Comparison

Lickety Split vs Little Timer Hatch Countdown

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

Head to head
About

Lickety Split

This app transforms daily chores into engaging games for children using music and visual timers. It helps motivate kids to complete tasks like getting ready or cleaning up by making time tangible and fun, reducing the need for parental nagging.

Highlights
  • Musical countdown timers
  • Animated hourglass visual
  • Gamifies daily tasks
  • Motivates dawdling children
  • Customizable timers with in-app purchase
  • Parent and educator developed
Features
Read full description

Lickety Split is a visual and musical timer for kids that turns everyday routines into a game. Each task has its own classical music, which plays for as long as the task should take and speeds up as time runs out, while an animated character acts out the task and a Time Disc drains. WHY IT WORKS "We need to leave in five minutes." That rarely works with a young child: research shows the prefrontal cortex, which handles focus, self-regulation and executive function, is among the last parts of the brain to mature. Music is a way in. A child follows a song long before they can read a clock, so Lickety Split puts the time left into the music. Five minutes becomes something a child can see and hear, and grown-ups get to cheer instead of nag. TWO KINDS OF TIMER Beat the Timer: finish before the music runs out. - Ready to leave the house (5 minutes) - Getting dressed - PJs on - Getting ready for a meal - Cleaning up the room - Making the bed Count Down: keep going until the music ends. - Brushing teeth (a full two minutes) - Taking turns - Reading time - Study time Anything Timer: a song of about 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10 or 20 minutes for anything else. Your Song, Your Length: time any task with a song from your own music. Its length becomes the timer. MAKE IT YOUR FAMILY'S - Your own tasks: "Shoes on" or "Feed the cat", in your words, with a picture, of the length you choose - Your own prompts: record what the timer says before the song, in your voice - Your own songs: give any task a song of yours, or one of the app's 15 recordings - Routines: put tasks in order for the morning or bedtime. A Now and Next card shows what is happening now and what comes next, in the tasks' pictures, like a picture schedule - Children & profiles: up to six children on one device, each with their own character, routines and progress. No accounts MY DAY The win is the child’s own: they beat the music and tap “I Did It!” themselves. Today, a calendar and a Storybook bring routines and plans together. Plan school mornings, change a single day, and look back together in the evening. A family can choose something to try, like patience, and keep a few words, a drawing or a short voice story. Trying counts, on hard days too, with no points or streaks to keep up. CHARACTERS Timey the hourglass is free, with 25 rewards. Premium adds a train, a unicorn, a bee, a caterpillar and the dinosaurs, each with short animated stories for both timers, and Music Practice with Beaty: play, sing or clap, and Beaty listens and dances along (needs a microphone; nothing is recorded). Premium is an optional subscription, $2.99 a year in the US, behind a grown-up question. MADE FOR SMALL HANDS - A narrator says each task out loud, so a child who can't read yet can use it - Tap the timer to pause, resume, start over or go home - Settings hide the Time Disc or the numbers, skip the story intro or voice prompts, and choose what happens when the duck wins - Changing a timer, opening a link or buying anything asks a grown-up question first - Works with VoiceOver, Voice Control and Reduce Motion WHO USES IT Parents, for morning, bedtime and homework routines. Preschool teachers, for transitions and tidy-up time. Occupational therapists, for everyday skills. Visual timers are a familiar tool for children with autism or ADHD, and in small studies a visible timer lowered children's anxiety and inattention during timed tasks. Lickety Split is for all children. Spoken prompts in 21 languages, from English and Spanish to Japanese, Hindi and Arabic. No ads, no tracking and no accounts. Nothing your family makes is sent to us. Timers, music and characters work offline; the app goes online only for purchases, crash reports and optional iCloud. Made by parents and educational technologists, helping families since 2011. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://www.swirlystudios.com/privacy

About

Little Timer Hatch Countdown

This app offers a fun, visual countdown timer designed for children. When the timer concludes, a surprise animated animal appears, making tasks engaging. It's ideal for managing routines, encouraging focus, and supporting children with special needs.

Highlights
  • Visual countdown timer
  • Surprise animated animal reveal
  • Customizable sounds and visuals
  • No commercials
  • Supports focus and transitions
  • Beneficial for special needs children
Features
Read full description

A super fun and simple visual timer for kids, no commercials. An egg hatches when timer ends, revealing a surprising animated cute animal! A great timer that helps with focus, transitions, time outs, getting ready, quiet time, tooth brushing, potty training, play time and taking turns. Customizable sounds and visuals. Super friendly for kids with ADHD, autism, and other special needs.

Screenshots

Lickety Split4 screens
Little Timer Hatch Countdown3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Lickety Split at 4.9 against Little Timer Hatch Countdown's 4.5. Lickety Split also leads on update cadence (every 11 days vs every 6 weeks). Little Timer Hatch Countdown's advantage is ratings volume (16K vs 28) and review sentiment (83% vs 67%). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Lickety Split sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $2.99 per year and Little Timer Hatch Countdown sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Lickety Split holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Little Timer Hatch Countdown has 16K ratings behind it against 28, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 67% of Lickety Split's written reviews are positive against 83% of Little Timer Hatch Countdown's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Lickety Split ships an update every 11 days, Little Timer Hatch Countdown every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Lickety Split versus Little Timer Hatch Countdown: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLickety SplitLittle Timer Hatch Countdown
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (28 ratings) — better4.5 (16K ratings)
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews83.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings2816K — better
Update frequencyEvery 11 days — betterEvery 6 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size203 MB90 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSwirly Studios LLCBitscuit Games

Customer experience

Lickety Split

All ratings28 ratings
Positive96.4%
Neutral3.6%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews42 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral4.8%
Negative28.6%

Little Timer Hatch Countdown

All ratings10,468 ratings
Positive88.5%
Neutral5.4%
Negative6.2%
Written reviews386 reviews
Positive83.4%
Neutral6.2%
Negative10.4%

Bugs and requests

Lickety Split

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Little Timer Hatch Countdown

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Upgrade purchase not working as expected
  • Sound not working on iPad
  • Timer gets offset when used in split screen on iPad

Requested features

7 requests
  • Add a gallery to display hatched animals
  • Add an "almost done" sound
  • Add a "kid safe" feature to disable buttons during timer
  • Add a web/PC version
  • Add an option to hide buttons during timer
Show 2 more
  • Add more animals or special occasion animals
  • Add a feature to make the stop button require a longer press

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Lickety Split

Subscriptions1
  • Plus$2.991 Year
1 purchases

Little Timer Hatch Countdown

One-time1
  • Go Premium$2.99

Questions

Is Lickety Split free?
Lickety Split is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Little Timer Hatch Countdown free?
Little Timer Hatch Countdown is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Lickety Split or Little Timer Hatch Countdown?
Lickety Split is rated higher. Lickety Split averages 4.9 out of 5 from 28 ratings, while Little Timer Hatch Countdown averages 4.5 from 16K ratings.
Do Lickety Split or Little Timer Hatch Countdown have ads?
Neither Lickety Split nor Little Timer Hatch Countdown shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Lickety Split or Little Timer Hatch Countdown?
Lickety Split ships an update every 11 days, and Little Timer Hatch Countdown every 6 weeks. Most recently, Lickety Split was updated on November 10, 2026 and Little Timer Hatch Countdown on November 12, 2026.

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