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App-y holidays: Apple gives away free Christmas swag with '12 Days of Gifts' 

Rod Stewart sings \"Let It Snow.\"
Rod Stewart sings "Let It Snow."YouTube
Apple's 12 Days of Gifts app is available for free on iTunes.
Apple's 12 Days of Gifts app is available for free on iTunes.Apple

Forget the North Pole. This Christmas, the gifts are coming from Cupertino, Calif., delivered by Apple to your iPhone or iPad.

All you need to do: Download the free 12 Days of Gifts iOS app, then check in every day between Dec. 26 and Jan. 6 for a free song, app, book or movie from the iTunes store. Each "gift" will only be available for 24 hours, although you can set the app to notify you whenever a new one becomes available. 

During previous holiday seasons, the app was only available to users in Europe, Canada, Japan and several other countries — but not the United States. Luckily, this year, Americans with iOS 7 will be able to get in on the action.

So, what can you expect in your digital stocking? Apple isn't telling. But last year, users were treated to the pleasing British-accented timbre of Benedict Cumberbatch in a free episode of the BBC's "Sherlock," as well as the falsetto of People's Sexiest Man Alive of 2013, Adam Levine, in a Maroon 5 holiday song gift pack.

Other gifts in the past have included an episode of "Breaking Bad," the geography game Geomaster and, for better or for worse, this Rod Stewart "Let It Snow" music video.

Keith Wagstaff writes about technology for NBC News. He previously covered technology for TIME's Techland and wrote about politics as a staff writer at TheWeek.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @kwagstaff and reach him by email at: Keith.Wagstaff@nbcuni.com