Talking Carl vs Countdown Star (Ad
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Talking Carl
Interact with a funny talking character by talking, tickling, and feeding him. He repeats your words with a silly voice and reacts to your actions with laughs, growls, and more. Features a baby mode for younger children.
- Talk and hear words repeated
- Feed the character
- Tickle for laughs
- Poke for reactions
- Baby mode for kids
- Swipe gestures for actions
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Talking Carl is the very first and still the funniest talking character on the App Store, he invented fun! Talk, sing, and play with him. Tickle him, punch him, feed him, and wait until you hear his laugh, it’s just irresistible. Carl has topped all the charts worldwide and has been featured across the globe. We think about small kids too: Use the Baby mode without any buttons: only Carl and no trouble! --------------- Features -------------- • Talk to him and he'll repeat your words with an hysterical voice. • Feed him with bones • Strike him by lightning • Tickle him and he will laugh out loud. • Poke his eyes and he will shout and yell. • Pinch him to hear him growling. • And if you forget him he will grumble. • Very Polite, he even says Goodbye. + Swipe up and he will fly... and fall + swipe down and hear the thunder + swipe left or right and he'll make a round-turn. Talking Carl is hours of laugh for children of any age. Parents, you'll love him too for the peacefulness it gives you while your kids are playing with him. But don’t try it! you’ll never give it back to them. --------- Our users says --------- "The only talking app that I recommend - There are quite a few of talking apps but Talking Carl is the best! I especially like that I can remove all the buttons so that my daughter will not be confused" "Great app for the kids! - My kids love playing with this app and found it easy to share the videos"
Countdown Star (Ad
Track time until or since important events with customizable timers. Set up countdowns for birthdays, holidays, and vacations, or count up from anniversaries and special dates. Share your event timers with friends and family.
- Add custom events
- Customize event visuals
- Apple Watch display
- Today Widget integration
- Set exact event times
- Adjust time units
- Share event timers
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Countdown Star is the best way to countdown to — and count up from — all of your favorite events. Countdown to birthdays, holidays, an upcoming vacation, a wedding, the New Year, parties, sporting events, concerts and more. Count up from anniversaries, the day you were born, and other special events in the past. * How many seconds until your next birthday? * How many months since you were born? * How many days until you graduate from college? * How many hours until your anniversary? * How much time is left until your vacation starts? * How many days until Christmas? * How many minutes until your party begins? * How much time is left until your baby's due date? Countdown Star is the countdown app that lets you choose which events to add, then keeps them in sync across all of your devices. Features: * iCloud Sync — events and wallpapers sync automatically across all your iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch devices * Celebration Animations — choose Confetti, Fireworks, Balloons, Stars, or Lasers when your countdown reaches zero * Repeating Events — annual events automatically advance to the next year so you never have to update them * Home Screen Widgets — Small, Medium, and Large widgets let you glance at your countdowns without opening the app * Apple Watch — view your events right on your wrist * Add Your Own Events — add as many events as you like * Custom Wallpapers — choose from 15+ built-in wallpapers or use your own photos * Time Zone Support — set each event in any time zone with localized city names * Sort and Search — sort by date, title, or your own custom order; events are sectioned into Countdown and Count Up groups * Favorites and Notifications — mark events as favorites to receive a notification when their countdown reaches zero * Interactive Slider — instantly switch between seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or years to see your countdown exactly how you want it * Customizable Timer — choose timer position (Top, Middle, or Bottom), show or hide weeks, and toggle the leading zero * Multiple App Icons — personalize the app icon on your Home Screen Note: Countdown Star is available as a free version (with ads and an optional Remove Ads purchase) and as a paid ad-free version.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Countdown Star (Ad at none against Talking Carl's 1. Countdown Star (Ad also leads on rating (4.7 vs 4.3) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 5 weeks). Talking Carl's advantage is review sentiment (71% vs 56%) and price ($0.99 vs $1.99). On ads, chart position 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
Talking Carl costs $0.99 and Countdown Star (Ad $1.99 up front. Talking Carl sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Countdown Star (Ad asks for nothing beyond the download.
Countdown Star (Ad holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 765 and 3.7K respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 71% of Talking Carl's written reviews are positive against 56% of Countdown Star (Ad's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Talking Carl ships an update every 5 weeks, Countdown Star (Ad fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Talking Carl | Countdown Star (Ad |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.99 — better | $1.99 |
| Rating | 4.3 (765 ratings) | 4.7 (3.7K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 71.2% of reviews — better | 55.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 765 | 3.7K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #143 — better | #155 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 9.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 62 MB | 53 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Tayasui.com | Joseph Merrill |
Customer experience
Talking Carl
Countdown Star (Ad
User reviews
Talking Carl
From 765 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 😊 Funny and entertaining
- 🤩 Brings back childhood memories
- 👍 Great for kids and adults
- 💕 Cute and lovable character
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and freezes
- 🔧 Glitchy and buggy
- 🕰️ Outdated and not updated
- 🤖 Unresponsive voice recognition
Countdown Star (Ad
From 3.7K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use
- 💡 Customizable backgrounds
- 🚀 Simple and functional
- 🎨 Nice visual design
Room to improve
- 🐛 Unreliable widget functionality
- 🔍 Limited event management options
- 💰 Paid version doesn't import free version data
- 🔧 Lack of customization options
Bugs and requests
Talking Carl
Reported bugs
4 issues- App crashes on launch
- Sprites and animations glitch out
- Voice recording and playback issues
- Incompatibility with newer devices
Requested features
4 requests- Update the app to fix bugs and glitches
- Add more features and interactions
- Bring back old fan-favorite games and modes
- Improve voice recognition and responsiveness
Countdown Star (Ad
Reported bugs
4 issues- Custom wallpapers not saving
- Countdown not updating correctly
- Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions
- Notification system not working as expected
Requested features
5 requests- Recurring event support
- Ability to exclude weekends/holidays from countdown
- Multiple event display on main screen
- Improved widget functionality
- Sync across devices
In-app purchases
Talking Carl
- Sticker Pack$0.99
Countdown Star (Ad
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Talking Carl free?
Is Countdown Star (Ad free?
Which has better reviews, Talking Carl or Countdown Star (Ad?
Do Talking Carl or Countdown Star (Ad have ads?
Which is updated more often, Talking Carl or Countdown Star (Ad?
Which is more popular, Talking Carl or Countdown Star (Ad?
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