Cameo’s birthday reminder app, Candl, is a weak attempt at a comeback

Around this time last year, Cameo hit a significant low point. Its valuation dropped by at least 90%, and the company’s dire financial situation meant it was unable to pay a $600,000 fine from the FTC.

Now, the company behind the celebrity greeting app is exploring a new, albeit somewhat dull, avenue for growth. On Thursday, Cameo announced the launch of Candl, a birthday planning app designed for forgetful users who want to celebrate their friends’ birthdays without being late to the party.

Image Credits:Baron App, Inc.

Candl, available to download for free on the App Store, syncs birthdays from your saved contacts and creates a birthday calendar, allowing you to see your friends’ and family members’ birthdays while receiving reminders for upcoming celebrations. For astrology fans, you can also see with whom you’re most compatible based on your zodiac sign.

Additionally, the app has a “Birthday Network,” so if another Candl user has access to the same contact but doesn’t know their birthday, the app will share the birthday information it has from your contacts. (Users who prefer not to share their birthday information can opt out by visiting candl.app/optout and submitting the phone numbers they want to exclude.) 

Candl is also planning to add an AI-powered feature that suggests gift ideas.

The app is pretty straightforward and could be helpful for many people — after all, everyone has birthdays, and many of us have trouble keeping track of them. But it’s kind of strange that this once-popular unicorn would choose to create such a simple app to try to regain its fame.

Cameo is known for more ambitious projects, such as its NFT-based community offering and its pivot to content creators. However, despite these efforts, the company doesn’t seem to be seeing the results it hoped for.

Data from app intelligence firm Appfigures indicates that downloads of the Cameo app have steadily declined since their peak during the pandemic. In 2021, Cameo saw 1.1 million app installs compared to 433,000 in 2022. The first half of this year marked the first increase, at 270,000 downloads, representing a 24% rise compared to last year’s 217,000.

Plus, in the first six months of 2025, global gross consumer spending in the app reached approximately $1.7 million, representing a 64% decline from around $4.7 million during the same period in 2024.

Time will reveal whether Candl succeeds or fails to gain enough traction.