Comparison

CountFree 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

CountFree

Track important future events and past milestones with customizable widgets. View real-time countdowns and count-ups directly on your Home Screen without ads or paywalls.

Highlights
  • Unlimited countdowns and count-ups
  • Unlimited Home Screen widgets
  • Multiple widget sizes
  • Four customizable themes
  • Progress bars
  • Custom emoji support
  • Real-time updates
Features
Read full description

Track every moment that matters — right on your Home Screen. CountFree gives you beautiful countdown and count-up widgets with zero catches. No ads. No paywalls. No "premium" upgrades. Every single feature is yours, and it always will be. Whether you're counting down to a wedding, a vacation, or your baby's due date — or counting up from a sobriety milestone, a move to a new city, or the day you adopted your dog — CountFree keeps your most important dates front and center. WIDGETS THAT FEEL LIKE HOME Add countdown widgets directly to your iPhone or iPad Home Screen in small, medium, or large sizes. Pick from four beautiful themes — light, dark, sunset, and ocean — and personalize each event with any emoji. Set a start date and end date to see a progress bar that shows exactly how far you've come. It's incredibly satisfying to watch it fill up. Your countdowns update in real time. Just glance at your Home Screen — no need to open the app. COUNTS UP TOO Not every important date is in the future. Track time since meaningful moments: → Days sober → Years at your job → Time since you quit smoking → How long you've been together → Gym streak → Anything that matters to you I built CountFree because I was tired of countdown apps that lock basic features behind paywalls. Want more than 3 widgets? Pay up. Want a dark theme? Subscribe. It felt wrong. So I built the app I wanted to use — and made everything available to you. CountFree is a passion project. There are no investors, no growth targets, no ad networks. Just an app that does what it says. If CountFree adds value to your life, there's an optional tip jar and a supporter subscription to help me keep building. Supporters get a small badge as a thank-you. But you already have everything — it's just a way to say thanks. EVERYTHING YOU GET → Unlimited countdowns and count-ups → Unlimited Home Screen widgets → Small, medium, and large widget sizes → Four themes: light, dark, sunset, ocean → Progress bars with start and end dates → Custom emoji for every event → Real-time updates on your Home Screen → Works on iPhone and iPad → No account required → No ads. Ever. Download CountFree and start tracking the moments that matter. EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Countdown Widget

Visually appealing countdowns for all your important dates, displayed on your Home Screen, Lock Screen, Apple Watch, and more. Features AI-generated backgrounds and precise time tracking.

Highlights
  • AI-generated photo backgrounds
  • Countdown to exact time (days, hours, minutes, seconds)
  • Live Activity and Dynamic Island integration
  • Multiple widget placements (Home Screen, Lock Screen, StandBy)
  • Apple Watch app and complications
  • iCloud sync across Apple devices
  • Multi-event widget with progress bars
Features
Read full description

