In short: Kounts is a free holiday countdown app for iPhone, Mac and Apple Watch with 25 holidays built in. Open Templates, pick a holiday, and the countdown arrives already dressed: its own gradient, its own drifting decorations and an accent color that themes the ring, the numerals and the date pill. That look then follows the event to your cards, your Home Screen widgets, your wrist and the Live Activity on the day. Every theme is free, with no ads.
Twenty-five holidays, twenty-five looks
Every holiday in the Templates screen carries a theme of its own. Tap one and the date, the category and the whole look are already set.
Six more templates cover life's own milestones (birthday, anniversary, graduation, wedding, new baby, retirement), and four cover the seasons.
What a holiday theme changes
Its own colors
A dark gradient built for that holiday, and an accent that carries the countdown ring, the numerals, the date pill and the badges. Halloween glows orange over violet; Christmas sits in deep green with a red glow; Hanukkah in blue and candlelight.
Decorations that suit the day
Ghosts and moonlight drift across Halloween, leaves and acorns fall through Thanksgiving, confetti rises on New Year's Eve, crescents and stars float over Eid al-Fitr. Good Friday gets the quietest kit in the set: one glyph and a slow drift.
The same look everywhere
Pick Christmas once and it looks like Christmas in the template picker, on the create screen, on the event screen, in your list and timeline, on shared images, on Home Screen widgets, on Apple Watch and in the Live Activity.
Your own artwork still wins
Swap in one of the ten hand-tuned gradients or your own photo and only the background changes. The decorations and the color stay, a photo gets a tinted vignette so it still matches, and a swatch at the head of the strip brings the holiday gradient back.
Quiet whenever you want
A Decorations switch on the create screen turns the ambient layer off on any single event, with a caption saying what it actually is. Reduce Motion stops the movement across the app on its own, without you changing a thing.
Easy to find
Holidays, Milestones and Seasons each get their own tab, holidays are ordered by what is coming up next, and a search field finds any template by name. If the nearest holiday is inside 90 days it waits at the top on its own artwork.
Dates that match where you live
Your language picks the name. Your device region picks the date. Nothing to configure.
- Valentine's Day is February 14, except in Brazil, where it becomes Dia dos Namorados on June 12.
- Mother's Day follows Mothering Sunday in the UK and Ireland, the first Sunday of May in Spain and Portugal, the last Sunday of May in France and Sweden, the last Sunday of November in Russia, and the second Sunday of May everywhere else.
- Father's Day is St Joseph's Day on March 19 in Spain, Italy and Portugal, Vatertag on Ascension in Germany, the second Sunday of August in Brazil, and the second Sunday of November in Sweden.
- Children's Day lands on May 5 in Japan and Korea, April 23 in Türkiye, October 12 in Brazil and November 14 in India.
- Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday of November, and the second Monday of October in Canada.
- The seasons point the right way in the southern hemisphere: in Brazil, Australia, South Africa and their neighbours, spring starts in September and summer in December.
- Movable feasts are computed, not guessed. Easter, Good Friday and Carnival are worked out for any year, and Lunar New Year, Diwali, Eid al-Fitr and Hanukkah carry real published dates through 2035.
Start a holiday countdown in three taps
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1
Open Templates
Tap to create an event, then open Templates. Holidays, Milestones and Seasons sit in their own tabs, and whatever holiday is closest waits at the top on its own artwork if it is inside 90 days.
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2
Pick your holiday
Search by name or scroll the list. The date, the category and the whole theme come with it, already correct for the country your device is set to.
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3
Put it where you will see it
Add a Home or Lock Screen widget, an Apple Watch complication, or a reminder. On the day itself, a self-ticking Live Activity counts down the final hours in the Dynamic Island, in the holiday's own colors.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a holiday countdown app with more than Christmas in it?
Yes. Kounts ships 25 holiday countdowns ready to start: Christmas, Christmas Eve, Boxing Day, New Year's Day and New Year's Eve, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Easter, Good Friday, Carnival, Epiphany, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Children's Day, International Women's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Earth Day, May Day, Midsummer, Lunar New Year, Diwali, Eid al-Fitr, Hanukkah and Day of the Dead. Each one is one tap from the Templates screen, with the date already filled in.
What does a holiday theme actually change?
Each holiday carries its own dark gradient, its own ambient decorations (ghosts and moonlight for Halloween, falling leaves for Thanksgiving, rising confetti for New Year's Eve, crescents and stars for Eid al-Fitr) and an accent color that themes the countdown ring, the numerals, the date pill and the badges. The theme follows the event everywhere it appears: the event screen, your cards, the timeline, shared images, Home Screen widgets, Apple Watch and the Live Activity.
Do the holiday themes cost anything?
No. All 25 holiday themes are free for everyone, with no ads. Kounts Premium exists for other things, like extra card styles, fonts and unlimited milestones, but nothing about the holiday themes is behind it.
Will the holiday dates be right for my country?
Yes. Your device region picks the date and your app language picks the name, so Valentine's Day lands on June 12 as Dia dos Namorados in Brazil, Mother's Day follows Mothering Sunday in the UK and Ireland, Father's Day is St Joseph's Day in Spain, Italy and Portugal and Vatertag on Ascension in Germany, and Thanksgiving falls in October in Canada. The seasons follow the same rule, so spring starts in September and summer in December south of the equator.
Can I still use my own photo on a holiday countdown?
Yes. Pick one of the ten hand-tuned gradients or drop in your own photo and only the background changes: the decorations and the accent color stay, and a photo gets a tinted vignette so it still matches. A swatch at the start of the artwork strip brings the original holiday gradient back whenever you want it. A Decorations switch on the same screen quiets the ambient layer on any event, and Reduce Motion stops the movement everywhere on its own.
Do holiday countdowns repeat every year?
Fixed-date holidays like Christmas, Halloween, Valentine's Day and New Year's Eve are set to repeat yearly, so they roll over on their own as soon as the day passes. Holidays that move around the calendar, like Easter, Good Friday, Carnival, Lunar New Year, Diwali, Eid al-Fitr and Hanukkah, are added on the correct date for their next occurrence instead, because a fixed yearly repeat would land on the wrong day the following year. Kounts carries real dates for those through 2035.
Start the countdown to the next one
A free, ad-free holiday countdown for iPhone, Mac and Apple Watch, with 25 holidays that already know their own colors and their own dates.
See also: Christmas countdown · Recurring countdowns · iPhone countdown widget · How many days until…