Make an app

Make an event countdown app for iPhone

A countdown app turns a date into something to look forward to. Describe your events and Borel builds a native iPhone app in SwiftUI with a card per event, the days, hours and minutes left in big type, a photo behind each, yearly repeats for birthdays, and a reminder the day before, added to your calendar if you like.

Updated

A prompt to start from
“An event countdown app: each event has a name, a date and time, an emoji and a background photo. The home screen shows the next event large and the rest as cards, each with days left. Birthdays and anniversaries repeat every year. Remind me the day before and on the day.”

Screens

What an event countdown app needs

The screens Borel builds from the prompt above. Ask for more, fewer or different ones.

  • Next up

    The nearest event full-screen: days, hours and minutes, ticking.

  • All events

    Cards with photos, sorted by how soon, past ones folded away.

  • New event

    Name, date, time, emoji, photo and whether it repeats yearly.

  • Countdown share

    A clean image of the countdown to send to a friend.

Data

What it keeps

Borel writes these as Swift models. On the phone they work with no connection; in Borel's cloud they follow a signed-in person.

What an event countdown app made with Borel keeps, and where
WhatHoldsKept
EventName, date and time, emoji, photo, repeats yearlyOn the phone, with SwiftData
ReminderHow long before the event to remindScheduled on the iPhone

Make it yours

What to ask for next

Once the first version runs, ask for changes in the chat, in words like these.

  • “Show the time left in weeks once it's more than 60 days away.”
  • “Add confetti and a buzz when the countdown reaches zero.”
  • “Count up from past events, like days since we met.”

How to make it

From a prompt to your iPhone and the App Store

  • 1

    Describe it

    Paste the prompt on this page into Borel, or write your own in plain words. Borel plans the screens with you before it builds.

  • 2

    Try it in your browser

    Borel writes the app in Swift and SwiftUI, builds it with Xcode on its own Mac and opens it in a live iPhone simulator in your browser, free.

  • 3

    Put it on your iPhone

    With Pro, Borel Companion for Windows or Mac installs it on your own iPhone with your Apple ID: a cable the first time, then Wi-Fi.

  • 4

    Publish it when it's ready

    Pro publishes to the App Store from the same project. Apple's Developer Program, $99 a year, is the one thing you pay Apple.

Set an event a few minutes away and watch it on your iPhone: the numbers should tick smoothly, the reminder should arrive, and the moment it hits zero should feel like an event. Check the photos look sharp on your phone's screen.

Wedding planners, schools and event organisers can publish a countdown for their guests. Kept for yourself, it costs nothing beyond Pro's install and needs no accounts.

Building starts free, with 5 free credits a day, up to 30 a month, and the simulator in your browser costs nothing. Pro, from $20 a month, adds installs on your own iPhone through Borel Companion and publishing to the App Store.

Before you start

Good to know

  • There's no home screen or lock screen widget, so you open the app to see the time left.
  • Countdowns don't sync between devices unless you add accounts.

Frequently asked questions

Yes. Describe the events you're waiting for, and Borel builds a countdown with your own photos and reminders.

Yes. Mark an event as yearly, and after the day it counts down to the next one.

Yes. Borel can make a share button that sends an image of the countdown through the iPhone's share sheet.

The app's own icon sits on your home screen and opens straight on the next event, one tap away.

Make your event countdown app

Start from the prompt on this page, change it to fit your idea, and Borel builds it while you watch.