Fantastical Unifies Its Mac, iOS, and Apple Watch Calendar Experience With Weather, Tasks, Meeting Proposals, and More

[mmcmah]

Calendar 366 watch complication displays both reminders and calendar entries. Readdle Calendars 5 doesn’t.

I ended up buying Calendar 366 as well to replace Fantastical.

 

[Easttime]

Sorry my Bad, was reading on my phone and didn't see the full question..

On my watch I'm only really interested in seeing my next events in a complication, and a list. I have no need or desire to create, delete, or edit an event on my watch.. Screen is too small for that.

My Phone is never very far away from me, and if I'm looking to arrange a meeting then I'll do that on the phone.
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Lets not fight, we're all after the same thing here.. We want to understand the security implementation so we can be reassured that they have taken all precautions with our data.

At the moment for me I do not have that. I've asked them via twitter several times to provide some details, but so far not had a good response. The original privacy policy they published was just wrong and contradictory. I think they have pushed a new version now, but it still leaves a lot of security questions unanswered.

For me I can not see a use case where I'm away from my phone and still need to have a new appointment synced straight away.. why could the watch not cache the update and sync via Bluetooth when in range??

How many times really are you going to be out without your phone to hand and need to create/delete and appointment, and go "oh cool I can do that on my watch"???

For me I just don't see it.

Their privacy policy this morning says “Your Flexibits Account Key is used to your data when it is stored on a Flexibits server” — word missing, or am I misunderstanding? https://flexibits.com/privacy

 

[zed2]

Their privacy policy this morning says “Your Flexibits Account Key is used to your data when it is stored on a Flexibits server” — word missing, or am I misunderstanding?

yes I saw they had updated their policy and FAQ. Still doesn't provide full disclosure of details.

I've install calendar 365 and 5 not sure which I'll stick with yet.

 

[Kramerjn]

yes I saw they had updated their policy and FAQ. Still doesn't provide full disclosure of details.

I've install calendar 365 and 5 not sure which I'll stick with yet.

If you wouldn't mind letting me know which one of those you prefer, that'd be great! I'm flip-flopping between the two as of now.

 

[zed2]

If you wouldn't mind letting me know which one of those you prefer, that'd be great! I'm flip-flopping between the two as of now.

At the moment I'm preferring calendar 5. the layout is clean and simple.

Both have a watch complication, I'm interested in the large complication across the middle of the watch. While both do provide the current event and details, neither are really polished and could do with a few improvements. I did like the Fantastical watch complication. It would be good if either of these would take note and update theirs.

 

[Spaceboy88]

I like Calendars 5 much better than Calendars366. I find the NLP on 366 to be a horribly and frustrating experience. On Cal 5, it works just as good as Fantastical. 366 does have a nice widget and watch app though which will appear to many users.

I have two feature requests I made to Readdle for Cal 5 which they said the following:

1. Make the widget interactive so you can jump forward days to see your schedule (Readdle said this is planned)

2. In the Day View", include the location of the event as well (without having to tap into the event details.) (Readdle said they will pass that on to their devs).

 

[atmenterprises]

Just tried, and then bought, Calendar 366.

Me too!

 

[bferrell]

Yea, if I could pay $39.99 a year and just connect to my CalDev server I would do it, but the reason I run my own server is so I don't have to syn through somebody else's cloud. Then, on top of it, they bricked my V2 product and broke my watch integration without asking! If they'd just left me on V2 I'd have been happy for years, literally. I'm totally pissed.
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You don't have to subscribe if you don't want to. If you were a paid Fantastical 2 user, all of the version 2 features are automatically unlocked in version 3, plus some new stuff like limited weather support.

Actually this isn't really true. They broke sync for me - I run my own CalDev server and now I have to syn through them, and they broke the watch app if I don't sync through them, so as a V2 paid user who values my privacy, I can't enjoy the app I paid for (with watch complications).
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I just revisited Calendars 5 and have to say that it's pretty much offering everything that Fantastical does without the ridiculous subscription. The only thing that I wish they'd add is a notification center widget on iOS that lets you jump to another day the way Fantastical does. A nice to have, not a need to have for sure, but other than that, I see no reason most people wouldn't be completely happy going from Fantastical to Calendars 5.

Does Calendars 5 have a Mac app? I don't see one, and if so, it doesn't offer all the same things.
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The current version (without subscription) has the same features as the previous plus a couple extra. The only difference is you need to create an account.

Which is a HUGE difference. I'm not giving them my data. Ever.

