Christmas List vs Christmas Countdown
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Christmas List
Organize and simplify holiday shopping with this intuitive app. Track recipients, gifts, budgets, and purchase status. Comparison shop for the best prices and even buy online directly from the app.
- Organize people and presents
- Track gift purchase and wrapping status
- Set and monitor gift budgets
- Comparison shop and buy online
- Import contacts
- Password protection
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*Featured by Apple during 2008 Holiday Season* LA Times Appiphilia raves about Christmas List, saying "It's a gift to holiday gift-giving." Harried and hurried over the holidays? Simplify and organize your holiday shopping with Christmas List. Its intuitive and user friendly design will keep track not only of the people on your list and their presents, but also notes and budget. You can even comparison shop and find the best price for whatever you are looking for with the tap of a finger. So throw away your pad and pencil and get Christmas List today! Features: -Imports people from your Contacts -Add unlimited entries -Stores and organizes people and presents -Saves multiple presents for every person on your list -Keeps track of which presents have been bought, wrapped, and mailed -Click on a name to see details which include: present, notes, and budget -Order your Christmas List however you want: delete those who are naughty and move the nice to the top -Displays “Days til Christmas” so you know how many shopping days are left -Budget feature displays: Total Amount Spent and Total Left to Buy -Currency support for all countries (automatically detects your currency) -Find the best price for the present you are looking for and even buy online -Badge icon keeps track of how many presents you have left without having to enter the application -Easily edit entries to change presents, add notes, or adjust budget -Built-in Password Protection so others can use your iPhone or iPod Touch and your Christmas list will be protected from prying eyes! Forget your password? Don't worry, Christmas List will email your password back to you. -Professionally designed seasonal graphics help get you into the Holiday Spirit Better Day Wireless. Better Apps. Better Value.
Christmas Countdown
This app provides a real-time countdown to Christmas, displaying hours, minutes, and seconds. Enjoy festive music, customizable backgrounds, and interactive snowflake effects. Stay updated with daily badge notifications and access the countdown from your watch or home screen.
- Real-time countdown (hours, minutes, seconds)
- Customizable backgrounds (including own photos)
- Festive background music selection
- Interactive snowflake effects
- Daily badge updates
- Watch app and home screen widgets
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With Christmas Countdown, you always know exactly how long it is until Christmas. When you open the app, you will receive the exact countdown including Hours, Minutes and Seconds. You can even post to Facebook to annoy or keep your friends informed! Christmas music will play in the background as you see the countdown get closer and closer to Christmas! You can either pick a song from your own music library or choose from the following Christmas inspired songs: - Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairies - Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring - Jingle Bells - Oh Christmas Tree - Oh Holy Night - What Child is This Also, each morning Christmas Countdown will automatically update its badge, so that the number of days will be displayed letting you always know exactly how far away Christmas is. Multiple choices for Christmas backgrounds including: - Snowman - Santa - Reindeer - And import your own! Either from your photo library or your camera. You can double tap the screen to open the options screen. This will allow you to change the number of snowflakes as well as the speed & size. Christmas Countdown now includes a watch app and widgets, so you can keep track of the countdown right from your wrist and home screen! If you like Snow, Christmas, Santa, Elves, Snowflakes, Reindeer or Presents, then this is the App for you! Some features such as extra snowflake colors, yearly updated app icons and removing advertisements require the Christmas Countdown premium subscription. Privacy Policy: https://ngdevelopment.org/privacypolicy.html EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
Christmas List and Christmas Countdown both sit at 4.5 stars, but that hides the real split: 88% of Christmas Countdown's written reviews are positive against 54% of Christmas List's. Christmas Countdown also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 5 months). Christmas List's advantage is iOS requirement (8.0 vs 17.0). On price, rating, ratings volume 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. Christmas List sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Christmas Countdown sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $3.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for Christmas List against 4.6 for Christmas Countdown. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.9K and 886 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 54% of Christmas List's written reviews are positive against 88% of Christmas Countdown's.
Christmas List ships an update every 5 months, Christmas Countdown every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Christmas List | Christmas Countdown |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (1.9K ratings) | 4.6 (886 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 53.9% of reviews | 88.5% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1.9K — better | 886 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 9 MB | 124 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Better Day Wireless, Inc. | Nicole Hankinson |
Customer experience
Christmas List
Christmas Countdown
User reviews
Christmas List
From 1.9K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Simple and straightforward to use
- 🚀 Helps keep gifts organized
- 💡 Useful features like bought/wrapped/given checkboxes
- 👍 Easy to navigate
- 👍 Convenient to have on phone
Room to improve
- 🔁 Constantly asks to review the app
- 💰 Requires payment to add more than 4 people
- 🐛 Deletes or loses data
- 🐛 Glitchy and not very user-friendly
- 🔒 Not transferable between devices
Christmas Countdown
From 886 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Great app for Christmas countdown
- 🎄 Customizable features (music, snowflakes, background)
- ⏱️ Detailed countdown (days, hours, minutes, seconds)
- 🕰️ Accurate and reliable countdown
- 🎅 Fun and festive design
Room to improve
- 🔒 Premium features locked behind paywall (e.g., widgets)
- 🐛 Bugs with badge/notification functionality
- 🔧 Lack of updates to keep up with OS changes
- 📱 Compatibility issues with newer devices
Bugs and requests
Christmas List
Reported bugs
3 issues- Loses data/lists when reopened
- Prompts for payment even after upgrading
- Crashes or freezes frequently
Requested features
5 requests- Allow more than 4 people on free version
- Ability to delete/rename lists
- Sync lists across devices
- More customization options
- Photo attachment for gifts
Christmas Countdown
Reported bugs
3 issues- Countdown not updating correctly with time changes
- Inability to use custom photos as background
- Music playback issues after app updates
Requested features
4 requests- Allow custom font and text customization
- Add support for other holidays/events
- Improve social sharing capabilities
- Introduce more background/theme options
In-app purchases
Christmas List
- Christmas List Upgrade$2.99
Christmas Countdown
- Christmas Countdown Premium$3.991 Year
Questions
Is Christmas List free?
Is Christmas Countdown free?
Which has better reviews, Christmas List or Christmas Countdown?
Do Christmas List or Christmas Countdown have ads?
Which is updated more often, Christmas List or Christmas Countdown?
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