Ready for iPhone Duo We've been through the whole app to get it ready for iPhone Duo. Open it up and your countdowns spread out to fill the big screen: three columns when it's lying flat, and two in book mode, one either side of the fold. Fold, unfold and turn it round as much as you like. The cards glide into their new places, the line joining them stays with them all the way, and you never lose your place. Everything else is at home on the bigger screen too. Onboarding and the Pro screen sit in a neat column instead of stretching across it, and the sheet for adding or editing a countdown now stays open until you tap Done or Cancel, so a stray tap beside it, or a swipe down, can't lose your changes. On iPad, your countdowns glide between a single timeline and columns as you resize the window. Also in this update: - The app icon now works with every Home Screen style. Choose Dark, Clear or Tinted and the party popper changes to match, instead of sitting on a white square. - Fixed a crash that could stop widgets showing your countdowns after your iPhone restarts. Thanks as always, Lewis

Ready for iPhone Duo Open up your iPhone Duo and your countdowns spread out to fill the big screen: three columns when it's lying flat, and two in book mode, one either side of the fold. Fold and unfold as much as you like. The cards glide into their new places, and the line joining them stays with them all the way. Also in this update: - If a purchase or restore fails, you now get a message saying what went wrong instead of nothing at all. And if there's nothing to restore, it tells you so. - The Month Progress edge ring now hugs your widget's rounded corners exactly. - Turning a charging iPhone on its side no longer takes over the app with a full-screen countdown that kept the screen awake. For a bedside countdown, add one of the widgets to iOS StandBy instead. Thanks as always, Lewis

## Countdown suggestions from your calendar Open Import from Calendar and Apple Intelligence reads the year ahead, then suggests up to five countdowns worth keeping, each with an emoji picked to match. Underneath, your whole calendar is listed in the same groups as the main screen, with emoji guessed on your device, and anything you already have a countdown for is marked so you can't add it twice. One search covers both. Needs Pro, iOS 27 and an iPhone with Apple Intelligence. Only titles and dates are sent to Apple's Private Cloud Compute. Notes, locations and guests never leave your phone. ## Just tell Siri Countdowns are now proper events as far as Siri and Apple Intelligence are concerned, which means you can talk to them normally. Five to try: - "Hey Siri, create an event called Dad's Birthday on 25 December" - "Hey Siri, when is Dad's Birthday?" - "Hey Siri, move Dad's Birthday to 26 December" - "Hey Siri, delete the Dad's Birthday event" - "Hey Siri, find a countdown in Emoji Countdown" There's more to it: Create, Update and Delete Event have joined the Shortcuts actions, Spotlight now understands your countdowns as events, Siri can work out which countdown you mean from whatever is on your screen, the app answers to "ECD" and "Countdown with Emoji" as well as its own name, and the original phrases (next countdown, time until, list all, add and open) carry on exactly as before. ## A new way to see your countdowns The list has been redesigned around a timeline. Your countdowns run down a single line with a dot for each one, grouped under This Week, Next Week, This Month and so on, and a NEXT UP hero at the top shows whatever is closest. On iPad they flow down and across in columns like a river, joined by thin links, and the whole thing animates as you resize the window or fold into Split View. Countdowns now tick over while you are looking at them, midnight included. ## Scroll back in time Scrolling up from today now goes backwards, through Last Week, Last Month, Last Quarter, Last Year and Earlier. A repeating countdown shows its most recent time around, so a birthday shows last year. A Today button brings you home whenever you have wandered off. Needs Pro. ## Search your countdowns There's a search button in the bottom bar. Tap it and filter by name, or by what the emoji actually is, so "cake" finds the countdown you never got round to naming, "gift" finds the present and "italy" finds the flag. Siri and Spotlight can start the same search for you. ## Smaller things - A widget can now be set to always show whatever is next, rather than sitting on a countdown that has already passed. Touch and hold the widget, tap Edit Widget, and choose Next event at the top of the list. - The Time Progress widget no longer cuts long month names short. - Fixed a crash that could happen at launch when the app and its widgets woke up at the same moment. Thanks as always, Lewis

