fantastical

  • December 27, 2022

    Sticking with Fantastical

    A few weeks ago, I wrote that I was Considering a Different Calendar App. After testing BusyCal, Cron, and Calendar 366, while also looking at several others, nothing comes close to Fantastical.

    BusyCal comes closest but I kind of hate the way you input new events, especially time selection. Cron doesn’t support Apple Calendar, and none of them have an XL widget, which I use on my iPad.

    I will keep testing Cron but the Apple Calendar integration is a must. I have local calendars for bills and kid events that I want to see in my calendar app.

    I think it’s safe to say that the amount of time I’ve put into trying other apps has justified the $60/year cost for Fantastical. It’s still easily the best calendar app for power users.

  • December 3, 2022

    Considering a Different Calendar App

    My long-time favorite calendar app1, Fantastic, is raising its prices come January from $40/year to $60/year.

    Now, $40/year is already steep for a calendar app, but I love their natural language processor, the calendar sets, the 2-week view, and the widgets.

    I’ve also defended charging for good software. But $60/year feels like they are trying to move into a new type of customer. For example, they’ve added scheduling features that are supposed to compete with Calendly (but definitely don’t).

    All of this is to say, unless they reverse course, come March, I’ll be using a new calendar app2.

    My requirements are probably more than what most people need, which is why I’ve happily paid for Fantastical these past several years. They:

    1. Natural language input
    2. Calendar sets, or an easy way to display specific calendars
    3. Focus mode support
    4. Widgets on iOS

    A 2-week view would be very nice to have, but I can live without it.

    The apps I’m going to try out are:

    1. Apple’s native Calendar app, though Calendar Sets are a bit of a must-have for me
    2. BusyCal, which I’ve tried and didn’t like
    3. Outlook, which I’ve heard great things about.

    If you’re a macOS/iOS user and have a calendar app you love, sound off in the comments. I’m game for pretty much anything right now.

    1. Well, their parent company, Flexibits ?
    2. The caveat here is if they create a plan without scheduling, OR if they make their schedule an actual Calendly competitor. ?