DayDrop is a countdown widget app for iPhone and iPad with AI-generated event backgrounds, a live countdown in the Dynamic Island and on the Lock Screen (a Live Activity with a progress ring), and 10 widget placements: Home Screen in four sizes, Lock Screen circular, rectangular and inline, StandBy and Control Center. Describe your event and DayDrop generates a one-of-a-kind photo backdrop that follows the countdown to every widget. Free with unlimited countdowns and Home Screen widgets; Premium unlocks the Lock Screen widgets, the Live Activity and AI backgrounds. Count down to everything you're looking forward to — Christmas, your wedding, a birthday, vacation, or the day your baby arrives — right on your Home Screen and Lock Screen. "Finally, a countdown app that actually looks good on my Home Screen." WHY PEOPLE LOVE DAYDROP • Beautiful AI-generated photo backgrounds — describe any event and get a stunning, one-of-a-kind photo backdrop in seconds. • Countdown to the exact moment — set a specific time on any event and watch days, hours, minutes, and seconds tick down live. • Your photo in the Dynamic Island — your event's background shows live in the Dynamic Island and Live Activity, with a progress ring. • 10 widget placements — Home Screen (small, medium, large, extra-large), multi-event widget, Lock Screen, StandBy, and Control Center. • Multi-event widget with progress bars — several countdowns at a glance. • iPad optimized — adaptive layouts, ExtraLarge widget, and a roomier overview. • iCloud sync — your countdowns move with you across iPhone and iPad. Always in sync, always private. • Share cards — send your countdown to anyone. • Badge countdown on app icon — glance at your Home Screen, see days left. • Liquid Glass, iOS 26 native — designed for Apple's latest design language. • Orbital year view — your whole year of countdowns in a single circular timeline. POWERFUL & PERSONAL • Count up and down from any date • 8 categories — Birthdays, Weddings, Anniversaries, Holidays, Vacations, Work, Fitness, Custom • Recurring events — annual, monthly, weekly, or biweekly • Milestone notifications — 30, 14, 7, 3 days before • Celebration confetti on the big day • Pin your most important events • Import birthdays from Contacts in one tap • Gyroscope parallax and scroll animations A CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN, A NEW YEAR COUNTDOWN, AND EVERY DAY WORTH WAITING FOR How many days until Christmas? Until New Year's Eve? Until Halloween, the concert, your exam, retirement, or the trip you've been planning all year? DayDrop keeps the answer one glance away — as a widget, on your Lock Screen, or with Siri: just ask "how many days until my event in DayDrop." LOCK SCREEN, DONE RIGHT Category icons on your Lock Screen widgets, with desaturated backgrounds so your countdown stays glanceable. SPEAKS YOUR LANGUAGE Fully translated into 16 languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Russian, Turkish, Arabic, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Your countdowns stay on your devices and in your iCloud. We don't sell your data. DAYDROP PREMIUM Premium unlocks AI photo backgrounds, Live Activity and Dynamic Island, every widget placement, watermark-free share cards, unlimited pins, custom milestone notifications, iCloud sync, and the orbital year view. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the period. Manage or cancel in Settings > Subscriptions. Questions? Email daydrop@beatroot.dev or visit daydrop.beatroot.dev. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

CountFree4 screens
Countdown Widget4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Countdown Widget at 4.8 against CountFree's 4.3. Countdown Widget also leads on update cadence (every 8 days vs every 2 months) and iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.0). On price, review sentiment, 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. CountFree sells 4 one-off in-app purchases and Countdown Widget sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Countdown Widget holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 11 and 24 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 80% and 80% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

CountFree ships an update every 2 months, Countdown Widget every 8 days. Both last shipped on November 9, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
CountFree versus Countdown Widget: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCountFreeCountdown Widget
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (11 ratings)4.8 (24 ratings) — better
Positive reviews80.0% of reviews80.0% of reviews
Number of ratings1124 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 8 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS26.018.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size2 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMatthew KrielHirak Banerjee

Customer experience

CountFree

All ratings11 ratings
Positive81.8%
Neutral0.0%
Negative18.2%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive80.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative20.0%

Countdown Widget

All ratings24 ratings
Positive91.7%
Neutral8.3%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews10 reviews
Positive80.0%
Neutral20.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

4 purchases

CountFree

One-time4
  • Cheers$0.99
  • High Five$2.99
  • Large Tip$4.99
Show 1 more
  • Standing Ovation$9.99
3 purchases

Countdown Widget

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Premium$1.991 Month
  • Annual Premium1 Month trial$12.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime Premium$24.99

Questions

Is CountFree free?
CountFree 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, CountFree or Countdown Widget?
Countdown Widget is rated higher. CountFree averages 4.3 out of 5 from 11 ratings, while Countdown Widget averages 4.8 from 24 ratings.
Do CountFree or Countdown Widget have ads?
Neither CountFree nor Countdown Widget shows ads.
Which is updated more often, CountFree or Countdown Widget?
CountFree ships an update every 2 months, and Countdown Widget every 8 days. Most recently, CountFree was updated on November 9, 2026 and Countdown Widget on November 9, 2026.

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