Make It Big vs Countdown
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Make It Big
Display large, customizable text messages that fill your entire screen. Easily edit text, switch between portrait and landscape modes, and even flash your message with a shake. Store recent messages for quick access.
- Full-screen text display
- Customizable fonts and colors
- Portrait and landscape support
- Shake to flash message
- Lock Screen Widgets
- Recent message storage
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Type a message and Make It BIG! The message will be ENLARGED to fill the entire screen. FAST & EASY TO USE Tap screen to edit text, Tap screen again to hide the keyboard. WIDGETS Show your latest message in a widget, now supporting iOS 16 Lock Screen Widgets. PORTRAIT AND LANDSCAPE Rotate and hold your device in any direction, the text will automatically resize to fill the entire screen. ATTENTION GRABBING Shake device to flash your message (alternates between background colour and text colour). SETTINGS - Change font - Change text & background colours - Swap colours - Enable/disable haptic feedback - Enable/disable shake to flash mode - Set the flash speed RECENTS All messages shown will now be stored so you can easily show them again. WARNING: Flashing screen may cause seizures, use responsibly. makeitbig://?m=The%20cake%20is%20a%20lie
Countdown
Easily track important dates and events with a customizable countdown timer. Set reminders, organize events with tags, and view upcoming dates on your home screen or Apple Watch. Syncs across devices and offers various counting options.
- Customizable countdown timer
- Event reminders
- Home screen widgets
- Apple Watch support
- Event sharing
- iCloud sync
- Repeatable countdowns
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Countdown is a free, super easy to use countdown timer and reminder for the important events & dates in your life. Features: • Check your events on the Lock Screen with our widget (Premium feature) • Glance at your events on your Apple Watch • Glance at your events using our widget in StandBy (Premium feature) • Place our Widget anywhere on your Home Screen to view your most important events (Premium feature) • Share your countdowns with friends and family • Auto Import (Premium): Connect your calendars to Countdown and automatically add new events. • Pick any color you'd like for your countdown background • In addition to receiving a notification when it is time for your event, you can receive reminders 1 day before or 1 week before the event. • Choose the format in which you want to see your countdown (Premium feature) • Create as many events as you'd like • Count up from past events (available on each countdown page) • Sync your events across your devices with iCloud • Set your countdowns to repeat yearly, monthly, weekly or daily • Sort your events from the closest to the most distant • Dark Mode • Add notes to your events • Count only working days • Have many events? Organize them with tags Add as many events as you want: Vacation, Birthday, Holiday, Party, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Halloween, Cruise, Valentines, Wedding, Anniversary, Birth, Baby, Graduation, Pregnancy, Trip, New Home, Retirement, Game, Goals, Concert and many more. ——— QUESTIONS OR FEEDBACK? ——— We love hearing from you and we read every single email you send us! Have suggestions? Feel free to contact us at countdown@findappiness.co
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Make It Big at none against Countdown's 3. Make It Big also leads on ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (91% vs 72%). Countdown's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs every 3 weeks) and ratings volume (188K vs 5.1K). On price, rating 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
Both are free to download. Countdown sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Make It Big asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Make It Big against 4.8 for Countdown. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Countdown has 188K ratings behind it against 5.1K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 91% of Make It Big's written reviews are positive against 72% of Countdown's.
Make It Big ships an update every 3 weeks, Countdown every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 11, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Make It Big | Countdown |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (5.1K ratings) | 4.8 (188K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 91.1% of reviews — better | 71.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 5.1K | 188K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 4 days — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | — | #46 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 2 MB | 51 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | An Trinh | Find Appiness LLC |
Customer experience
Make It Big
Countdown
User reviews
Make It Big
From 5.1K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Simple, easy to use
- 👍 Works well
- 👍 Helps communicate with deaf/hard of hearing
- 👍 Convenient for noisy environments
- 👍 Useful for signaling to friends
Room to improve
- 🐛 Text input box is too small for editing
- 🐛 Font size decreases with more text
- 🐛 No option to save/recall frequently used messages
- 🐛 No option to mirror/reverse text
Countdown
From 188K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Simple and intuitive interface
- 🎨 Customizable colors and emojis
- ⏰ Accurate countdown tracking
- 🔔 Helpful reminders and notifications
- 💰 One-time payment for premium features
Room to improve
- 💸 Paid widget feature
- 🔍 Lack of instructions/guidance
- 🔀 Inconsistent countdown display on widget
- 📅 Limited repeat options for events
- 🖼️ No option to use custom photos
Bugs and requests
Make It Big
Reported bugs
2 issues- Text input box is too small for editing
- Font size decreases with more text
Requested features
7 requests- Option to resize/adjust text input box
- Ability to save and recall frequently used messages
- Mirror/reverse text option
- Support for right-to-left scripts and cursive languages
- Text-to-speech functionality
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- Option to justify text left/right
- More font and color customization options
Countdown
Reported bugs
3 issues- Widget not updating automatically
- Countdown display issues after iOS 14 update
- Inability to delete archived events
Requested features
5 requests- Add ability to count up from past events
- Provide more date/time format options
- Implement calendar view for all events
- Allow custom backgrounds for widgets
- Add support for weekly/monthly repeating events
In-app purchases
Make It Big
No in-app purchases
Countdown
- Start 7-Day Free TrialFree
- Countdown Widget Offer$3.99
- Countdown Widget$6.99
