Documentation

Before you start

• You need an iPhone with iOS 18 or later.
• There’s no account and no sign-in. Everything works as soon as you install the app.
• The app works fully offline. Only the one-time unlock needs a connection to the App Store.

Install and first run

Install Countdown to the Minute from the App Store and open it. A short tour shows what’s free, how to set an exact time, how to make the number fit, how to add a widget, and where help is. You can Skip it, and replay it with Show Tour Again in Settings, or Show tour again in Help.

After you save your first countdown, the Add a widget guide opens once by itself.

Create a countdown

Tap + on the Countdowns screen. In New Countdown:

1. Event: give it a name, up to 60 characters.
2. When: pick the Date. Turn on Specific time to count to an exact Time, such as 6:30 PM. The Time zone is Your time zone unless you change it, for example to the city a flight leaves from.
3. Choose how it reads, its size and its theme (below).
4. Tap Save.

The preview at the top shows how each widget size will look before you save. If you pick a date that has passed, the editor says it will count up.

Choose units

Pick one:

• Days: for example “12 days”.
• Weeks: weeks and days, for example “3 weeks 2 days”.
• Y/M/D: years, months and days.
• D/H/M: days, hours and minutes, which update every minute.
• Live seconds: days, hours and minutes, then a ticking count of seconds in the last 24 hours before the event.

Days are calendar days in the event’s time zone, not hours divided by 24, so the count changes at local midnight. Big numbers shrink to fit, and no unit is ever cut off.

Number size and themes

• Number size: drag the slider to make the number bigger or smaller for this countdown. The iPad large preset makes it as large as it goes. The preview shows the result.
• Themes: Ink, Midnight, Meadow, Amber and Signal are free. Paper, Dusk and Night come with the unlock.

The list in the app follows your iPhone’s text size setting.

Repeat, weekends and reminders

• Repeat: None, Yearly, Monthly or Weekly, for birthdays, anniversaries and paydays. After the date passes, the countdown moves to the next one.
• Exclude weekends: counts only Monday to Friday. It applies to Days and Weeks; with other units it’s turned off, and a note says so.
• Notifications: At target reminds you at the event’s moment (“Today is the day.” for a whole day, “It’s time.” for an exact time). Milestones reminds you every 100, 365 or 1,000 days. The first time you turn one on, iOS asks for permission. Reminders are scheduled on your iPhone, and iOS keeps up to 64 at a time, so the nearest ones are scheduled first.

Count up from a past date

Enter a past date and the countdown counts up in years, months and days, for example “1y 2m 5d ago”.

When an event has passed, tapping it in the list opens a sheet with what to do next: Keep as count-up, Repeat yearly, or Archive.

Add a widget

Home Screen (small, medium or large):

1. Touch and hold an empty spot on the Home Screen until the icons wiggle.
2. Tap Edit in the top-left corner, then Add Widget.
3. Search for Countdown, and choose Countdown to the Minute.
4. Swipe to the size you want and tap Add Widget.
5. Touch and hold the new widget, tap Edit Widget, and choose a countdown.

Lock Screen (rectangular, circular or inline): touch and hold the Lock Screen, tap Customize, choose the Lock Screen, tap the widget area, and add Countdown to the Minute. Then tap the widget to choose a countdown.

You can add as many widgets as you like, each showing a different countdown. Tapping a widget opens its countdown in the app. The same steps, with pictures, are in Help → Add a widget.

Widgets update at each local midnight, in your time zone and in the event’s, and at the moment the event arrives. D/H/M widgets update every minute.

Manage your countdowns

• Swipe a countdown in the list to Edit, Archive or Delete it.
• Archived countdowns are in a collapsed section at the bottom of the list. Swipe one to Unarchive it. Archived countdowns don’t count toward the free limit.
• Settings → Delete all countdowns deletes every countdown, after you confirm. Widgets that showed them will ask you to choose a countdown.

