# Countdown Star (Ad-Free) — user reviews > 392 indexed App Store user reviews of Countdown Star (Ad by Joseph Merrill, rated 4.70/5 from 3,659 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/countdown-star-ad-free/id569371565/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/countdown-star-ad-free/id569371565.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 3,102 · 4★ 321 · 3★ 108 · 2★ 34 · 1★ 94 ## What do users think of Countdown Star (Ad? Overall sentiment: neutral **Pros** - 👍 Easy to use - 💡 Customizable backgrounds - 🚀 Simple and functional - 🎨 Nice visual design **Cons** - 🐛 Unreliable widget functionality - 🔍 Limited event management options - 💰 Paid version doesn't import free version data - 🔧 Lack of customization options **Commonly reported bugs** - Custom wallpapers not saving - Countdown not updating correctly - Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions - Notification system not working as expected **Most requested features** - Recurring event support - Ability to exclude weekends/holidays from countdown - Multiple event display on main screen - Improved widget functionality - Sync across devices ## Newest reviews (11 of 392) ### 4/5 — Sync Error *2026-08-14* Love this app! But lately it says sync error at the bottom of my Home Page?? I emailed the guy and never got a response. Maybe he is not updating it anymore. I see review after review months before I left this one and obviously it isn’t being fixed so. I guess I’ll find another app. I don’t want to end up losing all my dates like others. ### 4/5 — Sync Error *2026-07-25, version 3.0.4* Love this app! But lately it says sync error at the bottom of my Home Page?? ### 4/5 — Syncing Issues *2026-07-18, version 3.0.4* The app is suddenly giving a Sync Error message. ### 1/5 — Update Mess *2026-06-30, version 3.0.2* I had this app set up with pictures, favorites, and configurations of everything and now it is a mess. Nothing is showing the way I want it to show and I cannot edit it. Oldest at top and no way to edit. Clearly, you don’t know how people use this app. ### 1/5 — Why *2026-06-29, version 3.0.2* Why didn’t you leave it alone it was just fine Why !!!!!!!!! ### 1/5 — Jumbled and congested *2026-06-28, version 3.0.2* The new format is horrible!!! Please put back. You squeezed everything closer together. It’s unsightly, confusing and it looks like a child put it together! ### 1/5 — I hate the new setup and the first wallpaper I added is gone when I add more *2026-06-27* I was happier with the way the setup was before June 27, 2026. And the wallpaper I added from my Photos got flipped so that the wallpaper at the bottom was at the top of the entire selection. When I readded the wallpaper so that it was the way it was before, the first of that wallpaper was gone. If I was a rather, I would’ve given this app five stars, but especially because of that wallpaper issue, I can’t. ### 2/5 — Latest Redesign Worse *2026-06-27, version 3.0.1* The latest redesign forces a larger font which looks terrible on my iPhone 13 mini. The numbers are bunched together and the Months, Minutes, and Seconds labels word wrap. ### 2/5 — Does not let you change the wallpaper *2026-06-25, version 3.0.1* Shows wallpaper options but does not let you change the wallpaper ### 1/5 — No widgets?!?! *2026-06-09, version 2.7.6* If this thing has widgets, I sure can't find them. The countdown timer without widgets is utterly useless. ### 3/5 — Upgrade Glitch? *2026-05-16, version 2.7.6* I’ve used this app for years and really like it but today I decided to upgrade and lost every countdown (and count up) in my history! Is there ANYWAY to get my history back? ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Everything has gone? *2026-08-07* I have been using a fully paid-for version Countdown Star for years and have previously been very pleased with it. However, when I downloaded the update in July it purged all of my data????? All of my countdowns are now missing! All of my count-ups are missing too! Even my bespoke wallpapers are missing. It’s so frustrating as I don’t know some of the dates and times to enable me to recreate the events. I contacted the developer but have yet to receive a response. This is so poor that I’m giving it a single star and creating this review as a warning to others. ### 1/5 — Sync error??? *2026-08-05, version 3.0.5* Used this app for a while now but all of a sudden it says sync error but Idkh to fix this issue. Help please ### 1/5 — All events gone ☹️ *2026-07-28* Since the update all my events disappeared. When I start re-entering them I eventually get an iCloud Sync error ❌ I’m afraid I’m going to have to think about giving up on this app. It used to work fine until the recent update but has since become annoyingly unusable, for me at least 🤯 A shame ‘cos I used to enjoy using it on an almost daily basis. ### 1/5 — Sync error *2026-07-28* Crashes - used to be reliable - now won’t sync ### 1/5 — Rubbish update *2026-07-25* Latest update deleted EVERYTHING I had