Frequently asked questions

The Wish List is a free site where you create wishlists, share them with a link and let your guests reserve wishes – so nothing gets given twice.

You never create a password. You give your list a title and add your email address – and you’re in your list right away and can start adding wishes. Your address comes with an account that lets you find your lists again later; you sign in with a link that arrives by email.

A link in an email from The Wish List that signs you in without a password. For signing in it’s valid for one hour, for confirming a new list for 24 hours, and it works only once – after that, you simply request a new one.

You don’t need to confirm anything to create and fill a list – that works right away. Confirmation only comes up once the list is meant to leave your screen: the share link, the QR code and the view for guests are available after that. If you never confirm, the list is deleted again after seven days.

Check your spam folder. The email usually arrives within a minute or two. If nothing shows up, just request a new link.

No, The Wish List runs entirely in your browser – on your phone, tablet and computer. You can add the site to your phone’s home screen, though: then it opens like an app and shows up as a target in your phone’s share menu.

Yes, you can create as many wishlists as you like – for example one for your birthday, one for Christmas and one for your wedding.

No. You open the list with the link you were sent and reserve with one tap – no sign-in and, if you like, without giving your name.

They see that a wish is taken – it shows as reserved on their list, unless they’ve turned on Surprise me: then they don’t. Who reserved it they only learn if you give your name when reserving: then it shows on that wish and in the daily email, if they’ve turned it on. Without a name, it stays open who the gift is from.

They see that the wish is taken – never by whom.

Yes. If you reserved it yourself, you release the wish with “Changed your mind? Release”. Anyone with the link can cancel a reservation, though – even someone else’s.

Only one reservation can win, and that’s decided in the same instant. Whoever is too late immediately gets a message that the wish was just taken – nothing is given away twice.

Just type a title into the “Wish or product link” field – or paste a link to an online store. The wish is on your list right away; name, image and price are filled in in the background.

Yes. Name, image and price are read from the linked page and filled in a few seconds later. If a store blocks this, you add the details by hand – you can change everything about a wish anyway.

Yes. On your phone, tap “Share” in the store and pick the wishlist as the target – the link is then already filled in, and you just choose the list. On a computer, a bookmark does the same; you drag it into your bookmarks bar once.

Yes. When you edit a wish, you can choose your own image (JPG, PNG or WebP) – or remove the one that was recognized automatically.

Yes, you can change the title, note, store, price, link and image at any time – even when the wish has already been reserved.

Yes, you can mark a wish as a top wish. It then sits at the top – ahead of everything that’s still available.

Yes, if you allow it: the “Can be given more than once” switch puts the wish back on the list as available after every reservation – meant for cash gifts and anything several people can chip in on. If you need six identical glasses instead, use “Create copy” to add several available copies rather than typing the wish six times.

The wish is removed. If you deleted it by mistake, you can bring it back right afterward with “Undo”.

Edit your wishlist and choose “Delete”. If it was a mistake, you can bring it back right afterward with “Undo”.

Yes. Under “Edit” on your list, turn on Surprise me. While it’s on, you won’t see what’s been reserved, and the daily email leaves this list out – on the big day and after it too, until you turn it off. Your guests won’t notice a thing. It’s a screen, not a lock: anyone who opens the guest link while signed out still sees what’s taken.

You get a secret link to share with friends and family – as a link, through your phone’s share menu or as a QR code. Only people who have the link can see the list.

The wish is marked as reserved so it isn’t given twice. Your guests then see it as taken; on your own list, it stays where it is.

Yes. When you open your list, the top shows what was reserved or released since your last visit. You can also turn on a daily email in your settings – at most one a day, and only when something has actually happened.

Yes. In your wishlist, you can show a QR code and download it as an SVG – perfect for printing on invitations.

Yes. Under “Edit” on your list, you’ll find “Create a new link”: your list gets a new address, and the old link leads nowhere. Wishes and existing reservations stay – you just send out the new link again.

Any occasion where people wish for something – birthdays, Christmas, weddings, a new baby, graduation, Easter, Valentine’s Day and many more.

Yes. The date then also shows above the list your guests see – so it’s clear when a gift should be there.

There are no ready-made lists with gift ideas. If you start from an occasion page, though, your list’s title is already filled in to match – everything else you name and fill in freely.

Only people who have the secret link to your wishlist can see it. As long as your email address isn’t confirmed, nobody sees it except you.

No, your data is not sold or passed on to third parties. Only the minimum of data needed to run the site is stored.

No, The Wish List is completely ad-free.

No, and it will stay that way. The Wish List is an independent side project run by one person: no investors expecting a return, no ads, no commission on gifts and no selling of data. So there’s no paid tier locking features away either.

Yes, you can delete your account at any time in your settings. All your data is removed completely and permanently.