Free and the one-time unlock

• Free: 3 active countdowns, every widget size, every unit, number size, count-up, repeat and the five free themes. The chip at the top of the list shows how many you’ve used.
• Unlock: one optional purchase, unlimited countdowns and the Paper, Dusk and Night themes. It’s not a subscription: you pay once and keep it. Open it from Settings → Unlock unlimited countdowns, or when you add a fourth countdown or tap a locked theme.
• Restore Purchases is on the unlock screen and in Settings. Use it on a new iPhone, or after reinstalling, signed in with the Apple Account you bought with.
• Refunds are handled by Apple. If a purchase is refunded, your countdowns are kept, and the extra themes go back to Ink.

Purchases are processed by Apple. Whether you’ve unlocked is checked with the App Store each time; the app doesn’t store it.

Settings

• Unlock: your status (Free or Unlocked), the unlock, Restore Purchases, and Manage purchases, which opens Apple’s purchase screen.
• Preferences: iCloud sync is off and not available in this version, so your countdowns stay on this iPhone. Notifications shows whether reminders are allowed; if they’re off, Open Settings takes you to the app’s iOS settings.
• Help: Help & FAQ and Show Tour Again.
• About: the Privacy Policy, Terms of Use and Support pages, and Delete all countdowns.

If the app can’t open your countdowns

Your countdowns are kept through app updates. If the app ever can’t read its data file, it doesn’t show an empty list. It shows We couldn’t open your countdowns, with:

• Try again.
• Start fresh: a new, empty data file is started, and the old one is moved aside on your iPhone, never deleted, so it can still be recovered.
• Contact support, which opens the support page.

What it doesn’t do

This version has no iCloud sync, no Apple Watch, iPad or Mac app, no shared countdowns and no photo backgrounds for widgets.

FAQ

Why does another app show 29 days when this one shows 30? This app counts calendar days in the event’s time zone, not hours divided by 24. Check the event’s time and time zone in the editor.

Can I count down to a specific time, not just midnight? Yes. Turn on Specific time in the editor and set the hour and minute.

Are there ads or a subscription? No ads and no subscription. There’s one optional one-time purchase.

How many countdowns are free? 3 active countdowns, with every widget size and unit. Archived countdowns don’t count. The unlock removes the limit.

I added the widget but nothing shows. What now? Touch and hold the widget, tap Edit Widget and choose a countdown. If it’s still blank, remove and re-add it, or use Refresh all widgets (see Troubleshooting).

I bought the unlock. How do I get it on my new iPhone? Sign in with the same Apple Account and open the app. If it isn’t unlocked, tap Restore Purchases in Settings.

Do my countdowns sync between devices? Not in this version. They stay on the iPhone where you made them. They’re included in your iPhone’s own backups, if you back it up.

Can I use my own photo as the widget background? Not in this version. Widgets use the color themes.

What data do you collect? None. Your countdowns stay on your iPhone. There are no ads, trackers or analytics. The privacy policy has the details.

Troubleshooting

• A widget is blank or says “Choose a countdown”. Touch and hold it, tap Edit Widget, and pick a countdown. This also happens after you delete the countdown it showed.
• A widget doesn’t show at all, or looks out of date. Open Help → Widget not showing? and work down the checklist: remove and re-add the widget, pick the countdown with Edit Widget, open the app once after an update, and check the countdown’s time zone and Specific time. Then tap Refresh all widgets.
• The count is a day off from what I expected. Check the time zone and whether Specific time is on. Days change at midnight in the event’s time zone.
• I can’t add a fourth countdown. The free version has 3 active countdowns. Archive one you don’t need, or unlock unlimited countdowns.
• Reminders don’t arrive. Check Settings → Notifications in the app. If it says Off in iOS Settings, tap Open Settings and allow notifications.
• Restore Purchases says it couldn’t reach the App Store. Check your connection and that you’re signed in with the Apple Account you bought with, then try again.
• Something else. See Support.