The 8 Best Countdown Apps for iPhone to Celebrate Holidays and Events
Reading Time: 5 minutesUse your iPhone to count down to your favorite days and events with these amazing apps, whether that’s Christmas, New Year, or just your birthday.
Is a friend’s birthday or special holiday coming up in the next month or so? Besides marking these in your calendar or adding them to your reminders, starting a countdown is an exciting way to look forward to and plan for an event.
Here, we’ll cover some of the best countdown apps for your iPhone. We’ll also look into whether these apps can be added as a countdown widget if you prefer the convenience of viewing the countdown on your Home Screen, Lock Screen, or Today View.
1. Days
Days is one of the best countdown apps for your iPhone because you can add a countdown widget to your Home Screen, Today View, and Lock Screen—all for free! In contrast, most apps require you to subscribe to a plan before you can use the countdown widget.
For common festive celebrations such as Christmas and New Year’s Day, the Days app automatically sets the correct date for you once you type in the event name. Days also links to Unsplash, a highly popular stock photography site.
You’ll be given suggestions of beautiful, high-quality images to use as your countdown background. You can also opt for a simple color gradient background.
Therefore, even if you’re a free user, you can still get a lot out of Days. The app’s paid plan offers additional features, such as the option to countdown by working days and organize your events by categories.
Download: Days (Free, subscription available)
2. Countdown to Anything
Countdown to Anything’s unique appeal is its range of vibrant, adorable icons for festive holidays and other special events, making it a fun widget to add to your iPhone.
The app also has many preset event countdowns, including Earth Hour, St. Patrick’s Day, the Super Bowl, and the Winter Olympics. These countdown suggestions appear as you type your event name in the Add new countdown field.
Just add an event, pick your icon, and customize the background color. To use the app’s countdown widget on your iPhone, you need to upgrade to its premium plan. When you do so, you’ll also be given access to more than 100 icons, with new ones added along the way!
Download: Countdown to Anything (Free, premium version available)
3. Bears Countdown
The hand-drawn characters in this iPhone countdown app are reminiscent of the popular We Bare Bears animated series.
There are 28 categories of countdown events, with three to five countdown widget designs in each category. Each artwork is accompanied by a humorous or heartwarming description—a personal touch from the app developer.
Bears Countdown also has a feature that no other apps in this list offer: you can use the lunar calendar in your countdown. This is particularly useful for those who observe these dates. After setting up your event, you can add a countdown widget to your Home Screen or Today View for free.
If you’re already using apps to customize your iPhone Home Screen and recreate similar aesthetics, the countdown widget from Bears Countdown should fit perfectly with everything else on your display.
Download: Bears Countdown (Free, in-app purchases available)
4. Countdown Widget
Another great iPhone countdown app is Countdown Widget. The app’s clean interface makes it a highly user-friendly app to keep track of your events. You can add the app’s countdown widget to your iPhone’s Home Screen, Lock Screen, and Today View for free.
The basic design of the app’s countdown widget is relatively minimalist, but you can upgrade to its paid plan to customize the widget style. The styles offered are not just differences in font or color. They present the countdown with a completely different look, such as Tally Marks, Punch Card, and Paper Calendar.
Download: Countdown Widget (Free, premium version available)
5. Countdown+ Calendar
Countdown+ Calendar lets you add an event countdown by category. Examples of the categories include Weddings and Anniversaries, Shows and Concerts, and Trips and Vacations. The app can add countdowns directly from your Facebook events and your iPhone’s Calendar app. It also fetches a list of holidays from your country.
As Countdown+ Calendar does not come with countdown widgets on either its free or paid plan, you can choose to receive a daily count notification if you like to get countdown updates every day.
You’ll only need to upgrade to Countdown+ Calendar’s full version if you want to view holidays in every country or access its image packs without having to unlock them individually by watching ads.
Download: Countdown+ Calendar (Free, in-app purchases available)
6. Countdown Star
Countdown Star is a simple countdown app for your iPhone. In the app, each event and its background are presented in full-screen, creating a nice, immersive effect for your countdown.
Use the slider to easily change the countdown units and see how many months, days, or hours are left until your event. You can also favorite an event so that it is the first to be displayed when you open the app.
Countdown Star only lets you add a countdown widget to your iPhone’s Today View. By default, the countdown widget displays the event closest to the current date, but you can also choose to display multiple events.
All features in Countdown Star are completely free, but there is a separate, paid version of the app if you don’t want to see any ads when you’re using it.
Download: Countdown Star (Free)
7. AtomicClock
If you’re looking for a more traditional countdown experience—that is, counting down alongside the ticking second hand of an analog clock—you can try out the AtomicClock app.
The time provided in the app is based on Network Time Protocol (NTP). This way, you can be sure that you’re celebrating an event at exactly the correct time, wherever you are!
You can customize the clock appearance in AtomicClock. From Roman numerals to minimalist, you can choose from 33 clock faces and 13 clock hands. You can also change the color of the clock. The Pro version of AtomicClock lets you change the clock font and remove all ads. This app does not come with countdown widgets.
Download: AtomicClock: NTP Time (Free, premium version available)
8. Countdown Widget & Timer 321
Countdown Widget 321 offers customizable countdown templates for your iPhone. Some of them, such as Birthday and Neon style, even have animated elements.
Although you can only gain access to all templates by upgrading to the premium plan, you can unlock several without paying by simply sharing Countdown Widget 321 to your social media or messaging apps.
After adding an event, you can also add a countdown widget to your Home Screen and Lock Screen for free.
Download: Countdown Widget & Timer 321 (Free, subscription available)
Exciting Countdown Apps for Your iPhone
We hope our recommendations have helped you find the perfect countdown app for your iPhone. Most apps in this list can be added as a countdown widget to your Home Screen, Lock Screen, and Today View.
However, if you prefer to keep your Home Screen or Lock Screen less cluttered with widgets, you can still enjoy an overview of all your countdowns within the app itself.
Reference: https://www.makeuseof.com/best-countdown-iphone-apps-to-celebrate-events/