Comparison

Countdown Star vs Novellea

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • iCloud Sync across devices
  • Celebration animations
  • Repeating event support
  • Home screen widgets
  • Customizable wallpapers
  • Notifications for event completion
  • Interactive time unit slider
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 * 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.

About

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.

Highlights
  • Original short stories
  • Audio narration
  • Offline listening
  • Personalized recommendations
  • Genre browsing
  • Premium subscription
Features
Read 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

Countdown Star4 screens
Novellea4 screens

Verdict

The call

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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

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.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Countdown Star ships an update fortnightly, Novellea every 9 days. Both last shipped on November 7, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Countdown Star versus Novellea: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCountdown StarNovellea
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (217K ratings)4.9 (7 ratings) — better
Positive reviews59.2% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings217K — better7
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 9 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size55 MB57 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperJoseph MerrillSHORT CONTENT LTD

Customer experience

Countdown Star

All ratings216,685 ratings
Positive94.8%
Neutral3.1%
Negative2.1%
Written reviews1,338 reviews
Positive59.2%
Neutral11.7%
Negative29.1%

Novellea

All ratings6 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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

Novellea

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Countdown Star

One-time1
  • Remove Ads$1.99
1 purchases

Novellea

Subscriptions1
  • Novellea Premium$5.491 Month

Questions

Is Countdown Star free?
Countdown Star is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Novellea free?
Novellea is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Countdown Star or Novellea?
Novellea is rated higher. Countdown Star averages 4.8 out of 5 from 217K ratings, while Novellea averages 4.9 from 7 ratings.
Do Countdown Star or Novellea have ads?
Countdown Star shows ads; Novellea does not.
Which is updated more often, Countdown Star or Novellea?
Countdown Star ships an update fortnightly, and Novellea every 9 days. Most recently, Countdown Star was updated on November 7, 2026 and Novellea on November 7, 2026.

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