Comparison

Countdown vs Pendulum

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

Head to head
About

Countdown

Visually track important dates and goals with customizable widgets for your Home Screen and Lock Screen. Set up countdowns and count-ups for personal milestones, habits, or deadlines. Sync across devices and receive timely notifications.

Highlights
  • Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets
  • Count up and down timers
  • Recurrent event tracking
  • Calendar and Reminders synchronization
  • Customizable designs and templates
  • iCloud synchronization
  • Notifications for key dates
Features
Read full description

Track time with beautiful countdown widgets on your Home Screen and Lock Screen. Get the results you want by adding beautiful ALWAYS ON motivational countdowns to the device you use every day. On your wrist? On your Mac? Pretty Progress works there, too. Our objective is to support you achieve your goals. We beautifully track your goals so you don’t have to. What better place to remind yourself of the things that matter than the devices you use every day? Your life goals, your health routines, your personal habits, when your newborn arrives, the deadline of your PhD or your mother’s birthday… No matter what your goal is. Pretty Progress gives you beautiful countdowns with widgets to customize and track them all: - Count up & down towards a specific date or with a timer - Create recurrent events and count the days periodically - Synchronize and import Apple Calendar events and Reminders - Show the percentage of completion, how much time is left or how much time has past (time since). In years, months, weeks, days... or a combination of them - Beautiful and unique designs. 6 different templates to customize and add to your Home Screen, Lock Screen, Stand By (iOS 17), and Watch complications - Customize colors, icons, layout, fonts, size... and every little aspect of the countdown at any time. Create your own personal Home Screen and Watch Face - A dashboard to visualize all the timers and day counters created and understand your deadlines, goals, achievements, or recurrent tasks - Notifications: 1 week and 1 day before, and at the end of your countdown, and every day, week, month or year after your habit streak - A library to get inspired and create widgets easily - 3 different sizes for the Home Screen widgets: small, medium, and large - All Lock Screen widgets localizations available - All complication sizes for Watch Faces supported - Dark mode support - iCloud synchronization. Sync your countdowns on your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac (Silicon) automatically - Family sharing enabled for the PRO purchase WHAT CAN YOU TRACK? - Health routines - Personal habits progress - Countdown to Christmas - Days until your mother's birthday - Countdown to your next holidays - Days until your project release deadline - Days left until your next trip - Percentage of your gym routine complete - Days left until your wedding anniversary - Days until retirement - Days until your financial independence - Percentage of the year, month, week... - Days left until your kombucha is fermented - How many days you have left on your vacations - Countdown to tax submission - Days until your new child arrives - Countdown to that important exam - Days until your graduation - Percentage of the academic year left - Days until Superbowl - My love countdown - Streak of days of habits - Daily, weekly and monthly tasks - Time until your new job WE WOULD LOVE YOUR FEEDBACK: We love to improve, so any feedback is always welcome! For any question, issue, suggestion or anything you want to say, contact at: hi@prettyprogress.app ======================= The free version of Pretty Progress includes four custom countdown widgets with two designs, the default daily, weekly, monthly and yearly progress and some customization options. If you purchase Pretty Progress PRO, the payment will be charged to your iTunes account. If you purchase a monthly or yearly subscription, your account will automatically be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current subscription period unless you disable auto-renew. You can turn off auto-renewal at any time by going to your Account Settings on the App Store after purchase. ======================= Terms of Service: https://prettyprogress.app/terms-of-service Privacy Policy: https://prettyprogress.app/privacy-policy

About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Read full description

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

Countdown4 screens
Pendulum4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Countdown at 4.7 against Pendulum's 4.2. Countdown also leads on ratings volume (3K vs 16) and review sentiment (82% vs 67%). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. Countdown sells 14 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Pendulum sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Countdown holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Countdown has 3K ratings behind it against 16, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 82% of Countdown's written reviews are positive against 67% of Pendulum's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Countdown ships an update every 2 weeks, Pendulum every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Countdown versus Pendulum: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCountdownPendulum
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (3K ratings) — better4.2 (16 ratings)
Positive reviews81.5% of reviews — better66.7% of reviews
Number of ratings3K — better16
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size183 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developerkeinois OUBenjamin Cardy

Customer experience

Countdown

All ratings3,018 ratings
Positive93.1%
Neutral2.6%
Negative4.3%
Written reviews600 reviews
Positive81.5%
Neutral5.7%
Negative12.8%

Pendulum

All ratings16 ratings
Positive75.0%
Neutral12.5%
Negative12.5%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral11.1%
Negative22.2%

Bugs and requests

Countdown

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • App crashes on launch for some users
  • Widgets not updating in real-time as expected
  • Countdown data resetting unexpectedly

Requested features

5 requests
  • More customization options for widgets
  • Ability to track non-time-based progress
  • Improved recurring event management
  • Notification/alarm feature when countdown ends
  • Wider range of color and font options

Pendulum

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

14 purchases

Countdown

Subscriptions10
  • Unlimited access7 Days trial$1.991 Month
  • Unlimited access7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Pretty Progress PRO (Weekly)$4.997 Days
Show 7 more
  • Pretty Progress PRO (Weekly)3 Days trial$4.997 Days
  • Pretty Progress PRO (Monthly)7 Days trial2 variants$4.991 Month
  • Unlimited access7 Days trial$5.991 Year
  • Unlimited access7 Days trial$8.991 Year
  • Pretty Progress Pro (Annual)7 Days trial3 variants$14.991 Year
  • Pretty Progress Pro (Annual)1 Year trial$24.991 Year
  • Pretty Progress Pro (Annual)$24.991 Year
One-time4
  • Pretty Progress PRO (Lifetime)$29.99
  • Pretty Progress PRO (Lifetime)$34.99
  • Pretty Progress PRO (Lifetime)2 variants$49.99
Show 1 more
  • Pretty Progress PRO (Lifetime)$59.99
5 purchases

Pendulum

One-time5
  • Extra Fine Tip$0.99
  • Fine Tip$1.99
  • Medium Tip$3.99
Show 2 more
  • Broad Tip$5.99
  • Stub Tip$9.99

Questions

Is Countdown free?
Countdown is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Pendulum free?
Pendulum is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Countdown or Pendulum?
Countdown is rated higher. Countdown averages 4.7 out of 5 from 3K ratings, while Pendulum averages 4.2 from 16 ratings.
Do Countdown or Pendulum have ads?
Neither Countdown nor Pendulum shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Countdown or Pendulum?
Countdown ships an update every 2 weeks, and Pendulum every 9 days. Most recently, Countdown was updated on September 22, 2026 and Pendulum on September 10, 2026.

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