Best Birthday Countdown Apps for iPhone in 2026: 7 Compared
Checked 20 October 2026. Every competitor detail below comes from that app's US App Store page and Apple's public lookup data, fetched that day. Left details come from the app itself.
Birthday apps do one of two jobs. Some are birthday lists: they pull everyone's birthday from Contacts and remind you in time to send a message or buy a gift. Others are countdowns: they put "12 days until my birthday" on your Home Screen and make the wait part of the fun. A few do both. Here are seven worth comparing on iPhone, and which job each one is best at.
Disclosure: we make Left, so we have put it first. Here is why, and when another app suits you better.
Quick verdict
- Best for counting down to your birthday (or a few special ones) on the Home Screen and Lock Screen: Left.
- Best all-round birthday list with Contacts import and Apple Watch: Birthday Countdown by Find Appiness.
- Best for seeing how old everyone is turning: Birthday Reminder & Countdown.
- Best for cards and gift ideas: hip: Birthday Reminder App.
- Best for privacy and multiple reminders per birthday: Birthday Calendar and Reminder.
- Best photo-and-music countdown for one person: Birthday Countdown by Sevenlogics.
- Best general countdown app that also handles birthdays: Countdown Star.
Comparison table
Ratings and counts are from the US App Store, checked 20 October 2026; Left's is its worldwide average. "Not stated" means the listing doesn't mention it, not that the feature is missing.
| App | Job | Contacts import | Widgets | Apple Watch | Price model | Rating (US) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Left | Countdown | No | Home Screen, Lock Screen, StandBy (Ahead widgets, free) | Yes, with complications | Free, 2 countdowns; Left Premium unlimited | 4.7 (worldwide) |
 Birthday Countdown (Find Appiness) | List and countdown | Yes | Home Screen, Lock Screen (Premium) | Yes | Free with ads; monthly or yearly subscription and other purchases | 4.8 (7,994) |
 Birthday Reminder & Countdown | List | Yes | Home Screen, Lock Screen | Not listed | Free with ads; Pro monthly, annual or lifetime | 4.7 (10,189) |
 hip: Birthday Reminder App | List, cards and gifts | Yes (sync) | Mentioned (subtitle, release notes); placements not stated | Yes | Free with ads; hip PLUS! subscription | 4.7 (17,790) |
 Birthday Calendar and Reminder | List | Yes | Home Screen | Yes | Free; one unlock for share, export and sync | 5.0 (1,382) |
| Birthday Countdown (Sevenlogics) | Countdown | Not stated | Lock Screen; Home Screen (Premium) | Not listed | Free with ads; Premium subscription | 4.4 (2,136) |
 Countdown Star | Countdown | Not stated | Home Screen | Yes | Free with ads; Remove Ads purchase | 4.8 (216,279) |
1. Left: a birthday countdown on every screen
Left is a time awareness app for iPhone. A birthday in Left is an Ahead date, next to your other countdowns, your habits in Since and the year and life views in Time Left.
- Set it up once: in Ahead, tap Add a date ahead, search the templates or type a name, set the date, and choose Repeat: Yearly so it rolls on to next year by itself. From calendar imports an event you already have in Apple Calendar.
- Make it personal: tap the preview card at the top and choose Add image to pick a background photo from your library or Unsplash, then use Show as... under More options to count in hours, days, weeks or months.
- Reminders: Get a reminder 1 month, 2 weeks, 1 week, 2 days or 1 day before, at a time you choose. Enough time to order a gift.
- Live Activities: Get ready for the start and Get the final countdown put a live countdown on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island as the day arrives.
- Widgets: the Ahead widget shows one birthday with its photo, in small, medium or large, and as a circular or rectangular Lock Screen widget. The Time Ahead list shows up to 3 dates in medium or 7 in large. The small widgets also work in StandBy.
- Count down together (Left Premium): turn a birthday into a Joint Ahead date and invite friends, so the countdown appears in their Ahead too.
