Best free apps for Black Friday shopping

HOUSTON, Texas -- It's time to begin planning your post-Thanksgiving shopping strategy.

While you're busy arming yourself with coupons and store ads, don't forget to load up your smartphone as well.

RELATED: What stores are open, closed on Thanksgiving

NerdWallet has recommendations for the best free apps for Black Friday shopping:

• ShopSavvy gives you the latest deals at popular stores. You must use your phone as a barcode scanner. You will also get a price drop alert.
• Shopular sends you coupons. Members of the community can also swap savings tips.
• FLIPP gives you digital circulars and helps you combine coupons and stack savings.
• Price Cruncher helps customers crunch the numbers to see if it's worth the deal. It's great for bulk buying, because you can calculate price per product.
• The Coupons App gives users deals and coupons with online promo codes from more than 100,000 retailers. It also tells you when coupons are about to expire.
• Santa's Bag allows you to set up and manage your Christmas gift list budget and gift list.