CalDown vs NextCheck
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
CalDown
This app transforms your calendar into a real-time timeline, showing your current and upcoming events with live countdowns. It offers customizable widgets for your home and lock screens, and a companion app for Apple Watch, all designed for clarity and focus.
- Real-time event timeline
- Live countdowns and progress bars
- Home and Lock Screen widgets
- Apple Watch companion app
- Event notes and checklists
- Hide specific event occurrences
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CalDown – Focus. Clarity. Time Awareness. What is happening now? What comes next? How much time is left? CalDown turns Apple Calendar events into a focused timeline across iPhone, iPad, widgets and Apple Watch. Choose your calendars and see your day without the clutter. A TIMELINE BUILT AROUND NOW • Follow your current event with a countdown and progress bar • Keep all-day, upcoming and recently ended events in view • Look ahead by 3, 5 or 7 days • See gaps between events and timed reminders • Create and edit events with the familiar Apple Calendar editor • Hide individual event occurrences without changing them in Apple Calendar, and restore them from Hidden Events WIDGETS THAT MAKE TIME TANGIBLE • See your current or next timed event on the Home Screen or Lock Screen • Choose focused countdowns or overviews combining current and upcoming events • Follow calendar colors, progress and clear event details • Show or hide gaps in supported layouts and spot overlaps • Hide the highlighted event directly from supported widgets APPLE WATCH — WITH PRO • View calendar events available on your Watch, even without your iPhone nearby • Follow the iPhone’s calendar selection or choose separate calendars on Watch • Choose circular, corner, inline and rectangular complications • Presentation Dynamic emphasizes the leading time unit with a small event title • Presentation Fixed keeps hours, minutes and seconds in a consistent layout • Both presentation complications switch from time until an event to time remaining when it starts • Event Overview shows two events and highlights the current one • Expand event and reminder details, with gaps and overlaps in the timeline Widgets and complications use your selected Upcoming range. Refreshes, countdown updates and Always On behavior are managed by the system. CALENDAR NOTIFICATIONS Create calendar groups with their own notification rules. Combine alerts before the start, at the start, partway through, before the end or at the end of each event. Choose sound settings for each group on your iPhone. CalDown alerts are separate from Apple Calendar alerts, so you may receive both. Delivery depends on notification permissions, Focus settings and system background refresh. APPLE REMINDERS — BETA, WITH PRO • Show dated tasks from selected lists alongside your events • Keep overdue tasks in Today and future timed tasks in the timeline • Complete tasks and review dated tasks completed today • Open Apple Reminders to create, edit or reopen tasks Undated tasks are not shown. Reminders do not occupy time and are not included in widgets or complications. Watch completion uses your paired iPhone; offline requests stay pending until confirmed. Both devices need reminder access and the same reminder account. Some accounts cannot identify tasks reliably across devices. NOTES AND CHECKLISTS Keep notes and checklist items with calendar events. Watch additions and checklist changes require the paired iPhone to save and confirm them. Your calendar account manages synchronization. REMAINING TIME COLORS Choose start, warning and urgent colors and thresholds on iPhone. Apply them to the timeline, widgets and Watch independently. These are visual cues; notifications are configured separately. SIRI AND SHORTCUTS Ask about Current, Next or Today’s schedule. Hide an occurrence, restore the last hidden event, or open Today and Upcoming. YOUR DATA, YOUR RULES • No CalDown account, ads, subscriptions or analytics • On-device processing, with no external CalDown server • Hidden-event preferences sync only with the paired Watch • Optional diagnostic reports that you review and choose to share START SIMPLE. UNLOCK MORE WITH PRO. Use one calendar at a time and basic widgets for free. A single one-time purchase unlocks multiple calendars, additional widget layouts, Apple Watch and Apple Reminders integration. Your time. Your focus. CalDown.
NextCheck
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A quick glance at your iPhone is all it takes. NextCheck brings your next event, what's left today, and your current meeting together on a single dashboard clock. No more switching apps to open your calendar or juggling widgets — just a big clock and the information that actually matters, in one dense, glanceable screen. ■ Everything at a glance - Large real-time clock with date - Countdown to your next event - Ongoing event with time remaining - Today's schedule on a vertical timeline with a live "now" line - Month calendar and week strip for the big picture ■ Edit right here - Shows your existing iOS calendars (iCloud / Google / Exchange, and more) - Create, edit, and delete events — changes sync back to the system calendar - Long-press an event to preview its full title and notes instantly ■ Notifications & badge - Get notified N minutes before your next event - End-of-event alarm (a bold center banner in the foreground, a notification in the background) - App icon badge shows your remaining events today (configurable) ■ Make it yours - 24/12-hour time, seconds, week start day, light/dark themes - Adjustable clock fonts and timeline density - On iPad, a spacious two-column layout for info and timeline ■ Privacy first - Your event data stays on your device and in your own iCloud. We never collect or transmit it. - No ads, no tracking, no account required ■ Completely free - No subscriptions, no in-app purchases —————— * AI Comment (experimental) is available only on Apple Intelligence–capable devices. Generated content is for reference. * Weather display is planned for a future update.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: NextCheck at none against CalDown's 1. NextCheck also leads on iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads 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
Both are free to download. CalDown sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. NextCheck asks for nothing beyond the download.
| Parameter | CalDown | NextCheck |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Weekly | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 18.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 8 MB | 4 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Valentin Haberling | Tomoyuki Arai |
In-app purchases
CalDown
- Unlock CalDown Pro$9.99
NextCheck
No in-app purchases









