Countdown Buddy vs ChainTimer
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.
ChainTimer
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ChainTimer is a powerful multi-timer app designed to help you manage tasks, routines, workouts, cooking, study sessions, and anything else that depends on precise timing. Run multiple timers simultaneously, add notes to each timer, and create timer chains that guide you through multi-step activities without needing to reset timers manually. Features • Run multiple timers at the same time • Create up to five follow-up timers for each timer • Add custom notes and labels • Pause and resume timers at any time • Choose from multiple alarm sounds • Local notifications when timers finish • Works accurately even when the app is in the background • Offline-first design with no accounts required • All timer data stored locally on your device Perfect For • Cooking and baking • Exercise and interval training • Study sessions and productivity techniques • Meditation and mindfulness routines • Household tasks • Workflows with multiple timed steps ChainTimer is designed to be simple, reliable, and private. Your timer data stays on your device and is never shared with third parties.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: ChainTimer at none against Countdown Buddy's 1. ChainTimer also leads on update cadence (daily vs every 9 days). Countdown Buddy's advantage is iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads and device support 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. ChainTimer asks for nothing beyond the download.
Countdown Buddy ships an update every 9 days, ChainTimer daily. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and September 26, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Countdown Buddy | ChainTimer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (25K ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 67.8% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 25K — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days | Daily — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 149 MB | 15 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Taptics Ltd. | Kane Hastings |
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
ChainTimer
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Countdown Buddy
- Countdown +$3.59
ChainTimer
No in-app purchases









