# Santa Tracker vs Outside

The clearest difference is rating: Outside at 4.7 against Santa Tracker's 4.0. Outside also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 6 days vs every 10 months). Santa Tracker's advantage is review sentiment (65% vs 54%) and device support (4 vs 2). On price, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Santa Tracker sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Outside sells 17 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Outside holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Outside has 2.8K ratings behind it against 81, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 65% of Santa Tracker's written reviews are positive against 54% of Outside's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

Santa Tracker ships an update every 10 months, Outside every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on June 9, 2026 and September 28, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Santa Tracker | Outside |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.0 (81 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/santa-tracker-countdown-2023/id1535905936/reviews) | **[4.7 (2.8K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/outside-countdown-for-couples/id1611434405/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | 81 | **2.8K** |
| Positive reviews | **65.2% of reviews** | 53.5% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | Yes | **No** |
| Update frequency | Every 10 months | **Every 6 days** |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Size | 14 MB | 144 MB |
| Requires iOS | **11.0** | 18.0 |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch** | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Aamir Elahi](https://appshunter.io/developer/975019159) | [Outside HQ LTD](https://appshunter.io/developer/1611434707) |

## What reviewers say

### Santa Tracker

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/santa-tracker-countdown-2023/id1535905936)

Discover how many days, minutes, hours, and seconds remain until Christmas. This app allows you to track Santa's current location around the world and provides a countdown to the festive holiday.

**Highlights:** Christmas countdown, Track Santa's location, Count days, minutes, hours, seconds, Real-time Santa tracking, Festive holiday app

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases (1)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Remove ADS | $2.99 | one-time |


### Outside

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/outside-countdown-for-couples/id1611434405)

Plan, share, and remember important moments with loved ones. Ideal for long-distance relationships, trip planning, and creating a visual diary of your year. Features live widgets and offline access.

**Highlights:** Shared countdowns for long-distance couples, Trip planning with group coordination, Yearly memory archive and profile, Live widgets for home and lock screens, Calendar sync (Apple & Google), Offline functionality, Photo sharing for Lock Screen

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Family Sharing, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (17)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Monthly subscription | $2.99 | per month |
| Outside Pro Monthly | $2.99 | per month |
| Monthly Plan | $4.49 | per month |
| Monthly subscription | $6.99 | per month |
| Yearly Pro Deal | $12.49 | per year |
| Annual Pro | $12.49 | per year |
| Outside Pro Annual | $19.99 | per year |
| Annual Plan | $29.49 | per year |
| Outside Pro Annual | $31.49 | per year |
| Annual plan | $44.49 | per year |
| Unlock Countdown styles | $0.99 | one-time |
| Ad supported tier | $4.99 | one-time |
| All Time Deal | $5.49 | one-time |
| All Time Deal | $7.49 | one-time |
| All Time Pro | $9.99 | one-time |
| Lifetime Access | $29.99 | one-time |
| Lifetime access | $44.49 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Free home/lock screen countdown widget
- 👍 Simple and chic design
- 👍 Highly customizable
- 👍 Seamless calendar integration
- 👍 Useful AI assistant

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Buggy, crashes, and glitches
- 💰 Subscription-based model, expensive pricing
- 🔒 Limits free features, forces paid subscription
- 🤔 Confusing and changing pricing structure
- 🤔 Lack of transparency around free vs paid features

**Reported bugs**

- Widget not working after iOS updates
- Countdown events suddenly blocked by paywall
- Paid subscription not working as expected

**Requested features**

- More customization options for widgets
- Ability to delete or edit events
- Improved Android support
- Memories/map feature to track past events


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Santa Tracker free?

Santa Tracker is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is Outside free?

Outside is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, Santa Tracker or Outside?

Outside is rated higher. Santa Tracker averages 4.0 out of 5 from 81 ratings, while Outside averages 4.7 from 2.8K ratings.

### Do Santa Tracker or Outside have ads?

Santa Tracker shows ads; Outside does not.

### Which is updated more often, Santa Tracker or Outside?

Santa Tracker ships an update every 10 months, and Outside every 6 days. Most recently, Santa Tracker was updated on June 9, 2026 and Outside on September 28, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*