Questions and answers

It counts down to dates you care about and shows how long is left — in a list, on the home screen as a widget, and optionally on a month calendar. Each event gets a colour and an icon, and can carry notes and a notification. It also counts up from dates that have already passed.

No, and it is not trying to be. A calendar tells you what is happening today; a countdown tells you how far away something is. Most people who use this app keep using their calendar as well.

Yes. Put a date in the past and the event counts up instead of down — days since you moved in, started a job, or anything else worth measuring from. Past and future events are kept in separate views so the list stays readable.

Android 8.0 and later, according to the Play listing. Google Play checks your specific device and will tell you whether it is compatible before you install.

Yes. The same app is published on both platforms, which is why a countdown shared from Android appears live for someone on an iPhone, and why Premium sync can carry your events between an Android phone and an iPad.

Free to install and free to use, with unlimited countdowns — the number of events is not what the paywall is about. Also free: the Next Event widget, counting up as well as down, colours and the 450 icons, notes, notifications, search, and sharing events.

The free version shows advertising; the Play listing carries a Contains ads badge.

Either — you choose. Premium is sold as a monthly or yearly subscription, and also as a one-time lifetime purchase. Google Play lists in-app items in this app at $1.99–$49.99 per item, which covers both.

If you would rather not think about a recurring payment again, the one-time purchase exists for exactly that.

The calendar view, the full widget collection including a live countdown that ticks every second, repeat events that show ages on birthdays and anniversaries, sync across your devices, detailed notifications, calendars, and no ads. Everything else, including unlimited countdowns, is in the free version. The full breakdown.

In Google Play — not in the app, and not on this website:

Open Google Play → tap your profile picture → Payments & subscriptions → Subscriptions → Event Countdown → Cancel subscription.

A subscription renews automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the period ends. Cancelling stops the next renewal and leaves Premium active until the period you have already paid for runs out.

No. This catches people out. A subscription belongs to your Google Play account, not to the app on the phone, so removing the app leaves it renewing. Cancel it in Google Play first, then uninstall.

Refunds are handled by Google Play under its own refund policy, because that is where the payment was taken. Request one through your Play order history. This website never takes a payment and cannot issue one.

Almost always a different Google account. Check that you are signed in to Google Play with the account you bought it on, then use restore purchases in the app’s settings. This is the usual explanation on a new phone.

For the feature that turns a countdown into a short shareable video. Nothing is captured unless you start it, and declining those two permissions costs you that feature and nothing else — countdowns, widgets, icons and notifications all still work.

Not to use the app. Countdowns, widgets, colours, icons, notifications and sharing all work with no sign-up. An account is only involved if you turn on Premium sync between devices, because the events have to sync through something.

In its Google Play data safety declaration the developer states that the app collects name and email address, user and device identifiers, app activity, crash logs and diagnostics — used for app functionality, account management, analytics, personalisation and developer communications. Name and email are there because Premium sync needs an account.

It declares that it shares app activity and app performance data with third parties, that data is encrypted in transit, and that you can request that data be deleted.

The app has its own privacy policy and terms, separate from this website’s, and the current version of the declaration is always the one on the Play listing.

Battery optimisation stopping background apps, in most cases. Allow the app to run in the background and exclude it from power-saving modes in Android’s settings. If the widget is frozen rather than slow, removing it and adding it again forces a rebuild.

Three things, in order: Android’s own notification settings for the app, whether Do Not Disturb is on a schedule you forgot about, and battery optimisation. Also check the event itself — notifications are set per event rather than once globally.

Support goes to support@root38.zendesk.com; include the phone model, the Android version and the app version. Billing questions are faster through Google Play, which is where the transaction lives.

The website is run by ROOT38 LIMITED, the publisher of the app, and exists to document it in more depth than a store listing allows. It sells nothing, hosts nothing and takes no payment. More on the About page.