One thing that's worth looking forward to, is that Apple seems to be getting in the swing of really beefing up some apps to at least start to compete with App Store apps. (Look at what they did to Reminders, for example). You can already get basic weather data in Calendar on Mac. (Hi/lo and conditions for the location and day if you're looking at an all-day event. And then for a regular event, conditions and temperature at the time of the event). Bringing that to the iOS calendar app would be great! The weather app on iOS could be upgraded to be a bit more powerful as well (give a view for weather alerts and such, for example). Maps, in my opinion, thanks to the revamp they are doing...has ALMOST made Google Maps unnecessary for me. (They could still add a bit more, but they're off to a great start for now). For my uses...there is a really small number of features that Apple could add to their stock apps that would make convince me that I don't need extra apps for these purposes. Stock apps are satisfactory for my uses...but there are times where I just need a LITTLE more functionality/features. And it's like the odd occurrence. They happen juuuuust enough to justify having another app to do it. If Apple takes the same route they did with Reminders and are taking with Maps...their stock apps could get pretty darn competitive for a lot of people.
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Fantastical Unifies Its Mac, iOS, and Apple Watch Calendar Experience With Weather, Tasks, Meeting Proposals, and More
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It includes all the Fantastical apps on all platforms and subsequent updates to those apps. Like a lot of software I use, they're switching to a subscription plan that automatically includes future updates and includes all the cross-platform versions of their apps. I can't say I'm a huge fan of the model, but I understand the necessity of it from a business' perspective when it comes to generating recurring, predictable revenue. For the programs I depend on, I begrudgingly pay the monthly or yearly fee and I know that the software I depend on will always be up to date on all my devices.
Just like many of us complained when we could no longer buy boxed software that we could take home and put in a drawer, we're complaining now about having to pay ongoing subscription fees to use more and more software we depend on. Times change.
I stand corrected. As an odd coincidence, AgileBits also moved to a subscription model for 1Password. Madness and greed all around.The company you are thinking of is Flexibits. AgileBits makes 1Password. (You can hate on AgileBits all you want but you can't blame them for this)
I've been using Fantastical 2 on my Mac, iPhone, and Apple Watch for a long time now, but the developer has failed to fix the bug in Fantastical that causes it to freeze and stop updating. And now they want MORE money? No chance in hell, I'm dropping them too.
I purchased on the MAS. I can't use Day/Week/Month/Year. All 4 say I need to pay for premium.
My version 2 has no week, or month calendar. Has to be version 3 . This is BS!
I think I JUST about managed to disable App Store updates in time. I bought Fantastical for iPhone two weeks ago – for the widget (the Apple one is useless as far as I am concerned). I wonder how long I manage to continue using F2 until it just stops working? Once it does, I'm dropping it.
I pay for 1Password 7, because it's essential for me. I can't imagine not having it. I'm not going to pay $3.33 for a widget and I am sure Flexibits know that. With this one move they got rid of non-power users – as mentioned earlier, less support needed. F2 was convenient and pretty for me, but it's not $40 a year convenient and pretty.
Same as Dropbox refusing to have a tier that isn't 1TB or Crashplan getting rid of non-business users, Flexibits have all the right to change their pricing model and target audience. I moved from Adobe to Affinity as well. I pay enough monthly bills.
"...a premium subscription model that unlocks access across all devices and will provide continued feature additions and improvements on an ongoing basis."
which is corporate jargon for 'makes it work all the time'
which is corporate jargon for 'makes it work all the time'
It doesn't have location-tracked weather - you have to manually set a location for weather in settings.
I agree the pricing is tool high, but I like the app enough that I'll bite the bullet and pay it for now. Reminder to all: buy $100 Apple gift cards for $85 when on sale (which is at least 2 - 3X/year) on eBay, Amazon, and elsewhere - and highlighted by Macrumors pretty much each time - to lessen the sting a bit.
