Fantastical Updated With Home Screen Widgets, Scribble Support on iPad, and More

[itsmilo]

There are different versions? I only see one as a search result at the AppStore even though the search suggestion show 2 & 3. I have whatever version installed (never really used it) and I have those widgets but I don’t recall subscribing to anything. What am I missing lol

 

[GIZBUG]

There are different versions? I only see one as a search result at the AppStore even though the search suggestion show 2 & 3. I have whatever version installed (never really used it) and I have those widgets but I don’t recall subscribing to anything. What am I missing lol

Not missing anything. (well "premium" calendar features)
You're actually saving $40 a year (for using a calendar)....

 

[iGeneo]

Fantastical's switch to subscription could be used in case studies of how to piss off users of your application. They turned it into nagware, didn't matter whether you had purchased the previous version and were quite happy with it or not.

Agreed... I do believe the devs need compensation, but we all have that choice. MY choice will be to not pay a sub, plenty of alternatives. I manage my calendar extremely well, an app that “does so much” more really has very little ROI for my use case.

More power to them if people want to pay

 

[phenste]

It keeps messing me up that apps are updating for Scribble cause I’ve been on the beta for so long. I’m like, “what took you so long?” 😅

Anyway, are there any benefits to Fantastical that particularly keep people sticking with it? I’m always hearing about it but have never really looked into it. Forgive the ******-style question, but, seems like there are a lot of long-term users on here and I’m interested to hear…!

 

[randolorian]

The thing is, Fantastical decided that they only cared about customers who LOVE their app, and their other customers who merely liked the app (even if they had paid handsomely for numerous versions in the past) could go screw themselves.

This is the new model. By going subscription, you are choosing to focus on fewer customers but your most dedicated customers. And you charge a higher price because only the most dedicated customers will pay it.

Why you should charge more for your app subscriptions

The conventional wisdom for app subscriptions is to price affordably, like $1.99/month, and hopefully attract lots of subscribers at a low price. Then by having low pricing, fewer will reject the idea of subscriptions, and you’ll make up the difference with volume. But this is the wrong

mronge.com

 

[itsmilo]

Not missing anything. (well "premium" calendar features)
You're actually saving $40 a year (for using a calendar)....

Just played around with the app a little and the only thing I couldn’t do was change the app icon without a subscription so I really don’t know what they charge for 😅

 

[CarlJ]

This is the new model. By going subscription, you are choosing to focus on fewer customers but your most dedicated customers. And you charge a higher price because only the most dedicated customers will pay it.

And, again, that can be more succinctly stated as, “screw some of our customers.”

The app wasn’t free before. I paid for all the versions on all the platforms before this version. And I’m not opposed to paying a lot for software I find useful, nor am I opposed to subscriptions. But to justify the subscription price they added a lot of crap that I don’t want, so they could say, “see, but we’re giving you this.” And they made the app worse for me (less information on the screen at once - formerly one of its defining features) and menus that are a minefield of “you could have this if you upgrade” subscription buttons. For loyal users of the previous versions, it's an objectively worse experience.

 

[nutmac]

But then they wouldn't have the recurring revenue they need to constantly update the app.

I'm in the testflight beta and they push out updates several times a week.

I sympathize with Flexibits' sustainability dilemma.

I am a fan of their products. I have purchased each and every one of their products for every platforms in every major versions -- minus Fantastical 3 subscription. Flexibits is known for long support, at least 5 years for each major version, so $70 that Fantastical 2 retailed as a whole is equivalent to $14/year.

Even as a fan of their products, $40/year is just beyond ridiculous. The least Flexibits should do is make their subscription all inclusive -- Flexibits+ that also includes license for Cardhop and Chatology. Even then, I find $40/year to be at least $10/year too high.

 

[Apple cake]

Apple Calendar works great for free.

 

[page3]

More paid advertising for this expensive and mediocre app.

Week Calendar, Calendar 5 and others are better, cheaper ...... and never mentioned here!

 

[jonnysods]

I love Fantastical - use it every day, my most used app I think, these widgets will be killer.

I just don't know why the thing became so dog slow with Catalina / iOS13 and is still that way to this day. Anyone else notice that? I shut off weather and it seemed to help a bit.

 

[ericg301]

I sympathize with Flexibits' sustainability dilemma.

