Comparison

Countdown Star vs Holiday Countdown App

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

Head to head
About

Countdown Star

Track time until or since important life events. Set custom timers for birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, and more. Personalize with your own photos and share progress with friends.

Highlights
  • Add custom events
  • Customize event visuals
  • Apple Watch display
  • Today Widget integration
  • Set exact event times
  • Adjust time units
  • Share event progress
Features
Read full description

Countdown Star is the best way to countdown to — and count up from — all of your favorite events. Countdown to birthdays, holidays, an upcoming vacation, a wedding, the New Year, parties, sporting events, concerts and more. Count up from anniversaries, the day you were born, and other special events in the past. * How many seconds until your next birthday? * How many months since you were born? * How many days until you graduate from college? * How many hours until your anniversary? * How much time is left until your vacation starts? * How many days until Christmas? * How many minutes until your party begins? * How much time is left until your baby's due date? Countdown Star is the countdown app that lets you choose which events to add, then keeps them in sync across all of your devices. Features: * iCloud Sync — events and wallpapers sync automatically across all your iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch devices * Celebration Animations — choose Confetti, Fireworks, Balloons, Stars, or Lasers when your countdown reaches zero * Repeating Events — annual events automatically advance to the next year so you never have to update them * Home Screen Widgets — Small, Medium, and Large widgets let you glance at your countdowns without opening the app * Apple Watch — view your events right on your wrist * Add Your Own Events — add as many events as you like * Custom Wallpapers — choose from 15+ built-in wallpapers or use your own photos * Time Zone Support — set each event in any time zone with localized city names * Sort and Search — sort by date, title, or your own custom order; events are sectioned into Countdown and Count Up groups * Favorites and Notifications — mark events as favorites to receive a notification when their countdown reaches zero * Interactive Slider — instantly switch between seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or years to see your countdown exactly how you want it * Customizable Timer — choose timer position (Top, Middle, or Bottom), show or hide weeks, and toggle the leading zero * Multiple App Icons — personalize the app icon on your Home Screen Note: Countdown Star is available as a free version (with ads and an optional Remove Ads purchase) and as a paid ad-free version.

About

Holiday Countdown App

This app helps you count down to special events with customizable themes and backgrounds. It also includes a memory game and a travel guide to inspire your next vacation.

Highlights
  • Countdown to events
  • Customizable themes and backgrounds
  • Memory card game
  • Travel inspiration guide
  • Share countdowns
Features
Read full description

This Holiday Countdown App can count down the days, hours, minutes and seconds until your holiday / vacation. Just type in the starting date and time. The app does the rest. Now fully customizable. This Free Holiday Countdown app will give you the exact time until your special day. No matter of you are planning a trip to Hawaii, sightseeing in Paris, hiking in Colorado or skiing in Switzerland. FEATURES - Choose your favorite out of 38 awesome background themes - Change colors, texts and styles - Create your own theme by choosing one of your own pictures out of your Photo Library - Share Countdown on Facebook, WhatsApp, Email etc. - Memory Card game - "Where should I go?"-Guide THEMES - Beach - Sunset - Lake - Tropical Sunset - Green Hills - Snow - Mountains - Zen - Mountain Lake - Buddha - Beach Palmtree - Camping - Hiking - Las Vegas - Mountain Lake 2 - New York - Waterfall - Beach Hammock - Mountains 2 - Wineyard - Paris - Japan - Rome - Forest - Jungle Waterfall - Thailand - Cruise Ship - Theme Park - Australia - Greece - India - London - San Francisco - China - Honeymoon Sunset - Mexico - Los Angeles - New Zealand - or create your own theme with your own picture Every now and then we will add new amazing themes. Out customers love this way to count down to their favorite time of year. And to be honest, vacation is the best time of year. This is the time where you make memories that will last a lifetime. We hope you will have lots of fun with our app and a great holiday. You can use most of this app totally free of charge. To use the premium version of this app that includes all themes, the feature to use your own picture, the quote of the day and no advertisement, we offer two auto-renewing subscriptions: $4.99 per month $17.99 per year These prices are for United States customers. Pricing in other countries may vary and actual charges may be converted to your local currency depending on the country of residence. Your subscription will automatically renew at the end of each term and your credit card will be charged through your iTunes account. You can turn off auto-renew at any time from your iTunes account settings but refunds will not be provided for any unused portion of the term. We also offer a Lifetime subscription which is paid for by a one-off upfront payment of $59.99 with unlimited access to all features forever. Terms of service: https://www.abycoach.com/apps/terms.html Privacy policy: https://www.abycoach.com/apps/privacy.html

Screenshots

Countdown Star4 screens
Holiday Countdown App4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Countdown Star at 59% against Holiday Countdown App's 13%. Countdown Star also leads on ratings volume (216K vs 1) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 3 months). Holiday Countdown App's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.8) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Countdown Star sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Holiday Countdown App sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Holiday Countdown App holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Countdown Star has 216K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 59% of Countdown Star's written reviews are positive against 13% of Holiday Countdown App's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Countdown Star ships an update fortnightly, Holiday Countdown App every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and September 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Countdown Star versus Holiday Countdown App: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCountdown StarHoliday Countdown App
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (216K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews59.5% of reviews — better12.5% of reviews
Number of ratings216K — better1
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 3 months
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationAd-supported — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS17.09.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size55 MB33 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJoseph MerrillABY LLC

Customer experience

Countdown Star

All ratings215,578 ratings
Positive94.9%
Neutral3.1%
Negative2.1%
Written reviews1,317 reviews
Positive59.5%
Neutral11.6%
Negative28.9%

Holiday Countdown App

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive12.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative87.5%

Bugs and requests

Countdown Star

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Widget not displaying events
  • Wallpaper not saving
  • Countdown off by one day
  • Notifications not working as expected
  • Crashes and glitches after updates

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add weeks option
  • Allow multiple countdowns on one screen
  • Provide Apple Watch complications
  • Add ability to export/backup data
  • Improve wallpaper customization
Show 1 more
  • Add option for annual/recurring events

Holiday Countdown App

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Countdown Star

One-time1
  • Remove Ads$1.99
10 purchases

Holiday Countdown App

Subscriptions2
  • Premium Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Premium Yearly$17.991 Year
One-time8
  • Unlock Theme Snow$0.99
  • Unlock Theme Mountains$0.99
  • Unlock Theme Zen$0.99
Show 5 more
  • Unlock Theme Mountain Lake$0.99
  • Unlock Theme Buddha$0.99
  • function to add your own picture$1.99
  • Remove Ads$2.99
  • Premium Lifetime$39.99

Questions

Is Countdown Star free?
Countdown Star is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Holiday Countdown App free?
Holiday Countdown App is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Countdown Star or Holiday Countdown App?
Holiday Countdown App is rated higher. Countdown Star averages 4.8 out of 5 from 216K ratings, while Holiday Countdown App averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Countdown Star or Holiday Countdown App have ads?
Both Countdown Star and Holiday Countdown App show ads.
Which is updated more often, Countdown Star or Holiday Countdown App?
Countdown Star ships an update fortnightly, and Holiday Countdown App every 3 months. Most recently, Countdown Star was updated on October 15, 2026 and Holiday Countdown App on September 28, 2026.

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