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How do I count down to our anniversary every year on iPhone?

Create an event for the next anniversary date, not the day you got married, and Countdown shows the days left in the app and on a Home Screen or Lock Screen widget. On the free plan you move it to next year by hand once it passes; the automatic Every Year repeat is a Pro feature.

4 min read · Updated 2026-09-15

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A fifth wedding anniversary on Friday, June 18, 2027. Set up on October 2, 2026 at 9:00 AM, the full-screen count read exactly 259 days 0 h 0 min 0 s, so the time was right.

Leaving Include Time off does not give the right result: the count then ends at whatever minute the editor happened to be opened, since the date-only picker keeps a hidden time. Turn Include Time on and choose it yourself.

Setting up the anniversary

  1. Tap + to open New Countdown.
  2. There is no anniversary category. Wedding gives a ring emoji; Custom or your own emoji in Emoji works too.
  3. Type a Title such as Our anniversary and, if you like, a Subtitle such as 5 years. The app will not work out the number of years for you.
  4. Pick June 18 of the coming year in the calendar, turn on Include Time, and set 9:00 AM.
  5. Under Reminders, turn the toggle on and tap 7 days.
  6. Tap Save. iOS asks for notification permission the first time.

9:00 AM is a better pick than midnight. Every reminder counts back from the event's own time, so 12:00 AM would put a 7 days alert in the middle of the night. At 9:00 AM it lands on Friday, June 11, 2027, at 9:00 AM, with a week left to book a table.

How many days until my anniversary, check by check

Countdown to Fri, Jun 18, 2027, 9:00 AM (New York)
Checked onThe app shows
Fri, Oct 2, 2026, 9:00 AM259 days 0 h 0 min
Fri, Jan 1, 2027, 9:00 AM167 days 23 h 0 min
Fri, Jun 11, 2027, 9:00 AM7 days 0 h 0 min, and the reminder fires
Thu, Jun 17, 2027, 9:00 PM0 days 12 h 0 min
Fri, Jun 18, 2027, after 9:00 AMCompleted

The January row is 23 h, not 0, because clocks jump forward on March 14, 2027 and one real hour disappears from the wait. The app counts actual seconds, so it shows that hour missing.

What the anniversary countdown widget shows

Long-press the Lock Screen, tap Customize, add a widget and pick Countdown. The rectangular one shows the ring, the title and 259 days; the small Home Screen one shows the number big with days under it. It updates once a day, at midnight, so the hours never appear there.

On the day itself, after 9:00 AM, the rectangular widget says Completed and the small one Done!. They stay that way until you move the event to next year, or until another event comes first.

How do you set it up again for next year?

On the free plan: by hand

Long-press the card, tap Edit, change the year to 2028, tap Save. It's a 20-second edit. Saving also schedules the new 7 days reminder: Sunday, June 11, 2028, 9:00 AM.

Done the morning after, Saturday, June 19, 2027 at 8:00 AM, the new count read 365 days 1 h. The year between the two anniversaries is 366 days long because February 2028 has a 29th.

With Pro: Every Year

Pick Every Year in the Repeat row and the app moves the event forward by one year the first time you open it after the date passes, and rebuilds its reminders for the new date. If you never open the app, the widget keeps showing Completed until you do.

Leap-day couples get a quirk: an Every Year event on February 29, 2028 moves to February 28, 2029, and stays on the 28th in later years, leap years included. Fix it by hand with Edit in 2032.

What it cannot do

  • Count up. It will not show how long you have been together; a date in the past is only ever Completed.
  • Share or sync. Your partner needs their own copy on their own phone, set up separately.
  • Hold more than 3 events on the free plan. If the anniversary joins two birthdays, the list is full.

For a ring on the Lock Screen and a nudge a week before, the free plan is enough. Pro is worth paying for mainly to skip the yearly edit.

Questions and answers

How many days until my anniversary?
Enter the next anniversary date and time in Countdown and it shows the exact days, hours, minutes and seconds left. From Friday, October 2, 2026 at 9:00 AM to Friday, June 18, 2027 at 9:00 AM it is 259 days.
How do I set anniversary reminders on iPhone?
In the event editor, turn on Reminders and tap one offset, such as 7 days or 1 day. The free plan allows one reminder per event; Pro allows up to 8. iOS asks for notification permission the first time you save.
Does the anniversary countdown repeat every year by itself?
Only with Pro, using Every Year in the Repeat row. On the free plan the event stops at Completed and you change the year with Edit.
Can I put an anniversary countdown widget on my Lock Screen?
Yes, on the free plan: circular, rectangular and inline Lock Screen widgets, plus three Home Screen sizes. They show whole days and refresh at midnight.
Can it show how long we have been together?
No. Countdown only counts down to a future date; it does not count up from a wedding or a first date.

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