Comparison

Countdown Star vs Amazon Kids Parent Dashboard

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

Amazon Kids Parent Dashboard

Manage your children's digital experiences across Amazon devices and services. Set time limits, customize content, and monitor activity to foster healthy digital habits. Supports up to four child profiles.

Highlights
  • Set time limits
  • Prioritize learning content
  • Review child activity
  • Manage content library
  • Create child profiles
  • Pause/resume device access
Read full description

Easy-to-use Parental Controls The Amazon Kids Parent Dashboard app is specifically designed to help parents and guardians build safe, healthy digital behaviors with their family across Amazon devices and the Amazon Kids+ subscription. Manage and customize your kids’ experiences with easy-to-use parental controls for up to 4 child profiles. Configure age-appropriate settings, set time limits, keep track of child activity, manage content, and more. The Amazon Kids+ Parent Dashboard App works with Fire tablets, Amazon Echo speakers, Kindle e-readers, Fire TV, and other mobile devices. An Amazon Kids+ subscription is not required to use the free parental tools. Easily adjust whenever & wherever • Adjust parental controls from the convenience of your phone without interrupting your child’s experience. • Pause/resume your kids' access to their device even if your kids aren’t near you. Featured parental controls • Time limits: set time limits for a child’s total screen time for the day or the use of certain types of content. Or, set a time when your child's devices turn off at night and how long they stay off. • Learn first: prioritize books and learning apps before kids focus on entertainment content. • Child activity: review your child’s use of particular types of content, or see specific titles to learn more about what each child is enjoying. • Manage your child's content: block specific Amazon Kids+ titles, add content from your Amazon library, or adjust the age filter based on your child's maturity, tastes, and sensitivities. Tips from family safety experts • The Family Trust team within Amazon Kids partners with leaders in children’s safety, privacy, and development to ensure Amazon Kids is helping families build safe, healthy digital behaviors. Customize each child profile • A child profile allows kids to explore content and other experiences on Amazon in a safe digital environment. A child profile is needed to set parental controls with Amazon Kids Parent Dashboard. • Provides kids with a customized, age-appropriate experience specifically designed for kids. • Create up to 4 child profiles per Amazon Household. Amazon Kids+ Amazon Kids+ is a digital subscription designed for kids ages 3-12 that can be accessed across compatible Amazon and mobile devices. With Amazon Kids+, kids can enjoy ad-free apps, videos, games, books, and kid-friendly Alexa experiences in a safe and trusted digital environment equipped with easy to use parental controls. Try 1-month for free today. For customers located within the European Union, United Kingdom, Brazil, or Turkey: By using this app, you agree to Amazon’s Conditions of Use applicable for your country. Please also see the applicable Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-Based Ads Notice for your country. Links to these terms and notices can be found in the footer of your local Amazon homepage. For all other customers: By using this app, you agree to the applicable Amazon Conditions of Use (e.g. www.amazon.com/conditionsofuse) and Privacy Notice (e.g. www.amazon.com/privacy) for your country.

Screenshots

Countdown Star4 screens
Amazon Kids Parent Dashboard4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Countdown Star at 59% against Amazon Kids Parent Dashboard's 11%. Countdown Star also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.5) and ratings volume (216K vs 43K). Amazon Kids Parent Dashboard's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ads (none vs shown). On price, update cadence, device support and iOS requirement 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. Amazon Kids Parent Dashboard asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Countdown Star holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Countdown Star has 216K ratings behind it against 43K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 59% of Countdown Star's written reviews are positive against 11% of Amazon Kids Parent Dashboard's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly fortnightly. Both last shipped on October 21, 2026.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Countdown Star versus Amazon Kids Parent Dashboard: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCountdown StarAmazon Kids Parent Dashboard
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (216K ratings) — better4.5 (43K ratings)
Positive reviews59.3% of reviews — better11.4% of reviews
Number of ratings216K — better43K
Update frequencyFortnightlyFortnightly
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationAd-supported — betterFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank—#127 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.016.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size55 MB92 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperJoseph MerrillAMZN Mobile LLC

Customer experience

Countdown Star

All ratings215,578 ratings
Positive94.9%
Neutral3.1%
Negative2.1%
Written reviews1,321 reviews
Positive59.3%
Neutral11.7%
Negative28.9%

Amazon Kids Parent Dashboard

All ratings42,840 ratings
Positive86.9%
Neutral3.2%
Negative9.9%
Written reviews699 reviews
Positive11.4%
Neutral10.3%
Negative78.3%

User reviews

Countdown Star

From 216K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great app
  • 🚀 Easy to use
  • 💡 Customizable backgrounds
  • 👍 Helpful for tracking events
  • 👍 Useful for long-distance relationships

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Widget not working
  • 🐛 Wallpaper feature not working
  • 🐛 Countdown inaccuracies
  • 🐛 Notifications not working
  • 🐛 Crashes and bugs

Amazon Kids Parent Dashboard

From 43K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Simple dashboard app
  • 👍 Pause/resume button is great
  • 🚀 Much quicker than the other app
  • 👍 Great educational tool for young kids
  • 👍 Fabulous parental controls

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Pause/resume feature doesn't work
  • 🐛 Inability to override individual settings
  • 🐛 Unintuitive and not user-friendly
  • 🐛 Lacks ability to block entire channels or videos
  • 🐛 Can't view only apps downloaded to kids' tablets

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

Amazon Kids Parent Dashboard

Reported bugs

6 issues
  • Pause feature doesn't work
  • Time limits don't get enforced
  • Resets time limits without warning
  • Inconsistent behavior across devices
  • Confusing navigation and settings
Show 1 more
  • Inability to approve app requests from the app

Requested features

6 requests
  • Option to automatically pause screen time in intervals
  • Ability to set time limits for specific apps
  • Option to add temporary screen time extensions
  • More granular time limit settings (e.g. 15-minute increments)
  • Separate settings for different devices (e.g. tablet vs Echo Dot)
Show 1 more
  • Notifications for app approval requests

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Countdown Star

One-time1
  • Remove Ads$1.99
None

Amazon Kids Parent Dashboard

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Countdown Star free?
Countdown Star is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Amazon Kids Parent Dashboard free?
Amazon Kids Parent Dashboard is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Countdown Star or Amazon Kids Parent Dashboard?
Countdown Star is rated higher. Countdown Star averages 4.8 out of 5 from 216K ratings, while Amazon Kids Parent Dashboard averages 4.5 from 43K ratings.
Do Countdown Star or Amazon Kids Parent Dashboard have ads?
Countdown Star shows ads; Amazon Kids Parent Dashboard does not.
Which is updated more often, Countdown Star or Amazon Kids Parent Dashboard?
Countdown Star ships an update fortnightly, and Amazon Kids Parent Dashboard fortnightly. Most recently, Countdown Star was updated on October 21, 2026 and Amazon Kids Parent Dashboard on October 21, 2026.

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