Comparison

Sorted³ vs Cal Countdown

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

Head to head
About

Sorted³

This app unifies your calendar events and tasks into a single timeline, allowing for formatted notes and attachments. It helps you effortlessly schedule your day with features like Auto Schedule and built-in flexibility to adjust to changes.

Highlights
  • Unified timeline for events and tasks
  • Formatted notes and attachments
  • Effortless scheduling with Auto Schedule
  • Built-in flexibility for schedule adjustments
  • Widgets for iOS and macOS
  • iCloud Sync
  • Natural Language Processing
Features
Read full description

FREE forever. Also check out the PRO features for 14 days. NO Subscription! Get PRO to gain the full power of Sorted³ once and for all. PRO iOS and macOS are separate purchases. You can choose to buy the bundle or separately. Sorted³ has been featured by Apple as [App Of The Day], [Apps We Love Right Now] & [Get Stuff Done] in 130+ regions. We've now rebuilt the app from the ground up to make it even easier (and more fun) to hyper-schedule your entire day from a single place. As you start integrating Sorted³ into your daily workflow, you'll notice 3 foundational benefits: ● Unified Timeline Sorted³ seamlessly integrates your calendar events and tasks into one timeline so you can manage your entire day from a single place. To make things even more delightful, you can take formatted notes, attachments and drawings on both your events and tasks inside the app. ● Effortless Scheduling Sorted³ helps you easily set a schedule for your day, and decide what’s important, what can wait, and what you reasonably have time for. You can use Auto Schedule to figure out what you can realistically get done in a day. Instead of feeling underproductive, Sorted³ helps you set attainable goals that you can accomplish. ● Built-in Flexibility Even when properly scheduled in advance, days don’t always go as planned! Sorted³ is built with that flexibility in mind to adjust to your changing schedule. It's as dynamic as your day, with smart features such as Magic Select and our signature Time Ruler to help you shift things around with a few taps. On top of all these, there are various other functionalities to make your experience more fun and seamless across all your devices: - New Widgets for iOS 16 & macOS Monterey - Auto Backup - Timeline view - iCloud Sync - Powerful repeat rules - Light & Dark Themes - Natural Language Processing - URL Scheme - Siri Integration - And much more! ● Get Sorted³ Today If you've ever struggled with to-do lists or managing your day, then you need to try hyper-scheduling with Sorted³. - Sorted³ for macOS is now available on the Mac App Store! - Sorted³ PRO is also available for Mac (sold separately) To learn more, check our website and blog (sortedapp.com) We love hearing from our users about how much clarity and focus Sorted³ brings to their day. We can't wait for you to try it out and see for yourself! ● Community & Support Join our Slack community by visiting: bit.ly/sorted-slack Twitter: @SortedHQ Email: hello@sortedapp.com Support Center: support.sortedapp.com

About

Cal Countdown

This app automatically displays a color-coded countdown to your next calendar event. It's designed for quick glances on your Apple Watch face or iPhone "Today" screen, helping you manage your schedule efficiently without manual calculations.

Highlights
  • Automatic countdown to next calendar event
  • Color-coded urgency indicators
  • Apple Watch complication support
  • iPhone "Today" widget
  • Calendar data integration
  • Option to skip specific events
Features
Read full description