saved in the app. Prior to the update it was working perfectly. Lost some very important dates - not happy! ### 1/5 — Not something I recommend *2026-07-24, version 3.0.4* While this works. I’ve learnt the hard way that I should just keep a spreadsheet as a main reference as I have lost all of my special dates from an update. ### 1/5 — Complicated *2026-07-23, version 3.0.4* Just purchased and already have the sync error. And I can’t figure out how to change the event I just created or how to just have the countdown on my home screen. ### 1/5 — Where are all of my events? *2026-07-15* Latest upgrade has wiped out all of my events. So upset as I can’t remember some of the dates in the past. I used it as a memory aid. No warning. Very disappointed. ### 1/5 — noway i’m wiping my entire phone just to revert back to a previous phone backup. *2026-07-11, version 3.0.3* the last update wiped out almost all of the infos that i had saved on the app. i am still waiting for a reply on the message i sent from their website. ### 1/5 — Your update deleted all my data (almost 10 years worth) *2026-07-10, version 3.0.3* Please fix! ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Love this App, but have ‘Sync Error’ issues since last update *2026-07-20* I love this App and use it for so many things! Counting down to upcoming events and appointments, and counting ‘up’ to keep track of friends and family birthdays; when I purchased major items; when major events happened (how long ago was that?); and other things. However, the App shows “Sync Error“ on my iPhone since the last update. I don’t have my phone synced to any other devices, and should be included in the iCloud backup updates like it always has before. It doesn’t show up on the ‘Background Refresh’ App list, so that’s not it. Otherwise, I still love it and tell others about it all the time. ### 5/5 — Perfect *2026-07-18, version 3.0.4* For me, this app does all I need from counting up to counting down. Enjoy the simplicity. ### 5/5 — Widget is Back! *2026-07-16, version 3.0.4* Ad-free version has widget back! Yay! I’ve used both app & widget many years. Neat tool to look forward to special events. ### 5/5 — Best App for Countdowns *2026-07-11* absolutely love this app, very easy to use ### 5/5 — My favorite travel app *2026-07-03, version 3.0.3* Countdown Star is awesome! ### 5/5 — Amazing app… But ran into some issues. *2026-07-02* I love this countdown app. I’ve been adding all my favorite national holidays in the app. I also use it to collect memories of things I like to do: like, the last time I hung out with my best friend. I will say, there are a few issues. When you use the time units slider, you can’t change it back to where it was with VoiceOver. I tried to change the time unit settings from days to hours. But when I tried to change it back to the days,it would not let me. And also, could you make it so it goes back to 10,000 again? And it would really be cool if you had some kind of fanfare sound effect, for when you reach zero on the countdown part. Anyways, I really do appreciate this app. I also appreciate that you actually take the reviewers feedback seriously. In my opinion, I feel like there’s not a lot of app developers that do that. You’re a real one in my book. Keep up the great work. **Developer response:** Hello — thank you so much for this, it made my day. I love that you're using it both for holidays and to mark memories; that's the kind of thing I hoped people would do with Countdown Star. I do want to make sure I understand the slider you mentioned. On my end, the units under the timer (years, months, days … all the way down to seconds) snap as you drag, and each event remembers its own setting — so I'm not quite picturing what's going wrong, or what you'd like to get back to. If you can tell me a little more about what you're seeing, I'd genuinely love to help sort it out. And I really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts — hearing how people use the app, and what they'd love from it, means a lot. Thanks again for the kind words! — Joe ### 5/5 — Update fixed issues *2026-07-02, version 3.0.3* Thanks for getting back and the changes look great! Thanks for the quick response and attention to the app! ### 5/5 — Die neue Version ist genial ! *2026-06-21* Das lange Warten auf die neue Version hat sich gelohnt. Das Widget funktioniert wieder einwandfrei! **Developer response:** Hallo, ganz herzlichen Dank – das freut mich riesig zu hören! Schön, dass sich das Warten gelohnt hat und das Widget bei dir wieder rundläuft. Viel Spaß weiterhin mit der App! Viele Grüße, Joe ### 5/5 — 💙💙 *2026-05-08, version 2.7.6* Very Helpful ### 5/5 — Best Countdown! *2025-12-19* I have been using this app for 7-8 years and it is so perfect. The countdowns bear out into minutes, weeks, whatever. It is super simple to enter and use. I am an impatient person and have never been frustrated with this little countdown app - awesome tool ❤️ --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-28.*