Best for: counting down to your own birthday, a partner's, or a child's, with the number on your Home Screen or Lock Screen and a Live Activity on the day.
Price: free to download. The free plan includes 2 Ahead dates, and the count includes every date you've ever created, so deleting one doesn't free a slot. Left Premium, a subscription or lifetime purchase, unlocks unlimited dates and Joint Ahead dates. Prices are shown in the app before you buy.
Pros: free Home Screen and Lock Screen countdown widgets; Live Activities; photo backgrounds; yearly repeat; reminders up to a month ahead.
Cons: not a birthday list: there's no Contacts import and no "turning 30" age display; only 2 free countdowns, so it doesn't suit tracking everyone you know; needs an iPhone with iOS 26 or later.
2. Birthday Countdown by Find Appiness
By Find Appiness LLC. Its App Store page describes a countdown and reminder app for "all the important birthdays in your life". You can import birthdays from Contacts, Calendar and Facebook, get a notification on the day or 1 day or 1 week before, add notes such as gift ideas, and share countdowns with friends and family.
Best for: a birthday list that fills itself from Contacts, with countdowns on the Home Screen, Lock Screen and Apple Watch.
Price: free with ads, and you can "Create as many events as you'd like". Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets and ICS export are Premium; the in-app purchases include monthly and yearly subscriptions and other purchases such as Birthday Widget.
Pros: imports from three sources; Apple Watch app with complications; notes for gift ideas; Siri and Shortcuts; 4.8 from 7,994 ratings.
Cons: widgets aren't part of the free version; its privacy label lists identifiers used to track you.
3. Birthday Reminder & Countdown
By New Marketing Lab, Inc. Its App Store page says it imports birthdays from your Contacts app and describes a list that shows how old each person is turning and how many days are left, with 6 widgets for the Lock Screen and Home Screen, custom notification times and gift shopping from the app.
Best for: a clean list of everyone's next birthday and age.
Price: free with ads. Pro, monthly, annual or lifetime, removes ads and adds export and syncing between your devices.
Pros: age display; 6 Lock Screen and Home Screen widgets, which aren't listed among the Pro features; sorting by name or date; 4.7 from 10,189 ratings.
Cons: sync between devices needs Pro; Apple Watch isn't in its compatibility list; last updated in December 2025; its privacy label lists location, identifiers, usage data and diagnostics used to track you.
4. hip: Birthday Reminder App
By Celebrate Labs Inc. Its App Store page describes syncing with Contacts and Calendar, reminders customized "down to the day, time, and frequency", notes on each special day, more than 100 birthday cards, GIFs and scheduled greetings, and gift ideas through hip Finds (US only).
Best for: remembering birthdays and doing something about them: a card, a message or a gift.
Price: free. hip PLUS! adds unlimited reminders, no ads, themes, import and export and the card library; the listing says it's billed monthly, every 6 months or annually.
Pros: around since 2010 and updated in October 2026; Apple Watch reminders; share your list with family; 4.7 from 17,790 ratings.
Cons: the listing says hip PLUS! lifts limits on reminders and special days but doesn't say what the free limits are; widget placements aren't described.
5. Birthday Calendar and Reminder
By Christopher Wolf. Its App Store page lists a year view, several reminders on the days leading up to each birthday, a Home Screen widget, import from Contacts or an Excel or CSV file, and a Watch companion app with upcoming birthdays.
Best for: people who want a private birthday list with reminders days ahead, and an Apple Watch view.
Price: free, with one in-app purchase that unlocks sharing, export and sync.
Pros: privacy label says Data Not Collected; several reminders per birthday; works on old devices (iOS 13 or later); 5.0 from 1,382 ratings.
Cons: sharing and sync need the unlock; Lock Screen widgets aren't mentioned; last updated in May 2026.