I've been using Fantastical for years on my Mac and iPhone. This news is really disappointing. I stopped using Adobe Lightroom when they moved to a subscription-based plan. I now use Capture One which I bought at a discount and don't need to upgrade every year for slightly more features. I'm sad to say that I'm probably going to look at alternate calendar programs now. I do pay a subscription for Microsoft Office, but for $99 per year MS offers a lot including 1 TB of cloud storage. I've been using Outlook instead of the Apple Mail app, and I may try it for calendaring as well.
oh you need an account from now on? i will delete this app. enough for me, i dont like to subscribe to countless apps.
That's really surprising and would be very frustrating to me (immensely)... I would contact their support. I would hope that's a bug in the MAS version and is something you can get access to asap without any payment.
Funny, I just upgraded and don't have "nag screens" at all. After the update, I saw one screen explaining the new version, cleared it, and it's never come back, despite killing the app numerous times and restarting. There were also three alerts (the bell in the top-right hand corner) that explained a few things -- cleared those off as well. They haven't returned.
All of these things look like the default welcome to your new app explanations that just about every app has. They show up once, and are gone. Now it functions just like Fantastical2 for me, no nag screens at all. Also I just added a new event -- showed up on my Apple Watch instantly.
I don't plan on paying for a subscription, but as of now all of my functionality is there, no nags. We'll see how this plays out in the weeks ahead.
Used to love it but don't use it anymore. I believe in supporting developers but there is only so much I can pay every month or annually. Everything adds up at the end of the day and now I'm going through my budget to see what else I'm paying that I don't use. Sticking with Apple Calendar, Reminders and Weather for now.
I've had the same experience as you. Do you know if your version was from MAS or directly from the company?
Yes but in most cases Fantastical is using your reminders and calendar events already stored in iCloud.
I was curious about the hubbub, so I went to the app store on my iPhone and updated just the Fantastical app.
I've had it with everyone going subscription. I love Fantasical, but this is too much. I'm out. Going back to the default calendar app. ALL I NEED IT TO DO IS TELL ME WHAT TO DO.
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Subscription models are awesome for developers, bad for end-users. Who wants to pay a monthly fee for each and every app they use on the Mac? It's kinda ridiculous and greedy. We have enough bills to pay and keep track of.
IMO, Fantastical has always just been a more polished version of iCal. They're not *really* being very innovative. Most of these features including weather in the calendar, natural language etc has already been invented by Apple. They're just taking Apple's idea and polishing it a little better while charging money for it. The only reason why I bought it on a whim was because I like having my reminders and calendar in one app, but this again is not a new idea, this is how the iCal was back in the day. I do however enjoy the menubar widget that comes with it, but you have to be running Fantastical the entire time to use it so the widget is not benefiting from being light weight.
Honestly I hardly use Fantastical as Apple's Calendar loads much faster when I need to look at something or add something quickly. It's not a bad app, but hardly innovative and NOT worth paying a subscription for. Screw that.
At least they've given owners of Fantastical 2 a free upgrade to version 3. They didn't have to do that, so I guess they're not as greedy as they could be.
IMO, Fantastical has always just been a more polished version of iCal. They're not *really* being very innovative. Most of these features including weather in the calendar, natural language etc has already been invented by Apple. They're just taking Apple's idea and polishing it a little better while charging money for it. The only reason why I bought it on a whim was because I like having my reminders and calendar in one app, but this again is not a new idea, this is how the iCal was back in the day. I do however enjoy the menubar widget that comes with it, but you have to be running Fantastical the entire time to use it so the widget is not benefiting from being light weight.
Honestly I hardly use Fantastical as Apple's Calendar loads much faster when I need to look at something or add something quickly. It's not a bad app, but hardly innovative and NOT worth paying a subscription for. Screw that.
At least they've given owners of Fantastical 2 a free upgrade to version 3. They didn't have to do that, so I guess they're not as greedy as they could be.
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BusyCal - Professional Calendar App for Mac and iOS | Busy Apps by Beehive
BusyCal is a powerful, flexible calendar app for Mac and iOS that combines personal and professional calendars with advanced features for optimal productivity.www.busymac.com
I'm looking at BusyCal. Seems fairly similar and is $50. Looks like they have had sales where you could get it for $19.99, so might wait for a sale.
I've deleted Fantastical and I think I'll just go with the default apps for now.
This looks really nice and it’s $5 for iOS thanks