 

[ScottNWDW]

I have been using the new FantastiCal since it was released, what 8 days ago. I will have to admit I am enjoying it a lot. I love a lot of the new features such as the Interesting Calendars as well as the proposal feature to schedule things with friends, The first few times I used that feature the people that received the invitations were very impressed with that feature that they themselves started using FantastiCal. well a few of them couldn't even if they wanted to since they are on android. so to me, that ability alone is worth the cost of the subscription. Another HUGE plus for me now is being able to add Todoist as an account and have my Todoist tasks right in Fantastical along with the ability to create and edit tasks within FantastiCal.

Yes subscriptions can be annoying. It's more flexible to pay monthly, but economical to do it yearly. I will probably do the first few months monthly and then switch to yearly. I've been using Fantastical since version 1 and to me, transferring to another app would seem weird. I get it, I'm not overly happy to shell out another $5 a month either, but at the same time if I love using an app I will do it. I do it with Day One, Todoist, Microsoft Office, Fuelly, and a few others. I may be in the minority here, but if there are apps out there that I will use on a regular basis, then YES, I will subscribe to it. WHY? Because it is WORTH IT to ME.

 

[aevan]

Great, another subscription for a mundane limited task app. I mean how many times was 2.0 REALLY updated with features to warrant paying $5 monthly or $40/year for a calendar? It's not like a calendar app can expand much over time to warrant a continuing cost. At least with email, I dont agree with the model, but get it that servers cost $$$ monthly and to have a business model you need to make constant money. But a calendar app? No thanks.

MAYBE if you want it on all device rather than paying the $60 total ($50 mac and $5 per iOS) it makes sense to pay the $40 for 1 year; that is assuming they update again in a year again and it would have cost another $60 in theory the $40 is cheaper.

Hey, not for you, then. For me, Fantastical is my most used app for work, and is worth $40 a year.

The best part: Fantastical 2 users get all of those features for free. Currently I’m not even paying the sub, because I have everything I need, though I’m thinking of it just to support the developer.

The app is incredibly polished and designed with care. It’s a joy to use.
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Actually this isn't really true. They broke sync for me - I run my own CalDev server and now I have to syn through them, and they broke the watch app if I don't sync through them, so as a V2 paid user who values my privacy, I can't enjoy the app I paid for (with watch complications).
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Ok tldr, you’re a specific user with some very specific needs and this is bad for you, which sucks, so you won’t pay them. For the majority of users, this is a great update.
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The money I paid for version 2 is now lost to me. I bought something and feel as if it's been stolen from me.

If you update your apps from version 2 to version 3 you literally get everything you had before for free + a couple of nice new things and a very nice new look. It’s a really good deal, so no, they haven’t stolen anything from you. I updated iOS and Mac apps from 2, and I currently see no reason to pay the sub other than to support the devs - all the features I had are there (and in fact, most of them work better).

The design is also amazing, one of the best looking calendar apps. This may not be important to some, but it is to me. Also, it’s thought out really well - I love how typing / now brings the drop down menu for all the calendars.

 

[zed2]

If you update your apps from version 2 to version 3 you literally get everything you had before for free + a couple of nice new things and a very nice new look. It’s a really good deal, so no, they haven’t stolen anything from you. I updated iOS and Mac apps from 2, and I currently see no reason to pay the sub other than to support the devs - all the features I had are there (and in fact, most of them work better).

The design is also amazing, one of the best looking calendar apps. This may not be important to some, but it is to me. Also, it’s thought out really well - I love how typing / now brings the drop down menu for all the calendars.

I'm sorry but this is not true.. I'm now forced to push my calendar events to their cloud system in order to sync with my watch. I do not wish to do this, I don't know their cloud service, they have no reputation for cloud services.

The app keeps bugging me to upgrade to their premium service.

I have to get our IT department to allow fantastical access to office365 calendaring which they will never do. None of this was required in the previous builds and I was quite happy with the syncing between phone and watch. so again I say they have broken my version 2.0 features.

 

[kmichalec]

I'm sorry but this is not true.. I'm now forced to push my calendar events to their cloud system in order to sync with my watch. I do not wish to do this, I don't know their cloud service, they have no reputation for cloud services.

^^^ This right here. They require us to send our calendar information to their servers. No way. There is no reason to send all my calendar information including locations, contacts, dates, times, etc to them. V2 never needed this, so the argument that we get everything with V3 we had with V2 holds no water. No calendar app needs to collect my data. None....

 

[Daikin]

For myself, and many others I guess:

The best way to enter a subscription model (if necessary!): https://agenda.community/t/get-all-features/21

It will encourage developers to continue to innovate and the user renews when it is interesting enough. It can be that simple. No evolution? No renewal!

 

[atmenterprises]

For myself, and many others I guess:

The best way to enter a subscription model (if necessary!): https://agenda.community/t/get-all-features/21

It will encourage developers to continue to innovate and the user renews when it is interesting enough. It can be that simple. No evolution? No renewal!

Just to have to create another account? That's the same thing many of us are trying to avoid.

