Comparison

Paperpile vs Kumo Countdown Timer

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Paperpile

Organize and manage your research papers effortlessly. Collect, read, and annotate PDFs from millions of academic journals. Beat paper chaos with a tidy digital library.

Highlights
  • Search millions of academic papers
  • Collect PDFs with one tap
  • Organize with folders and labels
  • Read and annotate PDFs
  • Highlight and add notes
  • Browser integration for saving
Features
Read full description

Get a head start for you research and finally beat the paper chaos on your desk. With Paperpile you have all your research PDFs in one place — nice and tidy. Paperpile makes it easier than ever to collect, manage, read, and annotate your papers. FIND & COLLECT - Search millions of papers from 20,000+ academic journals right in the app. - Add new papers to your collection with one tap and the PDF will be downloaded automatically. - Save directly from your browser to your Paperpile library - User your university's off-campus proxy access to get restricted content behind paywalls. MANAGE & ORGANIZE - Bring structure to your library with folders and subfolders - Organize your library visually with colored labels - Mark important papers with stars. - Search your library to find the paper you need fast. READ & ANNOTATE - Read like on paper with a fast and slick PDF viewer experience - Highlight important sections in different colors - Add notes and never forget an important idea. - Add hand-drawn annotations - with your fingers or your Apple Pencil The Paperpile App requires a Paperpile account.

About

Kumo Countdown Timer

This app visually displays the remaining time until your next scheduled event, helping you manage your focus and avoid being late. It syncs with your existing calendar and shows live countdowns on your lock screen and device.

Highlights
  • Live countdown display
  • Lock screen widget
  • Dynamic Island integration
  • Calendar sync (iCloud, Google, Outlook)
  • Automatic updates from calendar changes
  • No accounts or subscriptions required
Features
Read full description

An alarm tells you when you're already late. Kumo does the opposite: it shows the time you still have, counting down to your next event before it arrives. Pick events from your existing calendar. Kumo shows a live countdown at the top of your screen and on your lock screen. No math in your head, no surprises once your event arrives. Just a clear amount of focus time sitting in plain sight, so you can settle into what you're doing now with room to breathe. Made for people with time blindness, ADHD, or anyone whose sense of time doesn't run on a clock. How it works: Connect the calendar already on your iPhone Tap one event or several to start their countdowns Watch the time count down on your lock screen and the top of your phone (Dynamic Island) Pick as many events as you like, and Kumo keeps up as your calendar changes: add, move, or cancel something, and your countdowns follow. Works with iCloud, Google, Outlook, and any other calendar in the iOS Calendar app. Your calendar stays yours. Kumo reads your events on your device to show your countdowns. No subscriptions. No accounts.

Screenshots

Paperpile3 screens
Kumo Countdown Timer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Paperpile at Free against Kumo Countdown Timer's $2.99. Paperpile also leads on ratings volume (129 vs 4) and device support (3 vs 1). Kumo Countdown Timer's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.5) and update cadence (weekly vs every 2 months). On ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Paperpile is free to download; Kumo Countdown Timer costs $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Kumo Countdown Timer holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Paperpile has 129 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 72% of Paperpile's written reviews are positive against 100% of Kumo Countdown Timer's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Paperpile ships an update every 2 months, Kumo Countdown Timer weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and October 4, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Paperpile versus Kumo Countdown Timer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPaperpileKumo Countdown Timer
PriceFree — better$2.99
Rating4.5 (129 ratings)5.0 (4 ratings) — better
Positive reviews71.6% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings129 — better4
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS12.0 — better26.1
Further details — not scored
Size242 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPaperpile LLCTiny Tools Studio LLC

Customer experience

Paperpile

All ratings129 ratings
Positive86.8%
Neutral3.9%
Negative9.3%
Written reviews81 reviews
Positive71.6%
Neutral4.9%
Negative23.5%

Kumo Countdown Timer

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Paperpile

Reported bugs

12 issues
  • App crashes frequently on iPad and iOS devices
  • Highlighting disappears when revisiting papers
  • Overlapping annotations delete together when removing one
  • Sync failures requiring logout/login cycles
  • Annotations not syncing between iPad and web versions
Show 7 more
  • PDF metadata recognition failures when adding papers
  • Settings reset when returning to previously edited files
  • App incompatible with older iOS versions (iOS 12)
  • Login authentication errors with university accounts
  • App crashes without reliable internet connection
  • Search functionality broken after updates
  • Annotations not saving/loading on iOS 14.4.2

Requested features

17 requests
  • Dark mode implementation
  • Edit citation metadata on mobile app
  • Change PDF file functionality
  • Save to downloads feature
  • Dictionary/lookup function for reading
Show 12 more
  • Cite while you write feature
  • BibTeX export capability
  • Ability to upload PDFs directly from mobile app
  • Support for Safari and other browsers
  • Desktop application version
  • Shared library access in mobile app
  • Advanced sorting options (by title, author, date)
  • Custom color options for annotations
  • Paste images into PDFs
  • Shape snapping for drawing tools
  • University email authentication
  • Paper rating system beyond stars

Kumo Countdown Timer

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Paperpile

No in-app purchases

None

Kumo Countdown Timer

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Paperpile free?
Paperpile is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Kumo Countdown Timer free?
Kumo Countdown Timer costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Paperpile or Kumo Countdown Timer?
Kumo Countdown Timer is rated higher. Paperpile averages 4.5 out of 5 from 129 ratings, while Kumo Countdown Timer averages 5.0 from 4 ratings.
Do Paperpile or Kumo Countdown Timer have ads?
Neither Paperpile nor Kumo Countdown Timer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Paperpile or Kumo Countdown Timer?
Paperpile ships an update every 2 months, and Kumo Countdown Timer weekly. Most recently, Paperpile was updated on October 6, 2026 and Kumo Countdown Timer on October 4, 2026.

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