Who’s in, they see part of each person's email address, such as a•••@gmail.com, to check who joined; nobody else sees anyone's email.
The one exception is Reveal who drew whom after gift day: with it on, members see who drew whom on the group's page from the morning after gift day. It's off unless the organizer turns it on, when starting the group or in Group details, and it can't change once names are drawn.
Can everyone give to everyone instead?
Yes: choose Everyone gives to everyone when you start the group. With three or more people, each person buys one gift for each of the others, inside the budget per gift, with no draw. The group starts automatically on the day set, or sooner if the organizer taps Start, which they can do once three people are in; newcomers then wait to be let in. Everyone sees everyone else's list, so reserving a gift stops two people buying the same thing. There's no reveal.