I am a fan of their products. I have purchased each and every one of their products for every platforms in every major versions -- minus Fantastical 3 subscription. Flexibits is known for long support, at least 5 years for each major version, so $70 that Fantastical 2 retailed as a whole is equivalent to $14/year.

Even as a fan of their products, $40/year is just beyond ridiculous. The least Flexibits should do is make their subscription all inclusive -- Flexibits+ that also includes license for Cardhop and Chatology. Even then, I find $40/year to be at least $10/year too high.

Couple thoughts -

I love how everyone thinks they know Flexibit's business plan. "Well they should just charge X." They know what they need to charge to continue making software and running a profitable business. We have no idea what their books look like.

I also love how we all spend THOUSANDS of dollars on Mac hardware and complain about being nickel and dimed for quality software. Quick back of the envelope math - I use Fantastical on $3000 worth of Apple hardware (macbook, iphone, ipad and watch). It's probably my most used app, and at $40/yr, that's a drop in bucket.
[automerge]1600876203[/automerge]

Apple Calendar works great for free.

cool. you're not their target market.
[automerge]1600876234[/automerge]

Apple Calendar works great for free.

cool. you're not their target market.

 

[Apple cake]

Couple thoughts -

I love how everyone thinks they know Flexibit's business plan. "Well they should just charge X." They know what they need to charge to continue making software and running a profitable business. We have no idea what their books look like.

I also love how we all spend THOUSANDS of dollars on Mac hardware and complain about being nickel and dimed for quality software. Quick back of the envelope math - I use Fantastical on $3000 worth of Apple hardware (macbook, iphone, ipad and watch). It's probably my most used app, and at $40/yr, that's a drop in bucket.
[automerge]1600876203[/automerge]


cool. you're not their target market.
[automerge]1600876234[/automerge]


cool. you're not their target market.

And what’s their target group may I ask?

 

[R10k]

I think they did a terrible job of switching to subscription, but I’m a happily paying customer. It’s not a perfect app, but it’s way beyond anything else I’ve tried.

 

[GIZBUG]

Couple thoughts -

I love how everyone thinks they know Flexibit's business plan. "Well they should just charge X." They know what they need to charge to continue making software and running a profitable business. We have no idea what their books look like.

I also love how we all spend THOUSANDS of dollars on Mac hardware and complain about being nickel and dimed for quality software. Quick back of the envelope math - I use Fantastical on $3000 worth of Apple hardware (macbook, iphone, ipad and watch). It's probably my most used app, and at $40/yr, that's a drop in bucket.
[automerge]1600876203[/automerge]


cool. you're not their target market.
[automerge]1600876234[/automerge]


cool. you're not their target market.

Again, its a CALENDAR app. Subscriptions, like Carrot Weather, where they have to pay to retrieve weather at certain intervals, I can justify paying a yearly subscription if I want to know the weather more than once an hour.....
I'm just waiting for the next company out there to charge a subscription for an app that tells me the time (AKA CLOCK app).
It's coming......

 

[ericg301]

And what’s their target group may I ask?

power users who use and manage multiple calendars from multiple sources (and task lists)

 

[Apple cake]

power users who use and manage multiple calendars from multiple sources (and task lists)

🤣 oh ... ok. THen don't let me stop you from your power routines.

 

[ericg301]

Again, its a CALENDAR app. Subscriptions, like Carrot Weather, where they have to pay to retrieve weather at certain intervals, I can justify paying a yearly subscription if I want to know the weather more than once an hour.....
I'm just waiting for the next company out there to charge a subscription for an app that tells me the time (AKA CLOCK app).
It's coming......

glad im not playing the "it's a calendar app" drinking game today. i'd be smashed

 

[ct2k7]

I fell off the Fantastical bandwagon when they released V3 and began pushing subscriptions in my face.

I'd classify myself as a power user, if we go my definitions seen in this thread, but I'm using Outlook and Apple Calendars and can get barely aware with it. I prefer Fantastical though.

 

[nutmac]

I also love how we all spend THOUSANDS of dollars on Mac hardware and complain about being nickel and dimed for quality software. Quick back of the envelope math - I use Fantastical on $3000 worth of Apple hardware (macbook, iphone, ipad and watch). It's probably my most used app, and at $40/yr, that's a drop in bucket.

