Comparison

Countdown vs Countdown Buddy

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

Head to head
About

Countdown

Easily track upcoming events, holidays, and important dates with custom photos and notifications. View your countdowns on your Apple Watch, Mac, or Lock Screen widgets. Share events and enjoy a private, ad-free experience with optional Pro features.

Highlights
  • Add, modify, and view countdowns
  • Customizable photos from library or web
  • Siri integration for easy access
  • Apple Watch and Mac support
  • Widgets for home and lock screens
  • Shareable countdown images
  • Customizable event notifications
Features
Read full description

Countdown is an easy way to keep track of upcoming events, holidays and important dates. Features: • View Countdowns - Add, modify and view countdowns • Past Countdowns - See countdowns from the past including how many days since • Custom Photos - Choose from your photo library or directly from the Web using Flickr • Add to Siri - Easily retrieve any countdown on any device • Apple Watch - View all of your countdowns on your wrist • Widgets - Add widgets to view up to 3 countdowns at once • Lock Screen Widgets - See the next widget directly on the Lock Screen (iOS 16 or later only) • Share - Countdowns can be shared as an image to any social media platform • Notifications - Receive notifications before the countdown with custom settings for how many days before • Full OS Support - Dark Mode, Drag & Drop, Split Screen, VoiceOver and much more • Privacy - No data is ever stored outside of your device and with no tracking or analytics • Pay Once - No ads or subscriptions, just regular free updates with Countdown Pro Countdown Pro unlocks the ability to add more than one countdown, archived countdowns, full widget support, app icons and much more for one low cost in app purchase. Available for iPhone, iPad & Apple Watch. Also available for Mac included with your purchase.

About

Countdown Buddy

Create personalized countdown and count-up widgets for your home and lock screens. Visually track important dates like birthdays, vacations, or deadlines with custom designs, colors, and photos. Stay motivated and make waiting more exciting.

Highlights
  • Personalized countdown widgets
  • Count-up widgets
  • Home screen and lock screen support
  • Customizable designs
  • Background color options
  • Photo integration
  • Font selection
Features
Read full description

EVERYTHING YOU ARE WAITING FOR - IN A WIDGET Design your own personalized countdown or count-up widgets for your home screen & lock screen. Countdown Widget is a super fun way to track the days until a momentous occasion such as: - Your birthday, or another special someone’s birthday - A long-awaited vacation - Back to school - Upcoming elections - A returning season of your favorite TV series - A favorite yearly tech event - A new video game is up for preorder Or any other future event! Countdown Widget makes waiting for something exciting even more thrilling by giving you a cool and colorful visual reminder on your home screen. Use it to count down to a big event, to mark the end of something less fun, or to keep track of work deadlines (weekend exclusion is now possible!) - it's a super fun way to stay on top of things! COUNT UP Create a count-up widget to mark a significant moment in time and track the duration since it occurred. CREATE A PERSONALIZED COUNTDOWN WIDGET Create a Widget with your custom design in a matter of seconds. You can choose from 11 Countdown styles (we are already working on more) and make them your own by adding your personal touch: - Change background colors. - Use photos from your phone Photo Library or from our preset gallery. - Choose from a curated list of fonts that go well with each specific style. - Each Widget you make will automatically be available in small or medium sizes. - Change the design anytime later. WE WOULD LOVE YOUR FEEDBACK As a small team, we are excited to have our first app on the App Store. We value your feedback and would love to hear from you if you have any questions, suggestions, or anything else you think we should know. Don't hesitate to get in touch with us at - hi@taptics.co. Note: The Free version of the app includes one countdown widget with the basic design.