"Cal Countdown" is a free, simple iOS & Apple Watch app that automatically creates a color-coded countdown to the next event on your calendar and displays it on your Apple Watch face and/or your "Today" screen. The app is primarily intended to be used as a complication on your Apple Watch or as a widget. If your days are anything like ours, packed with various meetings scattered throughout the day, every time you check your calendar, you're trying to figure out one thing: How much time do I have until my next appointment? So, you glance at your watch, note the start time of your next appointment, and calculate the difference between the current time and your next event. We got tired of doing this mental calculation many times a day, but much to our surprise, we could not find an existing iOS application that would do this chore for us. So we decided to build it ourselves. Now, every time we glance at our watch, it immediately tells us what we want to know: How much time do I have until my next appointment? The app's color changes from blue to green to yellow to orange to red as you approach the start of your next event. (6+ hours = Blue, 2-6 hours = Green, 1-2 = Yellow, 30-60 mins = Orange, 0-30 mins = Red) Cal Countdown supports all the different Apple Watch complications. All Apple Watch complications that support multi-color will be color-coded (but not all watch complications support multiple colors.) Using "Cal Countdown" is as easy as it gets. It uses the calendar data already on your phone; no signing in; no entering any usernames or passwords. The app lets you select the calendars you want to include or not in your calendar countdowns. Don't have an Apple Watch? You can still use Cal Countdown on your phone as an iPhone/iPad app with a "Today" widget. Cal Countdown does not require an account. It does not even require an internet connection. The app uses the calendar data already on your iPhone. It's completely secure. Your calendar data remains completely private, and never leaves your phone. Cal Countdown also has the ability to ignore or skip certain events on your calendar. This feature is especially useful if you have shared calendars with your family, friends, or colleagues. We often have events on our calendars that we need to know about, but may not be attending ourselves. If you want Cal Countdown to ignore or skip these events and start counting down to the following event on your calendar, just tap the "Ignore" button, and Cal Countdown will immediately start a countdown to the following event.

Screenshots

Sorted³4 screens
Cal Countdown4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Cal Countdown at none against Sorted³'s 11. Cal Countdown also leads on review sentiment (95% vs 73%) and rating (5.0 vs 4.7). Sorted³'s advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 8 months) and ratings volume (4.1K vs 21). On price and ads 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

Both are free to download. Sorted³ sells 11 one-off in-app purchases. Cal Countdown asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Cal Countdown holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Sorted³ has 4.1K ratings behind it against 21, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 73% of Sorted³'s written reviews are positive against 95% of Cal Countdown's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Sorted³ ships an update every 3 weeks, Cal Countdown every 8 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Sorted³ versus Cal Countdown: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSorted³Cal Countdown
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (4.1K ratings)5.0 (21 ratings) — better
Positive reviews72.6% of reviews94.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings4.1K — better21
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 8 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
Requires iOS15.6 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size138 MB7 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperStaySorted LimitedFranck Reyherme

Customer experience

Sorted³

All ratings4,055 ratings
Positive92.6%
Neutral3.1%
Negative4.3%
Written reviews1,248 reviews
Positive72.6%
Neutral9.4%
Negative18.0%

Cal Countdown

All ratings21 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews19 reviews
Positive94.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative5.3%

Bugs and requests

Sorted³

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Sync issues causing data loss
  • Crashes and freezes on launch
  • Recurring tasks not behaving as expected
  • Calendar integration not working as intended

Requested features

5 requests
  • Location-based reminders
  • Improved calendar integration and views
  • Ability to set task dependencies and priorities
  • Export/backup functionality for task data
  • Pomodoro timer integration

Cal Countdown

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

11 purchases

Sorted³

One-time11
  • SSPAI Member BundleFree
  • 14-day Extended TrialFree
  • 14-day Extended Trial for MacFree
Show 8 more
  • Buy a soda$1.99
  • Buy a pizza$9.99
  • Get PRO on iOS$14.99
  • Get PRO on macOS Promo$19.99
  • Get PRO on macOS$24.99
  • Apple Staff Benefits Bundle$31.99
  • Students Benefits Bundle$31.99
  • Sorted³ PRO iOS + macOS$35.99
None

Cal Countdown

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Sorted³ free?
Sorted³ is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Cal Countdown free?
Cal Countdown is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Sorted³ or Cal Countdown?
Cal Countdown is rated higher. Sorted³ averages 4.7 out of 5 from 4.1K ratings, while Cal Countdown averages 5.0 from 21 ratings.
Do Sorted³ or Cal Countdown have ads?
Neither Sorted³ nor Cal Countdown shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Sorted³ or Cal Countdown?
Sorted³ ships an update every 3 weeks, and Cal Countdown every 8 months. Most recently, Sorted³ was updated on October 15, 2026 and Cal Countdown on October 6, 2026.

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