Comparison

Visual Countdown Timer vs Writing Wizard

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

Head to head
About

Visual Countdown Timer

This app uses a visual countdown to help children understand time and complete tasks. A picture is revealed as time elapses, and an exciting animation and sound reward completion. It aims to turn daily struggles into fun and encourage quicker task completion.

Highlights
  • Visual countdown from green to red
  • Picture revealed as time elapses
  • Exciting sound and animation reward
  • Customizable background images
  • User-selected reveal images
  • Adaptable for various tasks
Features
Read full description

Is it a battle to get your child to do something quickly? This visual countdown App was designed for my 2 year old son to help him get his reward chart star for getting dressed quickly. Getting him dressed used to take forever with many stalling strategies being deployed. Now he runs upstairs asking for the "Countdown". Watch as the timer runs from green to amber to red, helping the child understand that time is running out. A fun picture is slowly revealed as the time runs down and when the time is up the child is rewarded with an exciting sound and the picture spins. Background image changes to match the time of day, so that your child is given subtle hints as to what time of day the task they are being asked relates to. Choose your own image to reveal from your iPhones photo library to really surprise your child. Endless possible uses: * Getting dressed * Getting out the door (shoes and coats on) * Tidying * Brushing teeth * Sharing toys Turns daily struggles into fun time!

About

Writing Wizard

This app helps children learn to trace letters, numbers, and words with a fun, motivating system. It offers customizable tracing practice, interactive games, and progress reports for parents and educators.

Highlights
  • Trace letters, numbers, and words
  • Customizable tracing practice
  • Interactive games and animated stickers
  • Create custom word lists with audio
  • Progress reports for tracking
  • Printable PDF worksheets
Features
Read full description

"Fantastic, customizable tracing practice with fun rewards." 5 Stars - Common Sense Media 500,000+ units sold (including 300,000+ to schools) ! Writing Wizard is designed to help every child learn how to trace letters, numbers, and words through a fun system carefully designed to maintain motivation. • Show and enforce how to trace letters correctly • Letter names and phonics (customizable) • 16 Fonts available (including 3 most popular in the US) • Fun tracing using 50+ animated stickers, sound effects and interactive games that animate letters at the end of tracing • Uppercase & lowercase letters, numbers, and words • Ability to create your own word lists (and record audio for each word) • Fully customizable to suit every child’s needs (letter size, difficulty,...) • Check progress thanks to reports that display what the child has traced • Shapes tracing activity for toddlers • Create PDF Worksheets and print them to help your child to write on paper • Use Apple pencil to write at a very small size All the shapes, the first 7 letters, numbers, and words are free. The remaining letters and the ability to add your own words can be unlocked with a one-time purchase or a monthly subscription. _______ ACCOLADES • "Writing Wizard is the most complete and intelligent letter tracing app we’ve seen"" AppoLearning.com • "This brand-new app should be the go-to for every parent, teacher and therapist to work on handwriting" - TOP PICKS - 5 stars - SmartAppsForKids.com • "Writing Wizard by L’Escapadou is everything a parent wants in a handwriting app, and more." 5/5 - kids-app-reviews.com • "L’Escapadou has made handwriting fun." AppyMall.com 5/5 • Listed in "20 best educational iPhone and iPad apps for kids of 2013" - appsplayground.com • Editor's Choice Award for Excellence in Design - Children's Technology Review _______ PERFECT FOR KIDS Kids want to have fun, and Writing Wizard offers a lot of fun to keep them motivated in the learning process! • They can trace using 50+ animated stickers and sound effects • Once tracing is complete, they can interact with them on 4 games that animate letters • They can trace any word - like their name - and record their voice for each word • They can collect stars in 5-Stars play mode _______ PERFECT FOR PARENTS & TEACHERS • Ability to create your own word lists (and record audio for each word) • Detailed reports provide information on what kids have done, including the ability to replay and export the tracings to view kids' progress • Share word lists via iCloud Drive or other cloud providers, adhoc network, or email • Multiple parameters to customize the app according to the child’s current education level (e.g. letter size, difficulty, show/hide model, allow to stop between key points, etc.) • 3 most popular fonts in the US (ZB, DN & HWT) and 13 international fonts (UK, Scandinavia, Australia, Germany and France) • Upper and lower case letters, numbers (and word lists) • Letter names and letter sounds (which can be customized) • A customizable 5-Stars play mode prompting the child to trace a letter or a word 5 times using different parameters (each step is more challenging) • Create an unlimited number of users • Many settings to customize the app (sound, game time limit, black background,...) • In the A-Z section, special graphics available to match letters (e.g. ant graphic for A/a) _______ Privacy Policy KNOW WHAT'S INSIDE As a Moms with Apps member, we follow the "Know what's inside" best practices for kids’ apps L’Escapadou takes children’s privacy seriously. We believe you should not have to worry about your kids being tracked by apps or websites. This app: • Does not collect any user information (we do not use data collection tools) • External Links : Before accessing a parent section, an operation must be solved so that young kids cannot access it. Terms of use : https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Visual Countdown Timer4 screens
Writing Wizard4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Writing Wizard at none against Visual Countdown Timer's shown. Visual Countdown Timer's advantage is update cadence (monthly vs every 4 months) and ratings volume (40K vs 5K). On price, rating, review sentiment 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. Visual Countdown Timer sells 7 one-off in-app purchases and Writing Wizard sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $2.49 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Visual Countdown Timer holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Visual Countdown Timer has 40K ratings behind it against 5K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 81% of Visual Countdown Timer's written reviews are positive against 74% of Writing Wizard's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Visual Countdown Timer ships an update monthly, Writing Wizard every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Visual Countdown Timer versus Writing Wizard: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterVisual Countdown TimerWriting Wizard
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (40K ratings) — better4.4 (5K ratings)
Positive reviews80.6% of reviews — better73.8% of reviews
Number of ratings40K — better5K
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 4 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.5 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size185 MB68 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFehners Software LLPPierre Abel

