Alternatives › Coming from Garden
If Garden has not changed since 2020
The last update was June 2020. Six years is a long time for an app to sit still, and iOS has moved on underneath it.
50 ratings in the US App Store, as of 15 October 2026. Last updated 4 June 2020.
 Ciao! |
 Garden |
|
|---|---|---|
| Last update | October 2026 | June 2020 |
| What it costs | €3.99 a year after 7 days free |
Free |
| Free tier | None. The yearly plan starts with 7 days free | Everything |
| Account needed | None | Not stated |
| Your friends in the app | Never | Invite links |
| A creature for each friend | 15 animals, 6 moods | A flower ring |
The rows about Garden come from its own App Store listing, read in September 2026, and from its update date. Where a cell says Not stated, I could not confirm it without installing. Ratings, prices and update dates were checked again in the US App Store on 15 October 2026. Ciao!’s prices here are the euro ones. The App Store shows yours before you confirm. Nothing here is taken from another app’s reviews. There is a newer, unrelated app also called Garden: Keep in Touch, released in 2026. This page is about the older one, by Meaning Labs.
Sources: Garden on the App Store · Garden on AlternativeTo · Garden’s website
Where Garden wins
- It is free, with no limit on people.
- A ring for each friend is a nice picture, and it was there first.
- If it still opens on your phone, it still works.
Where Ciao! wins
- It is still being made. The last update was in October 2026.
- A creature for each friend, with six moods, instead of one ring.
- Nobody is invited and nothing is shared. Your friends never know they are in it.
What to do now
Copy out whatever you wrote about people, while the app still opens. Then add your people to Ciao! from Contacts. The yearly plan starts with 7 free days.
Try it for a week. Then decide.
Get Ciao! on the App Store
Then €3.99 a year · No account · Cancel any time