 

[Daikin]

Just to have to create another account? That's the same thing many of us are trying to avoid.

I am not talking necessarily about an account, but about the business model, where a pause can be inserted and you can reconnect afterwards, as soon as the novelties interest you. In any case, there must be some form of link between both parties ...🔗

The latter is technical certainly possible without privacy issues...if one wants!

 

[TiggrToo]

I'm sorry but this is not true.. I'm now forced to push my calendar events to their cloud system in order to sync with my watch. I do not wish to do this, I don't know their cloud service, they have no reputation for cloud services.

The app keeps bugging me to upgrade to their premium service.

I have to get our IT department to allow fantastical access to office365 calendaring which they will never do. None of this was required in the previous builds and I was quite happy with the syncing between phone and watch. so again I say they have broken my version 2.0 features.

Actually, it was. Well before this new version was released I saw the old version on the list of approved 365 apps.

Also, you can authenticate via Exchange to bypass this, even when using 365. Until Fantastical sort out an issue on the current version, is how I'm connecting my calendars to 365.

 

[Spaceboy88]

Also, you can authenticate via Exchange to bypass this, even when using 365. Until Fantastical sort out an issue on the current version, is how I'm connecting my calendars to 365.

Not me. While I can authenticate, there's a stopgap asking me to provide a reason for IT that an exception should be made. It's never accepted. V2 worked just fine pulling the O365 calendars off the macOS the same way the stock calendar app does.

 

[zed2]

Not me. While I can authenticate, there's a stopgap asking me to provide a reason for IT that an exception should be made. It's never accepted. V2 worked just fine pulling the O365 calendars off the macOS the same way the stock calendar app does.

yes me too..can never progress as my IT dept will never ever approve this.

 

[mrex]

seems to be that it is time to replace Fantastical by another app.. cannot sync without an account.. yeah, surely im creating an account just to mirror my iphone to my watch!?

goodbye fantastical... and flexibit - it is time to ”Exitbit”.

 

[compwiz1202]

A good calendar app can be sold for $9.99. Or even $19.99. I’d pay for that.

But $5 every month for the rest of my life? Let’s say the product life of “version 3” is around three years. That’s $120!

I know many say that $5 isn’t much. Just skip a coffee every month. Well dude, it’s not like a calendar app is the only app I have on my phone. With this new app pricing, I will soon need to get another job just to pay my app bills!

The feature I wanted the most was a month view. But even that was premium only. No thanks.

Exactly. Might not be bad for one app to have a modest sub, but soon every app will have a sub.
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Just bought Fantastical 2 for all of my devices. Really liked it.

Now I am debating deleting it and going back to something else because I am so offended by the number of subscriptions. It's a stupid calendar app, I don't want to subscribe to it. Geeze. Obviously I will not subscribe to it, but I've already tried doing different settings and have found that you need a subscription to use them. No thanks.

Grrr those apps annoy me the most that mix in free and sub features, and you only know by trying to do things. That is pretty much an instant one way ticket to the trash!

 

[ericg301]

my premium trial expired today. giving the stock calendar and reminders app a shot for the first time since fantastical 2 came out 6 years ago. and you know what? they're not half bad. not sure if i'm going to get used to having events and reminders separate...and im really not sure i can get used to not having a badge notification for the number of today's events.....but i'm going to give it a shot for a bit before i decide on what to do with fantastical.

 

[katbel]

I like Calendars 5 much better than Calendars366. I find the NLP on 366 to be a horribly and frustrating experience. On Cal 5, it works just as good as Fantastical. 366 does have a nice widget and watch app though which will appear to many users.

I have two feature requests I made to Readdle for Cal 5 which they said the following:

1. Make the widget interactive so you can jump forward days to see your schedule (Readdle said this is planned)

2. In the Day View", include the location of the event as well (without having to tap into the event details.) (Readdle said they will pass that on to their devs).

What are "Interesting calendars"?

 

[Spaceboy88]

What are "Interesting calendars"?

Lets you subscribe to calendars that are auto-updated like your favorite sports teams, TV shows, international holidays, etc...

 

[Easttime]

my premium trial expired today. giving the stock calendar and reminders app a shot for the first time since fantastical 2 came out 6 years ago. and you know what? they're not half bad. not sure if i'm going to get used to having events and reminders separate...and im really not sure i can get used to not having a badge notification for the number of today's events.....but i'm going to give it a shot for a bit before i decide on what to do with fantastical.

Same here and it’s working fine for me

 

[zed2]

Lets you subscribe to calendars that are auto-updated like your favorite sports teams, TV shows, international holidays, etc...

Apples Calendar has allowed you to subscribe to .ics calendars since day one. I don't see how this can become a premium feature.. is it just that you can now search for them?

I've subscribed to my kids school sports and term time calendars