Customer experience

Visual Countdown Timer

All ratings40,434 ratings
Positive89.3%
Neutral5.6%
Negative5.1%
Written reviews288 reviews
Positive80.6%
Neutral6.3%
Negative13.2%

Writing Wizard

All ratings5,039 ratings
Positive84.2%
Neutral6.2%
Negative9.6%
Written reviews206 reviews
Positive73.8%
Neutral6.3%
Negative19.9%

User reviews

Visual Countdown Timer

From 40K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great for classroom/special needs use
  • 👍 Simple and visual design
  • 👍 Customizable pictures and sounds
  • 👍 Helps with transitions and routines
  • 👍 Motivates kids to complete tasks

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
  • 🔊 Loud ticking sound
  • 🔒 Ads in free version
  • 🔒 Can't pause or stop timer

Writing Wizard

From 5K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 User-friendly interface
  • 🚀 Engaging animations
  • 💡 Customizable word lists
  • 👍 Helpful for children with special needs
  • 👍 Effective for improving handwriting

Room to improve

  • 🔒 Locked features behind paywall
  • 🐛 Bugs and glitches
  • 🔒 Paid version not working as expected
  • 💰 Expensive for the limited features

Bugs and requests

Visual Countdown Timer

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Custom pictures load rotated
  • Timer stops working when app is in background

Requested features

5 requests
  • Option to set timer to countdown to a specific time
  • Ability to adjust timer in smaller increments
  • Option to keep picture displayed after timer ends
  • Background timer functionality
  • Custom sound/music options

Writing Wizard

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • App crashes when trying to access locked features
  • Purchased content not unlocking properly
  • Inconsistent letter formation guidance

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add more letters, numbers, and shapes
  • Allow recording of custom voice instructions
  • Improve compatibility with stylus/digital pens
  • Provide more customization options

In-app purchases

7 purchases

Visual Countdown Timer

One-time7
  • Ocean Pack$0.99
  • Transport Pack$0.99
  • Animal Pack$0.99
Show 4 more
  • Cartoon Pack$0.99
  • Mask Maker$0.99
  • Remove Ads$1.99
  • Premium Upgrade$3.99
4 purchases

Writing Wizard

Subscriptions1
  • Full Access - Monthly$2.491 Month
One-time3
  • All Letters and Numbers$5.99
  • Add Your Words and Word Lists$5.99
  • Lifetime Full Access$9.99

Questions

Is Visual Countdown Timer free?
Visual Countdown Timer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Writing Wizard free?
Writing Wizard is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Visual Countdown Timer or Writing Wizard?
Visual Countdown Timer is rated higher. Visual Countdown Timer averages 4.6 out of 5 from 40K ratings, while Writing Wizard averages 4.4 from 5K ratings.
Do Visual Countdown Timer or Writing Wizard have ads?
Visual Countdown Timer shows ads; Writing Wizard does not.
Which is updated more often, Visual Countdown Timer or Writing Wizard?
Visual Countdown Timer ships an update monthly, and Writing Wizard every 4 months. Most recently, Visual Countdown Timer was updated on September 24, 2026 and Writing Wizard on September 22, 2026.

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