Remember those paper chains for counting down to Christmas? Now there’s Countdown+
There aren’t that many huge events in our lives, but sometimes we attach great importance to less significant events, depending on what’s going on with us. You need things you can look forward to when the grind is grinding you down, right? I bet you almost wish you could make yourself a paper chain, just like when you were little, for that romantic spa weekend that’s still three months away! No need for that, though. Countdown+ is a pretty little tool that does the trick.
There are lots of countdown apps out there. I picked the one that I thought was the prettiest (you know how I am about pretty) and most pleasant to use. In fact, I even paid the $0.99 for the full version to get rid of the ads because they were messing up the pretty…
Click the plus sign to add an event. On the screen that opens, you can add details, an image, choose reminder dates (optional) and notification types and sounds (optional). You can choose the way you want the event to appear (as a calendar day, or an image from your camera roll with or without a polaroid frame). If you want to change these things once you’ve created the event, just tap the event on the main screen and then tap the edit icon in the upper right corner.
You can change the font and color of the countdown that appears on your event image. You can also move the countdown numbers around on the image. To do this, tap the edit icon, tap “Widgets, fonts and colors.” You’ll see an arrow to the right of the widgets. Tap the widget you’re using to change the countdown display.
This only changes the font of the event you’re in. I kinda wanted to apply my font choice to all my countdowns, but then again, the font and placement that looks good on one image might not look good on the others, so I think the people who built Countdown+ made the right choice.
Once your event is created, it appears in a colorful strip on the home page. Events appear in order of soonest to latest. As for your paper chain, the app’s icon on your phone displays how many days till the nearest event.
You can share your event in the usual ways. When you share it, the image you chose and the countdown are included, as well as a link to download the app. (I admit I went a little overboard on Twitter about my trip to California, but chalk it up to testing the app and the fact that this has been the coldest, gloomiest Paris spring in decades. Apologies!)
Devices: iOS
Cost: Free
Countdown+ on the App Store
