To put a birthday countdown widget on the iPhone Lock Screen, touch and hold the Lock Screen, tap Customize, tap Add Widgets and pick the widget from an app that offers one. Birthday Counter: Days Until is a free option whose Lock Screen widget is included from the first launch, needs iOS 15.0 or later, and works offline in 44 languages.
Disclosure: AppStoryo is operated by the studio that develops Birthday Counter: Days Until. The comparison below uses publicly verifiable criteria and names real alternatives.
The Lock Screen widget row is edited from the Lock Screen itself, not from Settings, which is why most people never find it. Apple's instructions in How to add and edit widgets on your iPhone are four steps: touch and hold the Lock Screen until Customize appears, tap Customize, tap Add Widgets, then tap or drag the widgets you want and tap Done.
The iPhone user guide page on creating a custom Lock Screen adds the shortcut most people miss: press the side button twice to wake the screen, and if the Customize button does not appear, touch and hold again and enter your passcode. In the editor, tapping the existing widget block reopens the same picker.
Two things trip people up. The row holds a fixed amount of space, so if it is full you must remove a widget first. And an app only appears in the picker if it actually ships a Lock Screen widget. Install Birthday Counter: Days Until from the App Store and its entry appears straight away, with no purchase step in between.
Because it is a different widget size with a different budget, not a shrunken copy. Apple's WidgetFamily documentation lists two groups. The system group covers the Home Screen sizes: systemSmall, systemMedium, systemLarge, systemExtraLarge and systemExtraLargePortrait. The accessory group covers the Lock Screen and the watch face: accessoryCircular, accessoryRectangular, accessoryInline and accessoryCorner. The Lock Screen draws from the second group only.
The names describe the space honestly. accessoryInline is documented as a flat widget holding a single row of text and an optional image, so it fits one name and one number and nothing else. accessoryCircular is a gauge or a two-digit figure. accessoryRectangular is the roomiest on iPhone and still holds two or three short lines.
So the sensible layout differs per size: the nearest birthday on the Lock Screen, the full list on the Home Screen. The same documentation warns that widget sizes vary across devices and that content should avoid fixed values, which is why one widget can look generous on one iPhone and cramped on another.
On Android the same countdown goes on the home screen, which is worth stating before you hunt for a setting that is not there. The platform does define placement categories in AppWidgetProviderInfo — WIDGET_CATEGORY_HOME_SCREEN, WIDGET_CATEGORY_KEYGUARD, WIDGET_CATEGORY_NOT_KEYGUARD and WIDGET_CATEGORY_SEARCHBOX — but the keyguard category only does anything where the device's lock screen hosts widgets, which on most phones it does not.
The sizes are published as numbers rather than names. Google's widget sizing guidance gives a handheld 2x1 widget a width of 109 to 306 density-independent pixels and a height of 56 to 130, and a 4x2 widget 245 to 624 by 115 to 276. A 2x1 tile is the honest counterpart to accessoryRectangular: one name, one number. The Android build is listed as Birthday Countdown, Age and Days and you can add it from its Google Play listing.
Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets in small, medium and large sizes. Widgets that other apps lock away are included from the first launch.
It is the narrowest of the four: birthdays and ages only, no holidays or deadlines. If your list mixes event types, a general countdown app above fits better.
When the information should not be readable by anyone holding the phone. Lock Screen widgets render before authentication, so a name and a date sit in plain view on a desk or a train seat. A notification you have to unlock to read is the more private choice for a sensitive list.
It is also the wrong tool below iOS 16, where Apple introduced Lock Screen widgets. Birthday Counter: Days Until installs on iOS 15.0, but on iOS 15 you get Home Screen widgets and reminders only, and the Lock Screen row does not exist. On Android there is no phone equivalent to add.
And a widget is a display, not an alarm: it shows the countdown when you look, it does not interrupt you. If missing a birthday is the real risk, set a scheduled reminder too when you install Birthday Counter: Days Until.
Because the picker only lists apps that ship an accessory widget, and many countdown apps ship Home Screen widgets alone. Open the app once after installing so the system registers its widget extension, then reopen the Lock Screen editor. If it is still missing, the app does not offer one on this iOS version and no setting will change that. Read the App Store description first.
The row holds a fixed amount of space rather than a fixed number, because the accessory sizes differ: circular widgets are narrow and rectangular ones take roughly the width of two circles. Apple's instructions say that when there is not enough room you tap the remove button on an existing widget to make space. Plan on one rectangular widget or a couple of circular ones.
Rarely, and not comfortably. accessoryInline is documented as a single row of text plus an optional image, and accessoryRectangular fits two or three short lines, so a second name usually costs the day count of the first. The sensible split is the nearest birthday on the Lock Screen and the full list in a medium or large Home Screen widget, which has far more area.
Widgets are updated by the system on a schedule it controls rather than continuously, so treat the figure as accurate to the day rather than to the second. For a birthday countdown that is enough, because the number only changes at midnight. If a widget looks stale after a time zone change or a long spell in Low Power Mode, unlocking the phone usually prompts a refresh.
An accessory widget that reads a local list is close to free: no network request, and a date difference recomputed only when the system asks. The expensive widgets fetch remote data on a timer. Birthday Counter: Days Until computes every countdown on the device from dates you already stored, so the widget adds a redraw rather than a sync and keeps working in airplane mode.
Yes, and that is a claim worth checking against the store listing rather than an article. The App Store description states that Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets in small, medium and large sizes are included from the first launch, and the app has no purchase tier. Several widget-first competitors instead place the Lock Screen widget behind a premium unlock their listings mark.
Store names are chosen per platform, each with its own length limits and keyword rules, so the same app is Birthday Counter: Days Until on the App Store and Birthday Countdown, Age and Days on Google Play. A differing title is normal rather than a sign of a copy. Check the developer name on both listings for certainty, and add the Android build from its Google Play page.
Not through the ordinary widget picker on a typical phone. The platform still defines a keyguard category for widgets, but it only takes effect where the device's lock screen is built to host them, and mainstream Android phones place widgets on the home screen instead. The practical Android arrangement is a 2x1 or 4x2 home screen tile for the countdown plus a scheduled notification for the day itself.
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