Gift Karma is live. It gives you points for the things you already do in Gift Buddy, turns those points into eight levels with perks, keeps a daily streak with a small flame, and unlocks achievements along the way. We promised in the autumn update that giving would pay far more than tapping. This post is the full rulebook, with every number, so you can see exactly what pays and what does not.
Why a gifting app needs Karma at all
Gifting is seasonal. Most people open a wishlist app in the weeks before a birthday or a holiday and forget it for months in between. That is fine for the app, but bad for the lists: they go stale, friends stop checking them, and by the next occasion everyone is guessing again.
Karma is our answer to the quiet months. It is not a game bolted on top of the app. It is a reason to keep your list current, follow the people you actually give to, and close the loop when a gift is handed over.
How you earn Karma
Every action has a base value and, for most of them, a daily limit. The limits are the anti-farming rule: a full day of adding gifts caps at 50 Karma, about what one gift claimed and handed over is worth.
| Action | Karma | Limit per day |
|---|---|---|
| Create a gift | +5 | 10 |
| Follow someone | +3 | 10 |
| Claim a gift | +15 | 5 |
| Fulfill a gift (marked done) | +25 | 5 |
| Your own gift gets fulfilled | +10 | 5 |
| Take part in a group gift that gets done | +10 | 5 |
| Daily check-in | +2 | 1 |
| Complete your profile | +25 | once |
| First gift, first follow, first claim | +50, +30, +100 | once each |
| 7-day streak, 30-day streak | +20, +100 | per streak |
The shape of the table is deliberate. Claiming is worth three times a created gift and fulfilling five times, because those are the actions that help somebody else. The two biggest one-time bonuses, the first claim at +100 and the first gift at +50, sit at the moment a new account becomes useful to its friends.
Each action also counts once per subject. Unfollowing and following the same person again earns nothing the second time, and a gift that is claimed, cancelled and claimed again pays once. The daily check-in happens on its own the first time you open the app on a given day, so there is no button to remember.
Eight levels and what each one unlocks
Points add up into levels. The thresholds get steeper on purpose: the first badge arrives with your first gift, the last one takes years of real giving.
| Level | Name | Karma needed | Perk |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Newcomer | 0 | None |
| 2 | Gift Curious | 50 | Level badge next to your name and a ring around your avatar |
| 3 | Thoughtful | 150 | Accent ribbon: pick a colour for your nickname and ring |
| 4 | Generous | 350 | Animated avatar ring |
| 5 | Benefactor | 700 | Visibility on the leaderboard, when it arrives in 2027 |
| 6 | Gift Master | 1200 | Priority in profile search |
| 7 | Karma King | 2000 | Kraft and linen paper stocks for the whole app |
| 8 | Legend | 3500 | Legend badge and a double ring |
Two perks deserve a word. The accent ribbon at level 3 is the first thing other people notice: your nickname and avatar ring take one of five colours, violet, moss, clay, madder or slate, and it shows on your profile and in your friends' lists. The paper themes at level 7 change the look of the entire app to a different paper stock, kraft or linen. If you are curious why the app is made of paper in the first place, we explained the design in why Gift Buddy looks like paper.
The level 5 perk waits for the leaderboard, planned for the first quarter of 2027 on the public roadmap. Reaching level 5 now records it, so it switches on the day the leaderboard does.
Streaks and the flame
A streak counts consecutive days on which you opened the app. Days are counted in your own time zone, so a late evening check-in does not roll into tomorrow because of a server clock. Miss a day and the streak starts again from one; your longest streak is kept and shown next to the current one.
The flame on your profile changes with the length of the streak: a clay flame for the first six days, a deeper madder from day seven, and violet from day thirty. The seventh and thirtieth days also pay a bonus, +20 and +100. If your device has reduced motion switched on, the flame holds still.
Achievements
Alongside the points there are twenty achievements in four rarities, from First Wish for your first gift to Santa Mode for a hundred fulfilled ones. They do not add Karma; they are a record of what you have done, and the three rarest show on your profile for your friends to see. The full list, with the exact criteria for each, is in all twenty achievements and how to unlock them.
Subscribers earn more, but cannot skip
Paid plans multiply the base values: Sprout earns 1.2 times, Bloom 1.5 times and Evergreen 2 times. A fulfilled gift is worth 25 Karma on the free plan and 38 on Bloom, rounded half up.
The multiplier does not let anyone skip the work. The daily limits are the same on every plan, levels cannot be bought, and there is no item in the store that adds points. A subscriber who never claims or fulfills a gift climbs only on check-ins and their own list. The plan limits on follows and active gifts are unchanged, and are described on the pricing page.
What Karma is not
A few things we decided against, so you know what to expect:
- There is no leaderboard yet. It is planned for 2027, once we are sure it rewards the right behaviour.
- Fulfilling without a giver pays nothing. When an owner closes their own gift with I got the gift and nobody had claimed it, no Karma moves. Points flow only when a gift actually went from one person to another.
- Nothing is hidden from you. The hub shows today's limits, the full history of every award, and the exact threshold to the next level.
- Karma never changes privacy. Your level, ribbon, streak and top three achievements are visible; your point total, history and achievement progress are yours alone.
Where to find it
Open the Profile tab and tap Karma. The hub shows your level and progress, the streak, your achievements, how to earn with today's limits, your history, and the perks you have unlocked, including the ribbon colour picker from level 3 and the paper picker from level 7. Awards also appear as a small toast when they happen, and a level-up gets its own sheet.
Start with the actions that matter
If you want to move up quickly, the table above already tells you how: claim a gift for a friend, fulfill it, and keep your own list current so friends can fulfill yours. A new account that completes its profile, adds a gift, follows two people and claims one wish collects over 200 Karma and reaches level 3 on the first day, mostly from the one-time bonuses. From there, give the way you normally would. That is the whole point.
Gift Buddy is free to start on iPhone. The Android version is in testing.
