Soon vs Anticipate
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Soon
Create unlimited countdowns and widgets for your lock and home screens. Customize colors, fonts, icons, and backgrounds for any event. Schedule recurring events and sync across timezones.
- Unlimited countdown widgets
- Lock screen and home screen widgets
- Customizable colors, fonts, and icons
- Recurring event scheduling
- Background image support
- Live timers
- Timezone support
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I built this app because I couldn't find what I needed. I hope you find it useful too. I was looking for a simple countdown app with widgets for iOS, but every app I found either required a subscription, charged money, or limited how many widgets I could create. So, I built Soon-ish, a completely free countdown app with unlimited widgets, no subscriptions, and no hidden fees. **Unlimited Widgets, Completely Free** Create as many countdowns and widgets as you want. Track birthdays, holidays, Twitch streams, or any important moment. All widgets are free, forever. **Types of Widgets** • Lock Screen Widgets: See your countdowns right on your lock screen • Home Screen Widgets: Small, medium, and large sizes • Live Timers: Real-time countdown that updates every second • Dynamic Island: pin a countdown to the Dynamic Island and Lock Screen as a Live Activity • Customizable Display: Choose to show days, hours, minutes, and/or seconds **Full-ish Customizability** • Custom Colors: Pick any color for text and backgrounds • Custom Icons: Choose from hundreds of icons (Ionicons & MaterialIcons) • Custom Fonts: Select from multiple font families • Background Images: Use your own photos as backgrounds • Background Overlays: Adjust brightness and contrast for perfect readability • Multiple Themes: Light, dark, and custom color schemes **Smart-ish Recurring Events** • Daily: Countdowns that repeat every day • Weekly: Set specific days of the week • Monthly: Same day each month • Yearly: Annual events like birthdays and holidays • Custom Schedule: Create complex recurring patterns with multiple time slots **Notifications** • Get alerted the moment a countdown completes • Optional reminders before and follow-ups after • Write your own notification message **Integrations** • Twitch: Countdown to your favorite streamers' next streams! • Holidays: Browse and add popular holidays and events! • Share Countdowns: Share your countdowns with friends via link! **Other Features** • Clock Mode: Full-screen countdown display • Timezone Support: Track events across different timezones • Granularity Control: Show exactly the time units you want • Sort & Organize: Customize the order of your countdowns • Background Sync: Automatic updates for imported countdowns **No Subscriptions, No Limits** Soonish is completely free with no in-app purchases required. Create unlimited countdowns, use all features, and enjoy beautiful widgets without ever paying a cent.
Anticipate
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Create countdowns for your events using your own photos and add them as widgets to your home screen to be able to quickly see them as the important date approaches. You can create as many countdowns as you want completely for free by just adding a title, a date and a photo from your gallery. Whether you're counting down to a vacation, birthday, wedding, graduation, or any special moment, personalize each countdown with meaningful images that remind you what you're looking forward to. The beautiful widget design seamlessly integrates with your home screen aesthetic while keeping your upcoming events front and center. Track multiple events simultaneously and never miss an important date again. The app automatically updates your countdown each day, showing you exactly how many days remain until your special moment arrives. Simple, elegant, and completely free.
Screenshots
Verdict
Soon and Anticipate are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.
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. Soon sells 4 one-off in-app purchases and Anticipate sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Soon ships an update weekly, Anticipate every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Soon | Anticipate |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (19 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 19 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Weekly | Every 4 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 — better | 18.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 53 MB | 25 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | THOMAS VAN DE CROMMENACKER | Jesus Jimenez Sanchez |
In-app purchases
Soon
- Small Tip$0.99
- Remove Ads$2.99
- Medium Tip$2.99
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- Large Tip$4.99
Anticipate
- Small Tip$0.99
- Medium Tip$1.99
- Big Tip$8.99
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Huge Tip$44.99
- Mega Tip$89.99