6. Birthday Countdown by Sevenlogics
By Sevenlogics, Inc. Its App Store page describes a visual countdown to a birthday or an age, with your own photos and a song for each countdown, flexible units, Lock Screen widgets and sharing a live countdown or a screenshot.
Best for: building excitement for one person's big day.
Price: free with ads. Premium, which the listing says is a subscription, adds Home Screen widgets, a slideshow mode and no ads.
Pros: Lock Screen widgets in the free version; photos and music; around since 2011.
Cons: Home Screen widgets need Premium; Contacts import and Apple Watch aren't mentioned; its privacy label lists location and identifiers used to track you.
7. Countdown Star
By Joseph Merrill. Its App Store page describes countdowns "to birthdays, holidays, an upcoming vacation, a wedding", with repeating events that "automatically advance to the next year", small, medium and large Home Screen widgets, an Apple Watch view, iCloud sync and celebration animations when a countdown reaches zero.
Best for: people who want birthdays alongside every other countdown, in one of the most-rated countdown apps.
Price: free with ads, with a Remove Ads purchase; the listing says a paid ad-free version also exists.
Pros: 4.8 from 216,279 ratings; yearly repeat; Apple Watch; confetti and fireworks on the day.
Cons: not birthday-specific, so Contacts import isn't mentioned; Lock Screen widgets aren't mentioned; its privacy label lists several data types used to track you.
How we chose
- Search first: we searched the US App Store for "birthday countdown", "birthday reminder", "birthday countdown widget" and "birthdays" on 20 October 2026.
- Kept: apart from Left, which we include because we make it, apps updated in the last 12 months with at least a thousand ratings, covering both birthday lists and birthday countdowns.
- Left out: apps with a few hundred ratings or fewer, and apps whose listings add little beyond a single widget.
- Sources: each app's own App Store page, including release notes, and Apple's lookup data. No paid placements, and no developer reviewed this page.
Which one should you pick?
- You want your own birthday, or a few special ones, counting down on your Home Screen and Lock Screen: Left.
- You want every friend's birthday from Contacts, with widgets and a Watch app: Birthday Countdown by Find Appiness.
- You want to see ages at a glance: Birthday Reminder & Countdown.
- You want cards and gift ideas: hip.
- You want no data collected: Birthday Calendar and Reminder.
- You want a photo-and-music countdown for one person: Birthday Countdown by Sevenlogics.
Need the number right now? The days until my birthday calculator and the age calculator work in your browser. For other dates, see our countdown widgets guide, and the Joint Ahead guide for counting down with friends.
See more examples on the Left countdown widget page.
Questions
How do I put a birthday countdown on my iPhone Home Screen?
Use an app with a countdown widget. In Left, add the birthday as an Ahead date with Repeat set to Yearly, then add the Ahead widget to your Home Screen or Lock Screen and pick that date.
Is there an app that counts down to my birthday every year?
Yes. Set Repeat to Yearly in Left and the countdown rolls on to next year by itself. Countdown Star also lists repeating events that advance to the next year automatically.
Which birthday app imports birthdays from Contacts?
Birthday Countdown by Find Appiness, Birthday Reminder & Countdown, hip and Birthday Calendar and Reminder all list importing or syncing birthdays from Contacts. Left doesn't import from Contacts; it's built for counting down to a few dates you choose.
Can I see a birthday countdown on my Lock Screen?
Yes. Left's Ahead widget works as a circular or rectangular Lock Screen widget, and a Left Live Activity can show the final countdown. Birthday Countdown by Find Appiness (Premium), Birthday Reminder & Countdown and Birthday Countdown by Sevenlogics list Lock Screen widgets too.
How many days until my birthday?
Our free days until my birthday calculator works it out in your browser. Enter your birthday and it shows the days left until the next one.
Start noticing what matters.
Download Left on your iPhone to see the time you have left, dates you are looking forward to, build the habits you want to keep, and become a better version of yourself.
Scan or search "Left" on the App Store.