Comparison

Countdown ‎ vs Upcoming

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 upcoming events with customizable countdowns. Set timers for vacations, concerts, or anniversaries using your own photos, music, and phrases. Share your progress with friends and family.

Highlights
  • iOS 16 Lock Screen Widgets
  • Home Screen Widgets
  • Customizable Background Photos
  • Personalized Music & Fonts
  • Calendar Event Integration
  • Count Up from Past Events
  • Event Reminders
Features
Read full description

Count down to your next event — a vacation, your favorite band's concert, a movie premiere, a graduation, an anniversary, and more — in style! Features: LOCK SCREEN WIDGETS: Add countdown widgets to your lock screen! First, set up your countdown in the Countdown app. Then, pull down your lock screen, long-hold an empty area and tap "Customize." FLEXIBLE UNITS: Years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, seconds, and even heartbeats! (e.g. "3 months 14 mins" or "56,713 heartbeats") DRAG the Countdown and DISPLAY it wherever you want. Use YOUR OWN PHOTOS as the background, including INSTAGRAM and FACEBOOK PHOTOS! Or browse a large selection of FREE BACKGROUND PHOTOS. Flip through your background photos while counting down. Set your own MUSIC for each Countdown. Customizable FONTS, font colors, and background colors. Add YOUR OWN PHRASE — "the concert of the year," "little pumpkin's dance performance," "we board the plane." Create Countdowns straight from your CALENDAR EVENTS. MULTIPLE Countdowns — rearrange them however you like. REMINDERS for your events. SHARE a live Countdown or a screenshot via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or email. Count down to ANNIVERSARIES that repeat every year. (e.g. "25 days until my 10th anniversary!") COUNT UP from past events. (e.g. "21 days since…") SMART TOOLBAR stays hidden until you tap the screen — more room for your Countdowns. Works in PORTRAIT and LANDSCAPE mode. === Countdown Premium === HOME SCREEN WIDGETS: Count the days to your event without ever opening the app. SLIDESHOW MODE: Automatically cycle your background photos with a choice of animation styles and speeds. NO ADS: No distractions or clutter — just you and your countdown. Make each second count! In addition to the free features above, Countdown Premium is available as a subscription. Premium subscribers get an ad-free experience, home screen widgets, and slideshow mode. Price may vary by location. Subscriptions are charged to your payment method through your Apple ID account and renew automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage your subscription anytime in Account Settings. Terms: https://www.sunflowr.com/terms-of-service/ Privacy Policy: https://www.sunflowr.com/privacy/

About

Upcoming

Track important dates with a customizable countdown widget. Visualize your progress towards goals, events, or holidays with daily updates. Stay motivated and focused by seeing how much time remains until your next milestone.

Highlights
  • Daily countdown tracking
  • Customizable icons and colors
  • Event card styling
  • Motivation for goal completion
  • Sense of urgency for tasks
Features
Read full description

Upcoming is a simple and easy to use countdown day by day app. It is user friendly and highly customisable. You are able to select the icon, color to style your events card. It can use to track the day of your anniversary, birthday, holiday, graduations or anything you can think out. Motivation - The willingness to complete something - Knowing how much time left to your goal is pure motivation to get ti done faster. Sense of Urgency - Looking at it day by day it will install a sense of urgency in you. Therefore, you will spend less time on social media or Netflix and will be more focused on the task at hand. If you have any suggestion, please leave us a review on App Store. We hope to read them soon so that we can make the app even better for you. Terms and pricing: Upcoming offers an auto-renewing yearly subscription at $10.49 USD/year to provide you with unlimited access to groups, colors, icons and all the premium features while you maintain an active subscription. Payment will be charged to the payment method connected to your iTunes Account when you confirm the initial subscription purchase. Subscriptions automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current subscription period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period. You may manage your subscription and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to your Account Settings after purchase. Privacy Policy: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JNCHjdEaUqFAD1AAu1UufTuoq4-qbyzt3BvMIHGcQn8/edit?usp=sharing Terms of service: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Countdown ‎4 screens
Upcoming4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Upcoming at 4.7 against Countdown ‎'s 3.8. Upcoming also leads on review sentiment (57% vs 34%). Countdown ‎'s advantage is monetization model (free with in-app purchases vs subscription) and ratings volume (11K vs 40). 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 5 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 3 months and Upcoming sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $1.49 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Upcoming holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Countdown ‎ has 11K ratings behind it against 40, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 34% of Countdown ‎'s written reviews are positive against 57% of Upcoming's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Countdown ‎ versus Upcoming: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCountdown ‎Upcoming
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.8 (11K ratings)4.7 (40 ratings) — better
Positive reviews34.0% of reviews56.5% of reviews — better
Number of ratings11K — better40
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 months
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterSubscription
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS17.616.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size80 MB21 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSevenlogics, Inc.Kok Keong

Customer experience

Countdown ‎

All ratings11,417 ratings
Positive69.0%
Neutral8.4%
Negative22.6%
Written reviews500 reviews
Positive34.0%
Neutral11.0%
Negative55.0%

Upcoming

All ratings40 ratings
Positive87.5%
Neutral7.5%
Negative5.0%
Written reviews23 reviews
Positive56.5%
Neutral30.4%
Negative13.0%

Bugs and requests

Countdown ‎

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • App crashes on opening
  • Countdown not displaying correctly
  • Widget not loading properly
  • Purchased premium features not working

Requested features

4 requests
  • Ability to have multiple countdowns
  • Option to repeat countdown events
  • Countdown widget on home screen
  • Improved sharing capabilities

Upcoming

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Countdown ‎

Subscriptions2
  • Countdown Premium - 3 Months$4.993 Months
  • Countdown Premium - Yearly7 Days trial$14.991 Year
One-time3
  • Premium Backgrounds I$0.99
  • Holiday Backgrounds I$0.99
  • Premium$19.99
4 purchases

Upcoming

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly$1.491 Month
  • Yearly3 Days trial$11.491 Year
One-time2
  • Lifetime - Early Bird Discount$5.99
  • Lifetime$20.99

Questions

Is Countdown ‎ free?
Countdown ‎ is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Upcoming free?
Upcoming is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Countdown ‎ or Upcoming?
Upcoming is rated higher. Countdown ‎ averages 3.8 out of 5 from 11K ratings, while Upcoming averages 4.7 from 40 ratings.
Do Countdown ‎ or Upcoming have ads?
Both Countdown ‎ and Upcoming show ads.
Which is updated more often, Countdown ‎ or Upcoming?
Countdown ‎ ships an update every 2 months, and Upcoming every 2 months. Most recently, Countdown ‎ was updated on September 25, 2026 and Upcoming on September 22, 2026.

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