Countdown Star vs Novellea
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Countdown Star
Easily track upcoming events with customizable countdowns and count-ups. Personalize your experience with custom wallpapers, animations, and widgets. Syncs across devices and offers notifications for important dates.
- iCloud Sync across devices
- Celebration animations
- Repeating event support
- Home screen widgets
- Customizable wallpapers
- Notifications for event completion
- Interactive time unit slider
Read full descriptionHide 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 * Compatible with iPhone Duo — Countdown Star fits the outer and inner displays, open or closed, and when partially open like a book * 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.
Novellea
Discover and listen to original short stories across various genres like romance, horror, fantasy, and sci-fi. Enjoy an ad-free experience with offline listening and personalized recommendations. Go premium for unlimited access and author support.
- Original short stories
- Audio narration
- Offline listening
- Personalized recommendations
- Genre browsing
- Premium subscription
Read full descriptionHide full description
Novellea brings you original short stories from our community of writers, and now you can listen to them too. Romance, horror, fantasy, science fiction: whatever you're in the mood for, there's a story waiting. Make every day an adventure with Novellea. • Discover original short stories you won't find anywhere else • Listen to stories with audio • Keep listening with your phone locked, and pick up right where you stopped • Browse stories tailored to your tastes • Find the stories we love most in Our pick Go Premium for even more: • Unlimited access to everything on Novellea • Download stories, audio included, to read or listen offline • Support your favourite authors For help with Novellea, please send an email to contact@novellea.com. For terms of service, please visit https://www.novellea.com/termsofservice
Screenshots
Verdict
Countdown Star and Novellea both sit at 4.8 stars, but that hides the real split: 100% of Novellea's written reviews are positive against 59% of Countdown Star's. Novellea also leads on ads (none vs shown) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). Countdown Star's advantage is ratings volume (217K vs 7). On price, rating, update cadence 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
Both are free to download. Countdown Star sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Novellea sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $5.49 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Countdown Star against 4.9 for Novellea. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Countdown Star has 217K ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 59% of Countdown Star's written reviews are positive against 100% of Novellea's.
Countdown Star ships an update fortnightly, Novellea every 9 days. Both last shipped on November 7, 2026.
| Parameter | Countdown Star | Novellea |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (217K ratings) | 4.9 (7 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 59.2% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 217K — better | 7 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Every 9 days — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 55 MB | 57 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Joseph Merrill | SHORT CONTENT LTD |
Customer experience
Countdown Star
Novellea
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 moreShow fewer
- Add option for annual/recurring events
Novellea
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Countdown Star
- Remove Ads$1.99
Novellea
- Novellea Premium$5.491 Month
Questions
Is Countdown Star free?
Is Novellea free?
Which has better reviews, Countdown Star or Novellea?
Do Countdown Star or Novellea have ads?
Which is updated more often, Countdown Star or Novellea?
Other comparisons















