Lickety Split vs Happy Kids Timer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Musical countdown timers
- Animated hourglass visual
- Gamifies daily tasks
- Motivates dawdling children
- Customizable timers with in-app purchase
- Parent and educator developed
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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
Happy Kids Timer
This app uses a visual countdown timer to help children complete daily chores and routines. It turns tasks into a fun game with rewards and printable certificates, aiding in time management and habit formation.
- Visual countdown timer
- Animated chore guidance
- Incentive program with awards
- Printable certificates
- Customizable routines
- On-demand activity selection
- Morning and bedtime routines
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Happy Kids Timer is a simple to use visual countdown timer app for children which helps them complete their morning or bedtime chores easily and on schedule. This chore app is totally operated by your child, who carries the mobile device to each area/room where the daily task needs to be carried out/completed. You should give this school game a try, if your child deals with ADHD/autism or needs to improve time management or following your busy daily schedule. * WHY KIDS WILL LOVE CHORES IN 2023 The app offers a totally new approach that guides your kids with animated chores through their morning or bedtime turning chores into a funny educational game. It utilizes a smart incentive daily program with awards and a printable certificate. You don’t need old-fashioned chore chart in 2023! * SMOOTH BACK TO SCHOOL TRANSITION Do you struggle every morning to have your children get ready to face a long day at school? With Happy Kids Visual Timer app bedtime doesn't have to be challenging either. If the visual timer just helps get you through a few mornings, makes putting kids to bed an enjoyable experience, or make back to school transition easier our mission will have been accomplished, but our experience indicates children love it and will use it for months. * ON DEMAND ACTIVITY NEW feature! Select just one chore from the list anytime without a need to go through the entire routine, e. g. brush your teeth after lunch, or go to the toilet to use the app as a potty training timer. * MORNING ROUTINE Contains 8 chores for kids that will learn to: Make your bed, Brush your teeth and wash your hands, Get dressed, Brush you hair, Eat your breakfast, Pack your lunch box, Pack your bag, Put your shoes on * BEDTIME ROUTINE Contains 7 chores for kids that will learn to: Tidy your room, Go to the toilet, Take a shower or bath, Put on your pajamas, Brush your teeth, Prepare your clothes for tomorrow, Read a book, turn the lights off and go to sleep Get a free app that includes all common morning/bedtime activities and great motivation features and help kids learn new habits. * PREMIUM VERSION The free app takes your child through the whole morning or bedtime routine with predefined settings. Please consider a premium version of this new motivational chore app specially built for helping children have fun and get through their routines on time. The in-app purchase lets you actively participate in setting up the program: – add 4 custom chores for each routine or change chores order to better fit your home habits, – change duration or minimal activity duration time to better motivate kid, – remove countdown timer to reveal stress from kids with autism or ADHD, – name the award you want your child to receive, – define target stars amount for kid to deserve an award, – email/print a certificate after kids collected a defined amount of stars, – and more. * VISIT US We are an open parents' community, making sure our children use smart devices not just to play games. This visual timer app was made by parents and tested on our own preschool kids and toddlers. Visit us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Tell us your story, suggest improvements or learn new parenting tips. https://twitter.com/happykidstimer https://www.facebook.com/happykidstimer https://instagram.com/happykidstimer
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Lickety Split at 4.9 against Happy Kids Timer's 4.3. Lickety Split also leads on update cadence (every 11 days vs every 3 months). Happy Kids Timer's advantage is ratings volume (1.2K vs 28) and review sentiment (75% 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
Both are free to download. Lickety Split sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $2.99 per year and Happy Kids Timer sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Lickety Split holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Happy Kids Timer has 1.2K 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 75% of Happy Kids Timer's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Lickety Split ships an update every 11 days, Happy Kids Timer every 3 months. Both last shipped on November 6, 2026.
| Parameter | Lickety Split | Happy Kids Timer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (28 ratings) — better | 4.3 (1.2K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 66.7% of reviews | 75.2% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 28 | 1.2K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 11 days — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 11.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 203 MB | 61 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Swirly Studios LLC | Kids Smart Zone - Best apps and games for your kids |
Customer experience
Lickety Split
Happy Kids Timer
Bugs and requests
Lickety Split
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Happy Kids Timer
Reported bugs
3 issues- App freezes and restarts unexpectedly
- Inconsistent task tracking and star allocation
- Inability to resume routines after interruptions
Requested features
5 requests- Add more routine options (bedtime, weekends, etc.)
- Allow multiple child profiles
- Customize task names and order
- Add more reward options
- Provide auditory timers and background music controls
In-app purchases
Lickety Split
- Plus$2.991 Year
Happy Kids Timer
- Unlock features$3.99
Questions
Is Lickety Split free?
Is Happy Kids Timer free?
Which has better reviews, Lickety Split or Happy Kids Timer?
Do Lickety Split or Happy Kids Timer have ads?
Which is updated more often, Lickety Split or Happy Kids Timer?
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