Countdown Buddy vs Pendulum
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Countdown Buddy
Create personalized countdown and count-up widgets for your home and lock screens. Visually track important dates like birthdays, vacations, or deadlines with custom designs, colors, and photos. Stay motivated and make waiting more exciting.
- Personalized countdown widgets
- Count-up widgets
- Home screen and lock screen support
- Customizable designs
- Background color options
- Photo integration
- Font selection
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EVERYTHING YOU ARE WAITING FOR - IN A WIDGET Design your own personalized countdown or count-up widgets for your home screen & lock screen. Countdown Widget is a super fun way to track the days until a momentous occasion such as: - Your birthday, or another special someone’s birthday - A long-awaited vacation - Back to school - Upcoming elections - A returning season of your favorite TV series - A favorite yearly tech event - A new video game is up for preorder Or any other future event! Countdown Widget makes waiting for something exciting even more thrilling by giving you a cool and colorful visual reminder on your home screen. Use it to count down to a big event, to mark the end of something less fun, or to keep track of work deadlines (weekend exclusion is now possible!) - it's a super fun way to stay on top of things! COUNT UP Create a count-up widget to mark a significant moment in time and track the duration since it occurred. CREATE A PERSONALIZED COUNTDOWN WIDGET Create a Widget with your custom design in a matter of seconds. You can choose from 11 Countdown styles (we are already working on more) and make them your own by adding your personal touch: - Change background colors. - Use photos from your phone Photo Library or from our preset gallery. - Choose from a curated list of fonts that go well with each specific style. - Each Widget you make will automatically be available in small or medium sizes. - Change the design anytime later. WE WOULD LOVE YOUR FEEDBACK As a small team, we are excited to have our first app on the App Store. We value your feedback and would love to hear from you if you have any questions, suggestions, or anything else you think we should know. Don't hesitate to get in touch with us at - hi@taptics.co. Note: The Free version of the app includes one countdown widget with the basic design.
Pendulum
This app helps you manage your pen pal relationships by tracking correspondence. Record when you send and receive letters, note writing materials, and set reminders to stay in touch. Sync your data across devices for seamless management.
- Track sent and received letters
- Record pen, ink, and paper used
- Set reminders to write and post
- Monitor letter delivery times
- iCloud sync across devices
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Pendulum - keep track of your pen pals! • Add your friends, record when you send them letters or they send something to you. See how long it takes for your letters to arrive! • Record what pen, ink, and paper you used to write to each person, to keep the variety going each time you write. • Reminders to write back, or to post letters you've written but have sat by the front door for ages; you won't forget to stay in touch again. • Sync via iCloud, so you can keep up to date regardless of what device you have to hand.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Countdown Buddy at 4.6 against Pendulum's 4.2. Countdown Buddy also leads on ratings volume (25K vs 16). On price, review sentiment, update cadence 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
Both are free to download. Countdown Buddy sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Pendulum sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Countdown Buddy holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Countdown Buddy has 25K ratings behind it against 16, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 68% of Countdown Buddy's written reviews are positive against 67% of Pendulum's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and September 29, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Countdown Buddy | Pendulum |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (25K ratings) — better | 4.2 (16 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 67.7% of reviews — better | 66.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 25K — better | 16 |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days | Every 9 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 149 MB | 5 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Taptics Ltd. | Benjamin Cardy |
Customer experience
Countdown Buddy
Pendulum
Bugs and requests
Countdown Buddy
Reported bugs
3 issues- Widgets disappearing or not working after updates
- Countdown timers not updating correctly
- Inability to add new widgets or countdowns
Requested features
4 requests- Add ability to display multiple countdowns at once
- Implement automatic countdown reset/repeat functionality
- Allow custom countdown units (e.g., weeks, business days)
- Improve widget handling and update reliability
Pendulum
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Countdown Buddy
- Countdown +$3.59
Pendulum
- Extra Fine Tip$0.99
- Fine Tip$1.99
- Medium Tip$3.99
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- Broad Tip$5.99
- Stub Tip$9.99









