Comparison

Countdown 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

Countdown

Easily track important dates and events with a beautifully designed countdown timer and calendar. Set unlimited countdowns, customize with icons and colors, and receive basic reminders. Share your upcoming events with friends and family.

Highlights
  • Unlimited event countdowns
  • Count up or down to events
  • Customizable icons and colors
  • Add notes to events
  • Basic notifications and reminders
  • Event sharing
Features
Read full description

Event Countdown is the beautifully simple countdown, calendar and widget app for the important days in your life. Counting down since 2015, rated 4.7 stars from over 130,000 ratings worldwide. The original Event Countdown app, used by over a million people every month. Start straight away with unlimited countdowns. No account or sign-up needed. Count down to the days that matter: Birthday, Holiday, Party, Christmas, Halloween, Wedding, Anniversary, Baby Due Date, Graduation, New Home, Match Day, Concert, Film Release, Retirement, Bucket List and many more. NEW: CALENDAR VIEW See every event on a beautiful month grid, with your events colour-coded below. Swipe between months, tap a day, open any countdown. LIVE COUNTDOWN WIDGETS A Home Screen widget that ticks every second, plus Next Event, multi-event, Lock Screen and StandBy widgets. LIVE ON YOUR LOCK SCREEN Live Activities show your next event on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island as the moment approaches. MAKE IT YOURS, SHARE THE EXCITEMENT Hundreds of icons, every colour, repeats that show ages on birthdays. Then turn any countdown into a shareable video. Free version: - Unlimited event countdowns, all in one place - Next Event widget on your Home Screen - Count up or down in years, days, hours, minutes and seconds - Colour code events • choose from 450 icons - Share events with friends and family - Notes, notifications, and search Premium version: - Calendar View (NEW) - The full widget collection: Live Countdown, Lock Screen, StandBy, multi-event and choose-your-event widgets - Live Activities on your Lock Screen and Dynamic Island - Ad free • Calendars • Detailed notifications - Sync events across all your Apple devices - Repeat events (with ages on birthdays and anniversaries) - 450 colour icons Event Countdown Premium is available as a monthly or yearly subscription, or as a one-off lifetime purchase. Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, and identify the cost of the renewal. Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase. Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication, where applicable. Terms of Use - https://www.root38.com/terms-and-conditions/ Privacy Policy - https://www.root38.com/privacy-policy/

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

Countdown4 screens
Time Arrow4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: Countdown at 24K against Time Arrow's 88. Countdown also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 5 weeks). Time Arrow's advantage is iOS requirement (9.0 vs 15.0). On price, rating, review sentiment 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. Countdown sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 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 Countdown against 4.7 for Time Arrow. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Countdown has 24K ratings behind it against 88, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 80% of Countdown's written reviews are positive against 77% of Time Arrow's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Countdown ships an update weekly, Time Arrow every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Countdown versus Time Arrow: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCountdownTime Arrow
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (24K ratings)4.7 (88 ratings)
Positive reviews80.0% of reviews — better76.8% of reviews
Number of ratings24K — better88
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.09.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size200 MB25 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperROOT38 LIMITED重赞 韩

Customer experience

Countdown

All ratings23,838 ratings
Positive94.7%
Neutral3.2%
Negative2.2%
Written reviews966 reviews
Positive80.0%
Neutral7.3%
Negative12.6%

Time Arrow

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

Bugs and requests

Countdown

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Premium subscription issues after updates
  • Inconsistent font sizing and layout
  • Countdown accuracy problems for distant events

Requested features

5 requests
  • Calendar view integration
  • Repeat/recurring event options
  • More customization for notifications
  • Ability to view past event details
  • Improved handling of long-term countdowns

Time Arrow

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

6 purchases

Countdown

Subscriptions5
  • Premium Monthly$1.991 Month
  • Premium 3 Months7 Days trial$5.993 Months
  • Premium1 Year trial$9.991 Year
Show 2 more
  • Premium Yearly7 Days trial$9.991 Year
  • Premium Yearly (50% Off)1 Year trial$9.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime Premium$49.99
2 purchases

Time Arrow

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

Questions

Is Countdown free?
Countdown 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, Countdown or Time Arrow?
Countdown and Time Arrow are both rated 4.7 out of 5 on the App Store, from 24K and 88 ratings respectively.
Do Countdown or Time Arrow have ads?
Both Countdown and Time Arrow show ads.
Which is updated more often, Countdown or Time Arrow?
Countdown ships an update weekly, and Time Arrow every 5 weeks. Most recently, Countdown was updated on September 25, 2026 and Time Arrow on September 23, 2026.

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