## Dates are fixed on non-Gregorian calendars If your device calendar is set to Buddhist, Islamic, Persian, Japanese, Hebrew or Chinese, countdowns you added in the last update could disappear from the list, come back as tens of thousands of days ago, or jump hundreds of years into the past when you opened and saved them. Widgets went blank or counted to the wrong day for the same reason. Dates are now read and written the same way whatever calendar your device is set to, and countdowns that were already knocked out of shape are repaired for you the first time you open the app. Thanks to everyone who reported this. Lewis

## Sync fixes We made a server side change a few weeks ago which fixed syncing for a lot of people. We also fixed an issue where a countdown you deleted on one device could occasionally reappear later. ## Widgets keep counting once the day arrives When a countdown you had chosen for a widget passed, the widget fell back to a placeholder. Now it keeps going and shows how long ago the event was. ## Stability fixes We fixed some crashes! Thanks to everyone who reported them.

## Siri & Shortcuts Your countdowns now work hands-free. Ask Siri to open a countdown, find events straight from Spotlight search, and build your own automations with the new Shortcuts actions. ## Count down in weeks or months (Pro) Each countdown can now show its time remaining in days, weeks or months — or pick Auto and it'll switch to the friendliest unit as the big day gets closer. ##New month progress widget See how much of the month, quarter or year is left at a glance, with a clean week-by-week progress bar. ## All-day events, fixed across time zones All-day events now stay locked to the right day wherever you travel — no more dates drifting when you cross a time zone. ## A fresh coat of paint We polished the countdown list and gave the welcome screen a brighter, higher-resolution makeover.

Squashed a couple of small bugs. Thanks as always, Lewis

New * Onboarding flow - first-time users are now walked through adding their birthday, picking from popular events, and enabling notifications. Fixed * Widget backgrounds now correctly respect the background setting you chose in the customise screen, both in the widget preview and on your home screen. * Widget stability - resolved an issue that could cause widgets not to update Thanks as always, Lewis

We’ve updated the app for Liquid Glass! We also fixed a bug where the selected emoji sometimes gets reset. You can expect more regular updates in 2026. Thanks as always, Lewis

Emoji Countdown is now 100% free for all users.

Squashed a bug around how often the widget updates for events happening at a specific time. Thanks as always, Lewis

Fixed calendar import in iOS 17. Thanks to everyone who reported it :)

*** iOS 17 Standby Mode Support *** Also squashed a few bugs. Sorry bugs. Thanks as always, Lewis

New widgets! I’d love any and all feedback that you have to make the app better: - Tap the ? icon on Toolbar - Tap Contact Us Thanks as always, Lewis & Mary

You can now pick what emoji’s show in the widget! Here’s how: - Long press on your widget - Tap “Choose” on the emoji row Thanks as always, Lewis & Mary

Fixed an issue where the selected emoji would sometimes appear twice which caused it not to save. Thanks as always, Lewis & Mary

We fixed some of the most common bugs in the app. If you spot any more please let us know! Thanks as always, Lewis & Emma

We've been counting down to this release for a while now. We hope you enjoy it! Thanks as always, Lewis & Emma

Fixed a bug where widget might not respect theme mode override. Various UI/UX enhancements Thanks as always, Lewis & Emma

Fixed a bug where the widget might not respect a change to dark mode. Thanks as always, Lewis

Add a border to your widgets! Thanks as always, Lewis & Tanin

Small fixes and improvements Thanks as always, Lewis & Tanin

DING DING! Notifications! Choose a custom time for when to be reminded about your countdown events. Also, you asked, we delivered: There is now an option to make a one time upgrade instead of subscription for the pro features. Thanks as always, Lewis & Tanin

Fixed a bug where the widget might not update without opening the app.

We squashed a few bugs in the widget, thanks to everyone who was in touch.