Countdown vs Countdown Widget & Photos
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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Countdown is an easy, beautiful way to keep track of upcoming events, holidays and important dates. Features: • Upcoming Countdowns — Add, edit and view all your important events • Natural-Language Creation — Quickly create countdowns using phrases such as “Holiday next Friday at 6pm” • Past Countdowns — Revisit previous events and see how much time has passed • Repeat and Duplicate — Reuse archived countdowns for annual or similar events • Custom Images — Choose a photo, search the web, generate an image with Image Playground or select a colour • Siri Shortcuts — Create, find and interact with countdowns using Siri and the Shortcuts app • Apple Watch — View your countdowns directly from your wrist • Customisable Widgets — Display your latest countdowns or choose a specific countdown • Lock Screen Widgets — Keep your next countdown visible from the Lock Screen • Archive Widgets — View previous countdowns and memorable events • Control Centre — Open Countdown quickly from Control Centre • Flexible Reminders — Receive notifications at the event time, one day, one week or one month beforehand • Sharing — Share beautifully generated countdown images with friends or on social media • Full OS Support — Designed for Dark Mode, rotation, resizable layouts, Split View, Drag and Drop, VoiceOver and the latest Apple devices • Private by Design — Your countdowns are stored on your devices and synced securely through your personal iCloud account, with no tracking or analytics • Pay Once — No advertisements or subscriptions, with regular free updates for Countdown Pro Countdown Pro unlocks unlimited countdowns, archived countdowns, full widget support, alternative app icons and much more with one affordable in-app purchase. Available for iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. Also available on Mac with your purchase.
Countdown Widget & Photos
This app helps you visualize time to upcoming events or track time since past milestones. Customize countdowns with personalized backgrounds and add them as widgets to your Home and Lock Screen. Receive smart reminders for approaching dates and share your countdowns with others.
- Countdown and count-up timers
- Customizable Home and Lock Screen widgets
- Personalized backgrounds and themes
- Smart event reminders
- Easy countdown sharing
- Ad-free experience
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Create a photo countdown for a birthday or trip, or count days since a milestone. Home & Lock Screen widgets. No ads. One-time Premium, no subscription. From vacations and birthdays to anniversaries, goals, and deadlines, stay excited about what’s next, and celebrate how far you’ve come with customizable countdown and count-up widgets on iPhone. Free: • Countdown & Count-Up: days until an event, or days since a milestone • Home, Lock Screen, and Extra Large widgets, plus Live Activities on Dynamic Island • Card looks and Polaroid frames; birthday and holiday templates • Import events from Calendar • Reminders as the day gets closer, and confetti when it arrives • Easy sharing Premium (one-time unlock, no subscription): • Unlimited events • Extra looks, fonts, photos, and templates. Preview in the editor before you save • Skip weekends so only workdays count until a trip or deadline • Watermark-free sharing • All future updates included What people say “I use this app whenever I have a vacation or something exciting coming up.” “This one truly stands out for its beautiful iOS widgets and easy-to-use interface.” No ads. No subscriptions. Download free and start your first countdown. EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Countdown at 4.6 against Countdown Widget & Photos's 4.0. Countdown also leads on ratings volume (162 vs 7) and device support (4 vs 1). Countdown Widget & Photos's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 70%). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Countdown sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Countdown Widget & Photos sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Countdown holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Countdown has 162 ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 70% of Countdown's written reviews are positive against 100% of Countdown Widget & Photos's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Countdown ships an update weekly, Countdown Widget & Photos every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Countdown | Countdown Widget & Photos |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (162 ratings) — better | 4.0 (7 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 70.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 162 — better | 7 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 10 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 39 MB | 51 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Rob Sammons | Costhap |
Customer experience
Countdown
Countdown Widget & Photos
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
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- 🐛 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
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- 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 Widget & Photos
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Countdown
- Countdown Pro$1.99
Countdown Widget & Photos
- Lifetime Unlock$2.99
Questions
Is Countdown free?
Is Countdown Widget & Photos free?
Which has better reviews, Countdown or Countdown Widget & Photos?
Do Countdown or Countdown Widget & Photos have ads?
Which is updated more often, Countdown or Countdown Widget & Photos?
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