Countdown, the days-until app for iPhone and iPad

What can you do with Countdown?

Each countdown is an event: a title, an optional subtitle, an emoji, a date. The app counts down to that exact moment, and the moment it passes the event flips to Completed.

• Track the wait: the Home screen lists your events, and tapping one opens a full-screen display that ticks every second.
• Put it where you look: small, medium and large Home Screen widgets, plus circular, rectangular and inline Lock Screen widgets, all on the free plan.
• Get nudged before the day: turn on Reminders and pick an offset such as 7 days or 1 day before the event.
• Make it look like the occasion: pick an Accent Color, a Background and a Display Style for each event.
• Keep the list tidy: Pin an event to the top, mark it as a Favorite, Archive it without deleting it, search by title, or switch to a timeline grouped by month.

Quick start: your first countdown in a minute

1. Open Countdown and tap the + button at the top of the Home screen. The New Countdown sheet opens.
2. Pick a category such as Wedding, Birthday or Travel to get a matching emoji, or type your own in the Emoji field.
3. Type a Title and, if you like, a Subtitle.
4. Choose the day in the calendar. Turn on Include Time if the exact hour matters, for example a ceremony or a flight.
5. Optionally turn on Reminders and tap an offset chip.
6. Tap Save. The event appears on the Home screen and in your widgets.

Free plan and Countdown Pro

The free plan isn't a stripped demo. Up to 3 events, one reminder each, the Large and Minimal display styles, the Solid, Gradient and Glass backgrounds, 8 preset accent colors, every widget size, plus pin, favorite, archive and search. You do get ads for it.

Countdown Pro is a weekly or yearly subscription, or a one-time Lifetime purchase — all three give you the same things: unlimited events, up to 8 reminders per event, the other 6 display styles, the Animated, Stars and Particles backgrounds, a custom color wheel, repeating events (Every Year, Every Month, Every Week) and no full-screen ads.

Privacy, offline use and permissions

No account, no sign-up screen to click past. Your events sit on the device, and a copy of each one's title, emoji and date is handed to the widget so it can draw without opening the app. Switch to airplane mode and the counting still runs fine; the network only gets used for ads on the free plan and for App Store purchases.

Two permission prompts. Notifications, the first time you save an event with reminders on — used only for those reminders, nothing else. And the tracking prompt, which is about ad personalization. Decline it and nothing breaks; ads just stop being targeted.

What Countdown does not do

• No counting up from a past date. Anything already gone by just reads Completed.
• Days, hours, minutes and seconds — never years or months.
• No sync between devices, no iCloud backup, no export of your events.
• iPhone and iPad only (iOS 17.4 or later). Nothing for Apple Watch, Mac or Android.