Comparison

Cal Countdown vs Simple Scan

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

Head to head
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.

About

Simple Scan

Easily convert paper documents into searchable PDFs or images in seconds. This app offers a streamlined scanning experience without cluttering your existing notes, with options to share directly via email, messages, or other applications. Enjoy private, on-device processing with no ads.

Highlights
  • Scan documents to PDF or JPEG
  • Searchable PDFs with OCR
  • Share scans via email, messages, or system share sheet
  • Custom file destinations
  • File naming suggestions (Apple Intelligence required)
  • On-device processing
  • No ads
Features
Read full description

Simple Scan is the quick, easy way to scan paper documents to optimized, searchable PDF documents (or images) and send them almost anywhere. ## FEATURES ## * Same great scanning functionality as Notes, but no need to clutter your notes data with one-off scans * Create high-resolution multi-page PDFs from your paper documents * PDFs are searchable thanks to automatic Optical Character Recognition (OCR) * Built for simplicity. Just scan and send – no document library * Send scans via email or messages. Save to a file, or "Share" use to send to other apps via the system share sheet * Set up message destinations with pre-filled recipients for easy "Email to Myself" and other common uses * Custom file destinations save scans directly to a pre-selected folder without extra taps * File naming suggestions, such as names, dates, pulled from the scanned document (requires Apple Intelligence) * Save scans directly to Photos * Option to output as images (JPEG) instead of PDF * Quality option to control file size * Never any ads. Ever. * Private and on-device. All scan processing is done locally on your device. ## SIMPLE SCAN PRO ## Simple Scan is free to download and try! To continue using Simple Scan, unlock Simple Scan Pro--available as a low-cost, annual subscription or a one-time lifetime unlock purchase. ## SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS ## * Payment will be charged to your Apple account at confirmation of purchase * Your subscription will automatically renew unless auto-renew is disabled at least 24 hours before the end of the current subscription period * Automatic renewals will be charged at the same price you were initially charged for the subscription * Subscriptions can be managed or canceled by going to Account Settings on the App Store after purchase Have questions? Email support@agiletortoise.com. Terms: https://agiletortoise.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://agiletortoise.com/privacy-policy

Screenshots

Cal Countdown4 screens
Simple Scan4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Cal Countdown at none against Simple Scan's 2. Cal Countdown also leads on device support (4 vs 2) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.4). Simple Scan's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 3 months) and ratings volume (660 vs 21). On price, rating, review sentiment 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. Simple Scan sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per year. Cal Countdown asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Cal Countdown against 4.9 for Simple Scan. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Simple Scan has 660 ratings behind it against 21, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 95% of Cal Countdown's written reviews are positive against 87% of Simple Scan's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Cal Countdown ships an update every 3 months, Simple Scan every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 19, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Cal Countdown versus Simple Scan: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCal CountdownSimple Scan
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (21 ratings) — better4.9 (660 ratings)
Positive reviews94.7% of reviews — better87.3% of reviews
Number of ratings21660 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.4
Further details — not scored
Size19 MB21 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFranck ReyhermeAgile Tortoise

Customer experience

Cal Countdown

All ratings22 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews19 reviews
Positive94.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative5.3%

Simple Scan

All ratings660 ratings
Positive97.0%
Neutral1.1%
Negative2.0%
Written reviews63 reviews
Positive87.3%
Neutral4.8%
Negative7.9%

Bugs and requests

Cal Countdown

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Simple Scan

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Crashes on multi-page scans for some users
  • Issues with importing files from other apps

Requested features

3 requests
  • Ability to tag scans
  • Favorite file/app destination options
  • More image adjustment tools

In-app purchases

None

Cal Countdown

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Simple Scan

Subscriptions1
  • Pro - Annual$9.991 Year
One-time1
  • Pro - Lifetime$39.99

Questions

Is Cal Countdown free?
Cal Countdown is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Simple Scan free?
Simple Scan is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Cal Countdown or Simple Scan?
Cal Countdown is rated higher. Cal Countdown averages 5.0 out of 5 from 21 ratings, while Simple Scan averages 4.9 from 660 ratings.
Do Cal Countdown or Simple Scan have ads?
Neither Cal Countdown nor Simple Scan shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Cal Countdown or Simple Scan?
Cal Countdown ships an update every 3 months, and Simple Scan every 3 weeks. Most recently, Cal Countdown was updated on September 19, 2026 and Simple Scan on September 21, 2026.

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