Collecting drops in the bucket is how I can secure my retirements. At the same time, I don't hesitate to buy apps or subscriptions that helps me stay productive by saving time and efforts. It sounds like you are getting that value. Good for you and I wish I was one too.

I have subscriptions to many apps, about $300/month.

In case of Fantastical 3, as a customer of Fantastical 2 in every platforms, I get most of the key features grandfathered for free. Fantastical 2 customers don't get any discount to Fantastical Premium, so I find it harder to justify paying the same amount of money for smaller set of non-free features.

In addition, I just can't justify paying nearly 3 times of its predecessors. I would love to support Flexibits but that's just ridiculous. Fantastical 3 does not make me three times more productive, let alone twice, as Fantastical 2.

If that makes me not their target market, even though I purchased every single one of their products in every platform and every major version, then so be it.

 

[balph]

When they released V3, they didn't remove ANY of the features from V2. Everything worked exactly the same as before. But if you wanted the new features, you had to jump aboard the subscription train. they didn't screw anyone.

If this was true I would've kept using Fantastical without the subscription. However, they also started nagging you everywhere about getting a subscription which was so annoying that I deleted the app on my iPhone/iPad/Mac. I was pretty pissed off about this since I've paid a lot for it a few years ago. I didn't mind that they implemented a subscription model but at least let me continue to use the existing features without nagging me about a subscription in every corner of the app.

 

[CoryT87]

So, were they previewing the Mac widget for the future release of Big Sur, that's nice! 🤔 Idk why some people are complaining about having to pay to use the widget when I'm not paying for the subscription and I can use the widget. 🤔🤷🏻‍♂️

 

[posguy99]

And they made the app worse for me (less information on the screen at once - formerly one of its defining features) and menus that are a minefield of “you could have this is you upgrade” subscription buttons.

Nagware, as I said.

 

[LogicalApex]

Couple thoughts -

I love how everyone thinks they know Flexibit's business plan. "Well they should just charge X." They know what they need to charge to continue making software and running a profitable business. We have no idea what their books look like.

I also love how we all spend THOUSANDS of dollars on Mac hardware and complain about being nickel and dimed for quality software. Quick back of the envelope math - I use Fantastical on $3000 worth of Apple hardware (macbook, iphone, ipad and watch). It's probably my most used app, and at $40/yr, that's a drop in bucket.

The price of Apple hardware doesn't correlate to a need to pay whatever price someone is dictating. Let me put it another way... Just because someone drives up in a BMW doesn't mean they should be charged more than someone in a Toyota. The two have vastly different starting prices, but there doesn't need to be a "he's loaded" assumption latched on here.

I have no issue paying for quality software. Hence why I paid for Fantastical in the first place (including on my Mac as well as my iPhone) and it wasn't a "cheap" app to buy. For users of the app their uses will vary quite a lot, but to me $50/y for a "viewer" app that is just a nicer way to see the stuff I'm already storing myself (I host my own Exchange server which is where my personal calendar sits and my work one sits on the company Exchange server) is a bit heavy. You get even more annoyance from users like myself when the V3 upgrade allows me to add attachments on my Mac to my calendar entries (which are again stored on my own server), but on my iPhone I get nagged to buy a sub to do it.

Even more critically, some of us watch our spending a bit more. I'd prefer not to commit to $2/m here, $5/m there, $20/m over yonder and before you know it I'm burning away hundreds of dollars a month on software and am constantly forced to decide "is this worth it this month?". I find it much easier to approach it from the other way "I only want to spend $20 this month on apps which upgrades or new apps do I want to pick up?".

If I don't need an upgrade I can delay it. If I end up not using the app I can mothball it and not have another job managing subscriptions.

Especially when subscriptions now are all or nothing. Want to use the app? Pay up every month even if there is nothing added that you actually care about. It would be much more palatable if you at least were permanently entitled to the new features added during your subscription term...

But I digress. You seem more focused on the "he's loaded so he can pay up" side of the debate.

 

[TiggrToo]

And what’s their target group may I ask?

Guess folk like me: professional with disposable income who values constant support over $.

Took me all of 5 minutes of the trial to decide to drop them my filthy hard earned lucre. Recently took advantage of the family plan to get my wife upgraded as well.

I have no reason as of now to not renew when that time comes.