# Christmas Countdown! vs Christmas Countdown & Widget

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Christmas Countdown! at none against Christmas Countdown & Widget's 3. Christmas Countdown! also leads on ratings volume (71K vs 2.4K). Christmas Countdown & Widget's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 3 months). On price, rating, review sentiment and device support there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Christmas Countdown & Widget sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Christmas Countdown! asks for nothing beyond the download.

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Christmas Countdown! against 4.8 for Christmas Countdown & Widget. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Christmas Countdown! has 71K ratings behind it against 2.4K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 90% of Christmas Countdown!'s written reviews are positive against 93% of Christmas Countdown & Widget's.

Christmas Countdown! ships an update every 3 months, Christmas Countdown & Widget every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Christmas Countdown! | Christmas Countdown & Widget |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.8 (71K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/christmas-countdown/id295350675/reviews) | [4.8 (2.4K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/christmas-countdown-and-widget/id1541858661/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **71K** | 2.4K |
| Positive reviews | 89.8% of reviews | **93.3% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | **No** | Yes |
| Ads | Yes | **No** |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | **Every 3 weeks** |
| Monetization | **Ad-supported** | Free with in-app purchases |
| Size | 13 MB | 2 MB |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | **15.0** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Jack McLean](https://appshunter.io/developer/295350678) | [Benoit Deguine](https://appshunter.io/developer/982019700) |

## What reviewers say

### Christmas Countdown!

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/christmas-countdown/id295350675)

Track the exact time remaining until Christmas 2025, down to the second or even heartbeats. Choose from fun characters to accompany your countdown and share your excitement with friends and family. Enjoy festive music while you wait for the holiday.

**Highlights:** Precise countdown (days, hours, minutes, seconds, heartbeats), Multiple time modes (weeks, nights, seconds, heartbeats), Six festive companion characters, Social media sharing, Christmas music playback

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, iMessage stickers, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- ⭐️ Excellent Christmas countdown app
- 🎄 Helps get excited for Christmas
- 🕰 Provides multiple countdown metrics (days, hours, minutes, seconds, weeks, sleeps, heartbeats, breaths)
- 🎅 Cute Christmas-themed characters and backgrounds
- 🎶 Festive Christmas music

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🔔 Annoying notifications/reminders
- 💰 Premium features like music selection should be free
- 🤖 Heartbeat and breath counters are not personalized
- 🙄 Occasional countdown inaccuracies reported

**Reported bugs**

- Countdown sometimes off by a day
- Occasional app crashes or freezes

**Requested features**

- Add more Christmas song options
- Include countdown for other holidays
- Allow users to customize their own countdown metrics


### Christmas Countdown & Widget

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/christmas-countdown-and-widget/id1541858661)

Track the exact days, hours, and sleeps until Christmas Eve with a live home screen widget. Customize with festive themes and enjoy snowfall animations to bring the holiday spirit to life.

**Highlights:** Live home screen widget, Real-time countdown (days, hours, sleeps), Customizable themes (red, green, blue), Snowfall animations, Compact size (under 1MB)

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

**In-app purchases (3)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 Gift | $1.99 | one-time |
| Premium | $2.99 | one-time |
| 3 Gifts (or 1 big!) | $4.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 🎄 Great Christmas countdown app
- 🕰️ Accurate countdown
- 💻 Useful widget
- 🎨 Customizable themes
- 🎅 Captures Christmas spirit

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Occasional countdown issues
- 🔍 Widget doesn't show full countdown details
- 🔧 Some features not fully functional

**Reported bugs**

- Countdown not always accurate
- Widget not working on some devices
- App freezing or crashing

**Requested features**

- Add Apple Watch support
- Include more countdown details in widget
- Implement Christmas mini-games
- Provide notification options
- Add more customization options


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Christmas Countdown! free?

Christmas Countdown! is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Is Christmas Countdown & Widget free?

Christmas Countdown & Widget is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, Christmas Countdown! or Christmas Countdown & Widget?

Christmas Countdown! and Christmas Countdown & Widget are both rated 4.8 out of 5 on the App Store, from 71K and 2.4K ratings respectively.

### Do Christmas Countdown! or Christmas Countdown & Widget have ads?

Christmas Countdown! shows ads; Christmas Countdown & Widget does not.

### Which is updated more often, Christmas Countdown! or Christmas Countdown & Widget?

Christmas Countdown! ships an update every 3 months, and Christmas Countdown & Widget every 3 weeks. Most recently, Christmas Countdown! was updated on October 17, 2026 and Christmas Countdown & Widget on October 15, 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.*