Comparison

Soon vs Countdown Widget

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Unlimited countdown widgets
  • Lock screen and home screen widgets
  • Customizable colors, fonts, and icons
  • Recurring event scheduling
  • Background image support
  • Live timers
  • Timezone support
Features
Read full description

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.

About

Countdown Widget

Easily track important dates with customizable widgets for your home and lock screens. Count down to events or count up from a starting point, with options for seconds, days, or even working days. All features are available for free, with an optional one-time purchase for advanced syncing and customization.

Highlights
  • Home and Lock Screen widgets
  • Countdown and count-up timers
  • Live countdowns to the second
  • Customizable counter styles and colors
  • Import from Calendar and Reminders
  • Offline functionality
  • One-time purchase for Pro features
Features
Read full description

Count down to what matters, right where you look: your Home Screen and Lock Screen. NanoCount is a complete countdown app with no account and no subscription. A holiday, a birthday, a wedding, a deadline, a due date or a passport that expires: put a countdown on it and see how many days are left at a glance. Or count up since a date to keep a streak going: smoke-free, together, working out. In the final hours it counts down live, to the second. THE FREE MULTI-EVENT WIDGET All your countdowns side by side in one widget on your Home Screen. Most apps hide this behind a subscription. In NanoCount it is free, along with single-event widgets and widgets on your Lock Screen. DAYS SINCE, NOT JUST DAYS UNTIL Count up from a date and watch the number grow: smoke-free, sober, together, back at the gym, since the operation. Day 1 starts on the day you pick. Give a streak its own widget on your Home Screen, or line all of them up side by side. FREE, AND ACTUALLY COMPLETE • Unlimited countdowns and count-up streaks • Multi-event AND single-event widgets, on the Home and Lock Screen • Live on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island on the final day • Your soonest countdowns on your Apple Watch • A reminder on the day, plus milestone alerts (halfway, one week to go) • Counter styles: a ring, dots, a bar, a real draining hourglass, or a big number • Every color, a color picker, and a searchable library of hundreds of icons • Count in days, sleeps, weekends, or working days • Import in one tap from your Calendar or Reminders (Google, Outlook and iCloud come along), plus birthdays from your contacts • Share a countdown as a card, or live: anyone with the link follows along, even in their own widget • Look Back: everything that's passed, month by month, plus your year in review to share around New Year • Confetti and a celebration card on the big day and at milestones like Day 100 • Start a streak over without losing your longest one • Controls for Control Center, the Lock Screen and the Action button • Search, pin favorites, recurrence (weekly, monthly, yearly), and notes • Full backup: export and import all your countdowns NANOCOUNT PRO (one-time purchase, never a subscription) • iCloud sync: all your countdowns automatically in step across iPhone, iPad and Mac • Your own photo behind an event and in the widget, slowly sharpening or revealing like an advent calendar • Premium counter styles: retro flip, analog dial, particles, tear-off calendar, moon and wave • Shareable video: turn a countdown into a short video for your stories and socials • Gift mode: hide a surprise behind a code name • Advance reminders: 1 day, 1 week, or 1 month before • Alternate app icons • Subtract public holidays from working-day counts • Siri and Shortcuts: ask how many days, or add a countdown by voice • Watch complication of your choice: pick which countdown or count-up sits on your watch face PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account, no sign-in, no tracking, no data collection. Everything stays on your device and works offline. Nothing goes through iCloud unless you turn on iCloud sync or live sharing yourself. Free to use. Pro is a one-time purchase. Forever, never a subscription.

Screenshots

Soon4 screens
Countdown Widget4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Soon at free against Countdown Widget's free with in-app purchases. Countdown Widget's advantage is device support (4 vs 1). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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. Soon sells 4 one-off in-app purchases and Countdown Widget sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Soon holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 19 and 15 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Soon ships an update weekly, Countdown Widget every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Soon versus Countdown Widget: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSoonCountdown Widget
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (19 ratings) — better4.5 (15 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings19 — better15
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 9 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS17.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size53 MB19 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTHOMAS VAN DE CROMMENACKERDigital Sandbox B.V.

Customer experience

Soon

All ratings18 ratings
Positive94.4%
Neutral0.0%
Negative5.6%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Countdown Widget

All ratings14 ratings
Positive92.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative7.1%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Soon

One-time4
  • Small Tip$0.99
  • Remove Ads$2.99
  • Medium Tip$2.99
Show 1 more
  • Large Tip$4.99
1 purchases

Countdown Widget

One-time1
  • NanoCount Pro$5.99

Questions

Is Soon free?
Soon is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Countdown Widget free?
Countdown Widget is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Soon or Countdown Widget?
Soon is rated higher. Soon averages 4.7 out of 5 from 19 ratings, while Countdown Widget averages 4.5 from 15 ratings.
Do Soon or Countdown Widget have ads?
Neither Soon nor Countdown Widget shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Soon or Countdown Widget?
Soon ships an update weekly, and Countdown Widget every 9 days. Most recently, Soon was updated on November 5, 2026 and Countdown Widget on November 6, 2026.

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