Send an Advent Calendar by WhatsApp, Email or QR Code: What the Recipient Sees

Making the 24 doors takes an evening; sending the calendar takes a minute, and the choice of route is mostly a question of where the person already reads their messages. This page walks through the three routes as steps and shows what the recipient meets on each. The making itself is covered on the cluster’s practical page, how to make a digital advent calendar; what goes behind the doors is on 24 digital advent calendar ideas.

One definition first. AdventMyFriend, the maker on this site, is free: 24 doors, no registration, and one link to send, with an email address used once for the secret link that edits or deletes the calendar.

The calendar is one link

Whatever route you choose, you are sending the same thing: a web address. The maker’s page describes the third step of making a calendar as sharing, “Send the calendar link via WhatsApp, email, or social media”, and says you can keep the calendar private or share it publicly. Nothing is attached; the page answers the account question in a line: “No, anyone can open your calendar directly via the link”. A review of the maker by a French teachers’ tools site lists a single URL (or an embed) and scheduled opening among its features, which is the part the recipient notices: door 1 opens on its day, door 2 on the next.

Two links exist, and they are not the same. The calendar link is the one you send. The secret link that edits or deletes the calendar arrives in your own inbox, goes to nobody, and stays out of every message below.

Good to know “Anyone with the link” is how Google describes a shared Google Photos album: anyone with the link can view the photos and add to the album. A calendar link works on the same logic. Whoever receives it can open it and can pass it on, so the route you pick decides how far the link can travel. A one-to-one chat keeps it between two people; a group chat, a pinned post or a card on a notice board does not.

Route 1: WhatsApp

WhatsApp suits a person who answers chats within the hour and whose phone is where the calendar will be opened. The maker lists WhatsApp as a sharing route on its own page, and Advent App’s listing describes its links the same way: a custom link to send “via WhatsApp, SMS or email”.

1. Fill the first few doors first. The doors open on their dates; the rest can be filled later through the edit link in your inbox.
2. Copy the calendar link, not the edit link. The calendar page is the one to share. The secret edit link in your email is the key to changing and deleting the calendar.
3. Open a chat with one person and paste the link. One chat with the one person it is for, not a family group.
4. Write one line of your own above the link. The maker’s page says nothing about how a chat app displays a link, so give the message its own sentence: “Door 1 opens on December 1. This is for you.”
5. Send it on the morning you want it to start, or earlier. The recipient taps the link and the calendar opens in the phone’s browser. No account, no sign-in, nothing to download.

What the recipient sees on tapping is the calendar with its 24 doors, and each door opens on its date.

Route 2: email

Email suits a person who reads mail more than chats, an older relative, or a reader who is not on WhatsApp.

1. Paste the calendar link into the body of the message. The maker’s page lists email among the sharing routes. Put the link on its own line so it is easy to tap.
2. Say what it is in the subject line. “Your advent calendar, door 1 opens December 1” tells the reader the message is meant. Keep the edit link out of the message; it stays in your inbox.
3. Schedule the send, if your mail app has that menu. Whether yours does belongs to that app’s own help; this page makes no claim about any particular mail app. If yours cannot schedule, send the message the evening before and say in it when door 1 opens.
4. Send it to the person, not to a list. A list sends the same link to every member. For a team, a company advent calendar without IT sets out when one shared link is right.

The recipient taps the link and the calendar opens in the browser.

Route 3: a QR code on a card

A QR code is a printed picture that stands for a web address. Made from the calendar link, it opens the same calendar the link does. It suits a person who will be holding a card at Christmas, or a household with no chat in common: a printed card in a Christmas card envelope, a postcard to a grandparent, a note in a lunchbox.

1. Generate the code from the calendar link. Any QR code generator that takes a web address will do; the code is only a picture of that address. This page names no generator.
2. Check it before you print. Scan the finished code with your own phone and confirm it lands on the calendar.
3. Print it on a card with the link beneath it in small type. The recipient points a phone camera at the code and follows the link it shows. If a camera does not read the code, the typed link does the same work.
4. Add the date. “Door 1 opens December 1” on the card sets the start; the calendar opens each door on its date.
5. Hand it to the person. A QR code on a card is exactly as open as the link behind it. A card pinned in a staff room is a link pinned in a staff room.

Here one code stands for the whole calendar. A French teachers’ tools site describes a different route, Canva templates for printable calendars and QR codes, where each square can carry its own code and its own link.

What the apps offer

Nobody needs an app to open this calendar, but readers arrive having tried one, so here is what two listings say, read October 2026. Advent App on iOS, by PINTUMO UG, says it generates “a custom link you can send to your loved ones via WhatsApp, SMS or email”, with no sign-up for anyone; recipients download the free app and open the link. 24 Moments lists sending via WhatsApp, iMessage or email, and a link option: “Share via link — no account needed to receive”, with optional password protection. Online calendar, app or printable lays them side by side.

The limits of the maker belong here as well. The secrecy of the link is the lock. Videos are links to YouTube, not uploads, and a video on YouTube can show ads that no calendar can switch off; the page on YouTube in an advent calendar covers that.

Which route for which person

In the tool The maker’s doors hold a short text and one of an uploaded image, a YouTube video, a GIF or a link, and videos are links, not uploads. When the 24 doors are filled, the calendar goes out as one link by WhatsApp or email, and the recipient opens it with no account. The secret edit link stays in your inbox. Calendars stay online at least through January, and you can delete one at any time.

Put it in a calendar

Pick the template that matches the person, a partner, grandparents or a friend abroad, copy it, and fill door 1. Then Create your calendar, copy the calendar link, and send it by the route in the grid above.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there an advent calendar for WhatsApp?

There is no separate WhatsApp calendar to install: the maker here produces a link, and the link goes into a WhatsApp chat. Two iOS app listings name WhatsApp too.

Does the person I send it to need an account?

Not for this maker: its page says anyone can open the calendar directly through the link. Advent App’s listing says “No sign-up for anyone” but has recipients download the free app.

Can I send an advent calendar by email?

Yes. The maker’s page lists email among the ways to share the link. Paste the calendar link into the body of the message, and keep the secret edit link, which arrives in your own inbox, out of it.

Can I put an advent calendar behind a QR code?

Yes: a QR code is a picture of a web address, so a code made from the calendar link opens the calendar. Print the link beneath it, and treat the card as you would the link, since anyone who scans it can open the calendar.

Should I send the calendar to a group?

Send it to one person at a time. Whoever holds the link can open the calendar and pass the link on, in the way Google describes a shared album: anyone with the link.

When does the person see each door?

A door opens on its date. A review of the maker lists scheduled opening among its features. Say in your message when door 1 opens.

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