Wishlists and claiming gifts

Archived feature guide: this feature is hidden in the current bill-splitting release.

FairJar’s wishlist feature is designed for group gifting: the birthday person adds what they’d like, friends claim items privately, and nobody accidentally buys the same thing twice — all without spoiling the surprise.

Adding wish items

Anyone in the group can have a wishlist. To add items to yours:

1. Open your group and tap the Wishlists tab.
2. Tap Add wish item.
3. Enter a name for the item (e.g. “The Midnight Library — paperback”) and an optional note with a link, size, or colour preference.
4. Tap Save. The item appears on your wishlist for all group members to see.

You can add as many items as you like and edit or remove them at any time.

How claiming works (and why it’s hidden from you)

When a friend wants to buy one of your wish items, they tap Claim on that item. Their claim is visible to every group member except you — the wishlist owner. This means:

• Your friends can coordinate (“I’m getting the book, can someone grab the candle?”) without telling you.
• You never see who’s getting you what, so the surprise is preserved.
• There’s no risk of duplicates — once an item is claimed, everyone else sees it’s taken.

Claiming an item

As a group member viewing someone else’s wishlist:

1. Browse the items on their wishlist.
2. Find something you’d like to give and tap Claim.
3. The item is now marked as claimed for you. Other members can see it’s taken; the owner cannot.
4. If your plans change, tap Unclaim on the same item — no hard feelings.

Preventing duplicate gifts

Because claims are visible to all members except the wishlist owner, the group naturally self-organizes:

• Before you claim something, you can see if it’s already been taken.
• If you both want to chip in on a bigger item, coordinate via your usual messaging app — just don’t mention it in the app where the owner might see notifications.

Tips

• Add your wishlist items well before your birthday or occasion so friends have time to plan.
• Include direct links (to a shop page) in the item note so there’s no guessing about which version you want.
• For group gift ideas, check the Features page for an overview of everything wishlists can do.