Comparison

Countdown vs ShelfPulse

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

Head to head
About

Countdown

Visually track upcoming events with a unique battery-style progress indicator. Offers customizable widgets, smart reminders, and instant calendar import. Designed for privacy and offline use, it helps you stay motivated by seeing time fill up towards your goals.

Highlights
  • Battery-style progress visualization
  • Multiple home screen widget styles
  • Lock screen widget support
  • Customizable smart reminders
  • Instant calendar event import
  • Private and offline functionality
  • Color and icon customization
Features
Read full description

Time Fill is a simple countdown that helps you see time at a glance, trips, birthdays, deadlines, anything. Lock screen widget, repeat reminders, color themes, and intuitive filters. Private by design. BATTERY-STYLE PROGRESS Watch time fill visually as you get closer to your goal. The unique battery-fill design makes tracking progress intuitive and satisfying, like watching your phone charge, but for life's important moments. YEAR & MONTH OVERVIEW Toggle between yearly and monthly views to see exactly how much time has passed. Perfect for understanding progress at a glance, whether it's a 30-day challenge or a year-long journey. 6 WIDGET STYLES Choose from six distinct widget designs for your home screen: • Minimal — clean, focused countdown • Modular — detailed with progress bar • Dot Ring — circular dot-based countdown in small, medium, and large • Year Progress — see your year unfold day by day • Month Progress — track the current month at a glance • Lock Screen — always visible on your lock screen Widgets automatically show your next upcoming event. No configuration needed. SMART REMINDERS Get notified when it matters most: • Custom notification times you control • 1 month before milestone • 1 week before reminder • 1 day before alert • Morning of the big day Set your preferred notification times, whether you're a morning person or night owl. INSTANT CALENDAR IMPORT Already tracking events in your calendar? Import them instantly with a single tap. No retyping, no hassle. BEAUTIFUL & INTUITIVE • Clean, modern design that feels native to iOS • Smooth animations that bring your countdowns to life • Choose from dozens of icons and colors • Sort by date, name, or progress • Timeline view for visual journey mapping 100% PRIVATE & OFFLINE Your data never leaves your device. No cloud sync, no tracking, no servers, no data collection. Time Fill respects your privacy completely. Perfect for tracking: • Vacations and travel plans • Birthdays and anniversaries • Wedding dates • Graduation ceremonies • Project deadlines • Fitness goals and challenges • Book releases and movie premieres • Retirement countdowns • Baby due dates • Life milestones WHY TIME FILL? Most countdown apps show time draining away. TimeFill flips the script, watch time fill up toward your goal. It's a more positive, motivating way to track the moments that matter. The battery metaphor makes progress tangible. At a glance, you know exactly where you stand. 25% full? Just getting started. 75% full? Almost there! It transforms abstract time into something you can see and feel. BUILT WITH CARE TimeFill is crafted by an indie developer who believes great apps should respect your privacy, work offline, and never cost you more than once. No business model based on your data. No pressure to upgrade. Just a beautiful tool that does one thing exceptionally well. GET STARTED IN SECONDS 1. Add your first countdown 2. Pick an icon and color 3. Watch time start filling That's it. No account required, no tutorials needed, no complexity. Download Time Fill and make time beautiful.

About

ShelfPulse

Monitor your Audiobookshelf server with real-time dashboards, deep listening analytics, and library insights. Manage users, view beautiful home screen widgets, and gain personal or administrative perspectives on your audiobook collection. Enjoy a privacy-first experience with direct server connection.

Highlights
  • Real-time session monitoring
  • Deep listening analytics
  • Library and server insights
  • User management
  • Home screen widgets
  • Direct server connection
Features
Read full description

Real-Time Dashboard: See who's listening the moment they press play, with live playback progress and device details. Deep Analytics: Track listening time, streaks, favorite genres, and full history. Choose calendar or rolling periods for your stats, and hide plays shorter than a minute. Library Insights: Explore detailed server trends and collection statistics. Edit Your Library: Fix any book's details and cover, find better matches, and edit chapters. Rename and merge series, fix book numbers, and tidy up authors with photos and bios. Clean Up Metadata: Merge duplicate genres, tags, and narrators, split combined genres, rename, and delete. Manage Your Server: Create, edit, and delete users, reset passwords, and hand out temporary passwords. Manage libraries, collections, API keys, and server backups. Beautiful Widgets: Keep your listening stats on your Home Screen. Widgets refresh on their own, even while ShelfPulse is closed. Make It Yours: Choose from a range of themes, from Captain's Log to Neon Dreams. For Everyone: Full server monitoring for admins and personal insights for standard users. Privacy First: Direct connection to your server with no cloud services or data collection. 3-Day Free Trial: Experience full functionality risk-free. Requires an Audiobookshelf server. https://www.audrabooks.app/shelfpulse/terms https://www.audrabooks.app/shelfpulse/privacy

Screenshots

Countdown4 screens
ShelfPulse4 screens

Verdict

The call

Countdown and ShelfPulse both sit at 5.0 stars, but that hides the real split: 100% of Countdown's written reviews are positive against 80% of ShelfPulse's. ShelfPulse's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs monthly). On price, rating, ratings volume and ads 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 sells 5 one-off in-app purchases and ShelfPulse sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 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 — 5.0 for Countdown against 4.9 for ShelfPulse. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 16 and 9 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 100% of Countdown's written reviews are positive against 80% of ShelfPulse's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Countdown ships an update monthly, ShelfPulse every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and November 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Countdown versus ShelfPulse: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCountdownShelfPulse
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (16 ratings) — better4.9 (9 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better80.0% of reviews
Number of ratings16 — better9
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS17.0 — better18.5
Further details — not scored
Size5 MB13 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperOluwadunsin AgbolaboriEric Randall

Customer experience

Countdown

All ratings12 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

ShelfPulse

All ratings9 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive80.0%
Neutral20.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Countdown

One-time5
  • Small Tip$0.99
  • Medium Tip$1.99
  • Big Tip$4.99
Show 2 more
  • Huge Tip$9.99
  • Massive Tip$19.99
2 purchases

ShelfPulse

Subscriptions1
  • ShelfPulse Monthly3 Days trial$0.991 Month
One-time1
  • Full Access$9.99

Questions

Is Countdown free?
Countdown is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is ShelfPulse free?
ShelfPulse is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Countdown or ShelfPulse?
Countdown is rated higher. Countdown averages 5.0 out of 5 from 16 ratings, while ShelfPulse averages 4.9 from 9 ratings.
Do Countdown or ShelfPulse have ads?
Neither Countdown nor ShelfPulse shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Countdown or ShelfPulse?
Countdown ships an update monthly, and ShelfPulse every 2 weeks. Most recently, Countdown was updated on October 30, 2026 and ShelfPulse on November 12, 2026.

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