Screenshots

Countdown4 screens
Countdown Buddy4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: Countdown Buddy at 25K against Countdown's 162. Countdown's advantage is device support (4 vs 2) and iOS requirement (16.0 vs 18.0). 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. Countdown sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Countdown Buddy 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

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Countdown against 4.6 for Countdown Buddy. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Countdown Buddy has 25K ratings behind it against 162, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 70% of Countdown's written reviews are positive against 68% of Countdown Buddy's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Countdown ships an update fortnightly, Countdown Buddy every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on September 19, 2026 and September 26, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Countdown versus Countdown Buddy: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCountdownCountdown Buddy
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (162 ratings)4.6 (25K ratings)
Positive reviews70.0% of reviews — better67.9% of reviews
Number of ratings16225K — better
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, Apple Watch
Requires iOS16.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size61 MB149 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperRob SammonsTaptics Ltd.

Customer experience

Countdown

All ratings162 ratings
Positive89.5%
Neutral3.7%
Negative6.8%
Written reviews50 reviews
Positive70.0%
Neutral10.0%
Negative20.0%

Countdown Buddy

All ratings25,173 ratings
Positive90.9%
Neutral3.4%
Negative5.7%
Written reviews984 reviews
Positive67.9%
Neutral10.0%
Negative22.2%

User reviews

Countdown

From 162 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Simple and easy to use
  • 🖼️ Customizable background images
  • ✨ Clean and elegant design
  • 🚀 Fast and reliable performance
  • 💰 Good value for one-time purchase

Room to improve

  • 💰 App became paid/premium required
  • 🖼️ Widget customization limitations
  • ⏳ Date selector can be cumbersome
  • 📸 Photo cropping/zooming issues
  • 🚫 Limited free features

Countdown Buddy

From 25K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Great app overall
  • 👍 Customizable widgets and designs
  • 🔒 No subscription, one-time purchase
  • 📈 Helpful for tracking events and milestones
  • 🎨 Visually appealing interface

Room to improve

  • 🔒 Limited free features, need to pay for more
  • 🐛 Widgets not updating properly
  • 🐛 Bugs and glitches after updates
  • 📊 Lack of advanced countdown options (e.g., weeks)

Bugs and requests

Countdown

Reported bugs

9 issues
  • 🐛 Cannot add more than two countdowns
  • 🐛 Widget colors "washing out"
  • 🐛 Incorrect countdowns
  • 🐛 Countdown data disappeared
  • 🐛 Keyboard shows up and won't go away
Show 4 more
  • 🐛 Cannot add new photo from Camera Roll when editing
  • 🐛 Photos too zoomed in and blurry
  • 🐛 Widget not showing minutes/seconds
  • 🐛 Event title shows, but no countdown

Requested features

13 requests
  • Recurring event option
  • Ability to crop images
  • Import calendar events
  • Integration with Google/iCloud calendars
  • Option to show more than one goal in a large widget
Show 8 more
  • Pop-up alerts at event start
  • Pin to menu bar or screen
  • Use past countdowns to see days passed
  • Option to display time or just days
  • Year ticker
  • Jump ahead by years in date selector
  • Show full pictures within the app
  • Support for Apple Watch

Countdown Buddy

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Widgets disappearing or not working after updates
  • Countdown timers not updating correctly
  • Inability to add new widgets or countdowns

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add ability to display multiple countdowns at once
  • Implement automatic countdown reset/repeat functionality
  • Allow custom countdown units (e.g., weeks, business days)
  • Improve widget handling and update reliability

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Countdown

One-time1
  • Countdown Pro$1.99
1 purchases

Countdown Buddy

One-time1
  • Countdown +$3.59

Questions

Is Countdown free?
Countdown is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Countdown Buddy free?
Countdown Buddy is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Countdown or Countdown Buddy?
Countdown and Countdown Buddy are both rated 4.6 out of 5 on the App Store, from 162 and 25K ratings respectively.
Do Countdown or Countdown Buddy have ads?
Neither Countdown nor Countdown Buddy shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Countdown or Countdown Buddy?
Countdown ships an update fortnightly, and Countdown Buddy every 9 days. Most recently, Countdown was updated on September 19, 2026 and Countdown Buddy on September 26, 2026.

Other comparisons