Comparison

Countdowns vs Time Arrow

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

Head to head
About

Countdowns

Track upcoming events or past milestones with customizable countdowns and count-ups. Visualize your time with beautiful widgets and sync across all your Apple devices. Organize events with lists and receive custom notifications.

Highlights
  • Customizable countdown and count-up timers
  • Gorgeous, colorful widgets
  • Unlimited number of timers
  • Repeating timers
  • Calendar event import
  • iCloud sync
  • Custom notifications
Features
Read full description

Countdowns helps you count down to something you're looking forward to, whether that's a wedding, birthday, or new iPhone! Need to count up from it instead? No problem! Designed to be more than a timer app, Countdowns is great for keeping tabs on how long it is until something, or how long it is since it happened. Count up from the last time you had a cigarette and down to your next cookie — if it happened in the past or is happening in the future, Countdowns keeps track of the time so you don't need to. Countdowns can keep your timers running no matter where you are. Available for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch, Countdowns can sync your timers between your devices so you're always up to speed. As a free download, Countdowns offers the following features: - Gorgeous, colorful widgets on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. - An unlimited number of countdowns. - Repeating timers which are perfect for birthdays and similar events. - Siri & Shortcuts integrations. - Support for importing events from calendars, reminders, and contacts. - Multiple unit options (days, weeks, etc.) and icons to make your countdown your very own. - Dark mode. - And more! An optional monthly, annual, or one-time in-app purchase unlocks additional features, including: - iCloud support to keep all of your timers in sync across iPhones, iPads, and Macs. - A compact display mode so you can see more timers at once. - Lists so you can more easily organize your timers — put all of your birthday timers in a list, for example. - Directional indicators so you always know whether a timer is counting up or down. - Custom notifications and sounds so you'll never miss a timer again. - Archive function that saves old timers. Countdowns subscriptions can be canceled at any time, but will renew automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the next payment is due. For more information, see our privacy policy & terms of use: https://www.countdowns-app.com/policies

About

Time Arrow

Track important dates with a countdown and count-up tool. Never forget anniversaries, birthdays, or payment deadlines again. Offers quick recording, sharing, and customizable widgets.

Highlights
  • Countdown and count-up modes
  • Quick event recording
  • Card sharing
  • Multiple widget options
  • Annual/monthly anniversary display
  • Cloud backup (Premium)
  • Daily reminders (Premium)
Features
Read full description

■ Apple Today Recommendation ■ App Introduction Time Arrow is a count down day recording tool to help you manage important days such as anniversaries, birthdays, repayment days and so on. There are always days in life that you want to record: - Do you remember your mom's and dad's birthday? - How many days have you been born? - What's the date do you have to pay back your credit card every month? - How many days to get paid? - Will the rent be paid next month? - Do you need a physical examination once a year? - Don't forget to take medicine at night? - Did you walk the dog today? Did you shovel shit? - Don't forget to punch in at night? - Did you pay the tuition fee? - What's the date of this month? You must have more important days to record... ■ Function Introduction - Cycle design: a more intuitive display of the annual monthly anniversary. - Count down & Count up: one mode supporting two counting ways. - Quick Recording: No tedious steps, quick preset 1 step to complete. - Card Sharing: One-click Sharing Exquisite Countdown Days Cards to Friends. - Widget: multiple widgets for your choice, quick Preview. - Back up: Keep important information in the cloud without fear of loss (Premium) - Daily Reminder: Date approaching, timely reminder (Premium) - Add to Calendar: Export to system calendar and reminder (Premium) - Secure Access: Password needed when open app each time (Premium) - Hidden Page: flexible display, minimalism to the end (Premium) ■ About Me - Personal Works Apple Recommend App: Time Arrow, Flaaash, Easy Period, Lover List, Sun & Moon - Contact Information My Email: hanchongzan@icloud.com If you have any suggestions and ideas, you can send messages me at any time. I will continue to develop more good applications. Thanks for aurwiz's support to Russian Thanks for Nantadech's support for Thai ■ Terms of Use Time Arrow Premium Subscription is a subscription-based paid-up service, which means that you will pay in advance for future use of the service. You can currently choose to pay the service on an annual basis. At the end of each subscription cycle, your subscription is automatically renewed by default unless you explicitly cancel the automatic renewal or cancelled by Time Arrow. - Fees: Now Premium is set a standard fee as $0.99 per year. This price may be changed during promotion period. If the price is adjusted, the new price will take effect for the next subscription cycle. - Refund: After the trial period, you shall never be refunded the fee. Please voluntarily cancel your payment of service. - Unsubscribe: If you want to unsubscribe, please cancel it at least 24 hours in advance. You can cancel it as follow steps: Enter Into The System Settings - Click Apple ID - Click Subscription - Select Time Arrow Premium - unsubscribe. Terms of Use: https://shimo.im/docs/tGwwvxCvj8KxjyvX Privacy Policy: https://shimo.im/docs/CCDjcWytvwWRvxkt

Screenshots

Countdowns4 screens
Time Arrow4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: Countdowns at 9.3K against Time Arrow's 88. Time Arrow's advantage is iOS requirement (9.0 vs 17.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and update cadence 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. Countdowns sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and Time Arrow sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per year. 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 — 4.7 for Countdowns against 4.7 for Time Arrow. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Countdowns has 9.3K ratings behind it against 88, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 78% of Countdowns's written reviews are positive against 77% of Time Arrow's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Countdowns ships an update every 4 weeks, Time Arrow every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Countdowns versus Time Arrow: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCountdownsTime Arrow
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (9.3K ratings)4.7 (88 ratings)
Positive reviews78.3% of reviews — better76.8% of reviews
Number of ratings9.3K — better88
Update frequencyEvery 4 weeks — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS17.09.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size54 MB25 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperShayes Apps LLC重赞 韩

Customer experience

Countdowns

All ratings9,340 ratings
Positive92.8%
Neutral3.2%
Negative4.0%
Written reviews803 reviews
Positive78.3%
Neutral7.0%
Negative14.7%

Time Arrow

All ratings88 ratings
Positive93.2%
Neutral3.4%
Negative3.4%
Written reviews56 reviews
Positive76.8%
Neutral10.7%
Negative12.5%

Bugs and requests

Countdowns

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Countdowns not displaying correctly
  • Sync issues between devices
  • Compatibility problems with newer iOS versions

Requested features

5 requests
  • Allow reordering of countdowns
  • Improve recurring event handling
  • Add more customization options
  • Provide full-screen countdown view
  • Implement more notification options

Time Arrow

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

6 purchases

Countdowns

Subscriptions2
  • Countdowns Premium7 Days trial$0.991 Month
  • Countdowns Premium7 Days trial$7.991 Year
One-time4
  • Small Tip$0.99
  • Medium Tip$4.99
  • Large Tip$9.99
Show 1 more
  • Lifetime Unlock$19.99
2 purchases

Time Arrow

Subscriptions1
  • Premium - Yearly Subscription$1.991 Year
One-time1
  • Premium$4.99

Questions

Is Countdowns free?
Countdowns is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Time Arrow free?
Time Arrow is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Countdowns or Time Arrow?
Countdowns and Time Arrow are both rated 4.7 out of 5 on the App Store, from 9.3K and 88 ratings respectively.
Do Countdowns or Time Arrow have ads?
Both Countdowns and Time Arrow show ads.
Which is updated more often, Countdowns or Time Arrow?
Countdowns ships an update every 4 weeks, and Time Arrow every 5 weeks. Most recently, Countdowns was updated on September 24, 2026 and Time Arrow on September 23, 2026.

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