How to Add a Countdown Widget to Your iPhone (Lock Screen and Home Screen)

Apple doesn't document a built-in days-left countdown widget, so you need a countdown app that offers one. Create the event in the app, then long-press the Lock Screen, tap Customize, tap the widget area, and pick the app. This guide uses Countdown Central: Events by Tecmanic as the example. Other countdown apps use the same Lock Screen controls after the event exists.

Apple's support article says Lock Screen widgets need iOS 16 or later. Countdown Central: Events needs iOS 18.2 or iPadOS 18.2 or later, and the download is free. Taptronics, L.L.C. ships a different app, Countdown Central: Event Timer. The App Store link below is Countdown Central: Events by Tecmanic, listing id 6746177080. The App Store listing says the app includes 12 languages. The gray boxes are placeholders for real-device screenshots.

Step by step: add a countdown to the Lock Screen

Open Countdown Central: Events and create the event. The app page says you pick a name and a date, and a photo if you want one. You can count down to the date or up from it, in days, hours, minutes, and seconds. Turn on Workday mode here if the count should skip Saturday and Sunday.

SCREENSHOT: New event screen in Countdown Central: Events with a name and a date filled in
Long-press the Lock Screen until Customize appears. Apple's guide says to touch and hold the Lock Screen until the Customize button appears. If it does not appear, touch and hold again and enter your passcode.

SCREENSHOT: iPhone Lock Screen with the Customize button visible
Tap Customize. If you have more than one Lock Screen, swipe to the one you want before you tap Customize. Apple documents more than one Lock Screen, and a widget you add is on the screen you are editing.

SCREENSHOT: Lock Screen editor after Customize is tapped
Tap the widget area. Apple's current guide says to tap Add Widgets. An earlier version of the same guide also says you can tap the date or the field below the time. That opens the widget list.

SCREENSHOT: Lock Screen editor with the widget area and Add Widgets visible
Pick Countdown Central and the event you created, then tap Done. Apple says to swipe down from the widget list and tap Done when you are finished. The app page says the Lock Screen widget shows days, hours, and minutes next to the time.

SCREENSHOT: Widget list with Countdown Central selected, then the Lock Screen after Done

The product page is Countdown Central: Events. Download Countdown Central: Events on the App Store.

Add it to the Home Screen too

Apple's Home Screen steps are separate from the Lock Screen. Touch and hold the Home Screen background until the apps jiggle, tap Edit, then tap Add Widget. Search for the app, then swipe through the size and style options and tap Add Widget when you see the size you want. Apple's guide also says you can touch and hold an app icon and pick a size from the icons at the bottom of that menu.

The app page says Home Screen widgets sit next to your apps and show days, hours, and minutes, plus a progress ring or progress bar. It does not name sizes such as small, medium, or large, so this guide does not claim which of those the app ships. You get whichever size iOS shows for that widget. The same page says the app runs on iPhone and iPad.

Show it in the Dynamic Island while the event is happening

The app page says the same event can appear as a Live Activity in the Dynamic Island while something is happening. It does not name a button for starting that activity, so this guide does not invent one. Create the event first. Apple's Dynamic Island guide says Live Activities show on supported models, on the Home Screen or in the active app, while the phone is unlocked. Touch and hold an activity to expand it. Swipe the expanded activity up to collapse it. If two activities are present, tap the one you want.

Countdown ideas

The app page is built around a birthday, a trip, a launch, or a past date such as a sobriety start. A future date counts down. A past date counts up. The page says both directions use the same widget.

Workday mode is the page's name for a Monday-through-Friday count, for launches, sprint deadlines, work anniversaries, and habit streaks. The page also lists read-only import from Apple Calendar and Google Calendar, plus CSV import. Its pricing section places calendar import on the paid plan. This guide does not list plan prices. A birthday Home Screen guide and a wider app list are not published yet, so this page does not link to them.

Widget not updating?

These are behaviors Apple documents. This page does not claim a measured battery cost.

You may be looking at a different Lock Screen. Apple lets you keep more than one and switch. A widget added to one does not show on the others.
If the area is full, Apple says to tap the Remove button on a widget while you customize the Lock Screen, then add the one you want.
Open Settings, then Face ID & Passcode or Touch ID & Passcode, and check Allow Access When Locked. Turning access off hides widget information while the phone is locked. After a restart, Apple's WidgetKit security note says a widget can show a placeholder until you unlock.
A widget is not a live clock. Apple's WidgetKit documentation says the extension is not active the whole time it is on screen, and reloads are budgeted. For a widget you look at often, that note says a typical day is about 40 to 70 refreshes. Reloads while the app is in the foreground are not counted against the budget. Open Countdown Central: Events, then go back to the Lock Screen.

Other countdown apps that do this

The Lock Screen steps after you have an event are the system Customize flow, so other apps that ship a Lock Screen widget are added the same way. These four publish a Lock Screen countdown. This is not a ranking.

Simple Count says it has Lock Screen widgets and a Live Activity that counts down to the second in the last six hours before a timed event.
Pretty Progress says its widgets can go on the Home Screen and the Lock Screen, and that an event can count up or down toward a date.
Countdown by Find Appiness says you can see your next event with circular and inline Lock Screen widgets.
Kounts says it has Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets and a Live Activity in the Dynamic Island.

FAQ

Can iPhone show a countdown on the Lock Screen without an app?

No. Apple's Lock Screen guide tells you to add widgets from apps. It gives weather, battery, and calendar as examples, and it does not document a built-in days-left countdown. You install a countdown app, create the event there, then add that app's widget.

How many countdowns fit on the Lock Screen?

Apple does not publish a fixed number. The Lock Screen widget area has limited room. If a new widget does not fit, Apple's guide says to remove one and try again. You can also keep more than one Lock Screen and put a different countdown on each.

Can a countdown skip weekends?

Yes. Countdown Central: Events calls this Workday mode and counts Monday through Friday only. The widget looks the same. Other apps can skip weekends too. Find Appiness's Countdown listing says you can count only weekdays.