Fantastical 2 for Mac Updated With New Features, Support for OS X El Capitan

[MacRumors]

Fantastical 2 for Mac received a significant update today, adding support for OS X El Capitan and several interface tweaks to improve the Fantastical for Mac experience. Today's 2.1 update adds a huge list of new features that were requested by Fantastical 2 users since the app first launched in March.

For users running OS X El Capitan, it's now possible to swipe an event in a list to delete it. All users will be able to scroll to a specific day or week in the Week and Month views with a trackpad, and arrow keys now navigate in Day, Week, and Month views.

When working with Reminders, it's now possible to organize them by list. They'll also show up in Day, Week, and Month views, and there are shortcuts for cutting, copying, and pasting events and Reminders.

There are several new preferences options for the Menu bar icon and there are new font options. Flexibits has also fixed several bugs and improved overall performance when loading events with a lot of invitees. A full list of changes added in today's update can be seen below:

- Full support for OS X El Capitan
- Ability to scroll to a specific day or week in the Week and Month views when using a trackpad
- Reminders now appear in the Day, Week, and Month views
- Reminders can now be organized by list
- Cut, copy, and paste events and reminders
- Added Dock app icon badge preference
- Additional options for Menu bar icon preference
- Text size setting now adjusts the text size in the Day, Week, and Month views
- Added Extra Small and Huge text size options
- Arrow keys can now navigate in the Day, Week, and Month views
- Invitee autocomplete now includes other users on CalDAV servers that support user lookup
- Improved drag-and-drop when dragging events or reminders to the Finder
- Use a pinch-and-zoom gesture to change the number of hours in the Day and Week views
- All-day section in Day and Week views now shows more events
- Added Message with Sound alerts for birthdays
- Swipe an event in the list to delete (OS X El Capitan only)
- Drag-and-drop URLs or text on event or reminder details to change the URL or note
- Added preference to disable going to today after adding new items
- Performance improvements when loading events with huge numbers of invitees
- Fixed an issue where the incorrect date would sometimes be shown when opening Fantastical
- Fixed an issue where times could appear shifted in the Day and Week views
- Fixed an issue where alerts couldn't be removed on Google Calendar
- Fixed an issue where a single instance of a recurring invitation wouldn't appear in the pending invitations section
- Fixed an issue where some invitations imported from .ics files didn't allow responding to them
- Various fixes and improvements

Fantastical 2 can be downloaded from the Mac App Store for $39.99. [Direct Link]

Article Link: Fantastical 2 for Mac Updated With New Features, Support for OS X El Capitan

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

There's one feature they forgot to include; reduce the price!

 

[wanderfowl]

I loved Fantastical 1, and still like their iOS Apps. But man, Fantastical 2 was a disappointment. They had a beautiful lightweight interface for Calendaring. Then, they decided to bloat it into a BusyCal competitor.

In the process, they created something that was simultaneously bulkier, less intuitive, and less pleasant than Fantastical 1, BusyCal, and Calendar, and more expensive than all (without upgrade pricing). I still respect them for their Natural Language Processing, but I've moved back to OS X calendar.

It's always a shame when a developer loses sight of what made their product good, and wrecks something great.

 

[xero9]

There's one feature they forgot to include; reduce the price!

I'm actually surprised they didn't just release Fantastical 3 and screw everyone even harder.

 

[polymersayb]

I loved Fantastical 1, and still like their iOS Apps. But man, Fantastical 2 was a disappointment. They had a beautiful lightweight interface for Calendaring. Then, they decided to bloat it into a BusyCal competitor.

In the process, they created something that was simultaneously bulkier, less intuitive, and less pleasant than Fantastical 1, BusyCal, and Calendar, and more expensive than all (without upgrade pricing). I still respect them for their Natural Language Processing, but I've moved back to OS X calendar.

It's always a shame when a developer loses sight of what made their product good, and wrecks something great.

I was also hugely disappointed with that move. I ended up using Fantastical for the widget and Calendar for the rest, and being constantly annoyed. However, it looks like this update adds everything I wanted: smooth scrolling in the month view (without being locked to a single full month at a time), copy/paste events, and (most exciting to me) the ability to have the dock icon reflect incomplete reminders. I will definitely be giving this a try now as a replacement for Calendar with the added bonus of having reminders integration.

My guess: they really wanted to release an updated UI with Yosemite and wanted a reason to charge more (because who wants to pay just for a new font and flat interface?). Unfortunately it wasn't done in time so they released it half-baked, and now it's finally coming together as the app they and users wanted.

 

[navaira]

Fantastical is great, I'd totally pay 9.99 for it.

 

[KALLT]

There's one feature they forgot to include; reduce the price!

Damn, €39.99 is already 20% off. And they have separate iPhone and iPad apps (€4.99 and €9.99 respectively). Delusional.

 

[Razeus]

Macrumors really loves this app don't they. It's a calendar for christ's sake.

 

[\-V-/]

Macrumors really loves this app don't they. It's a calendar for christ's sake.

Christ uses Fantastical.

 

[wanderfowl]

My guess: they really wanted to release an updated UI with Yosemite and wanted a reason to charge more (because who wants to pay just for a new font and flat interface?). Unfortunately it wasn't done in time so they released it half-baked, and now it's finally coming together as the app they and users wanted.

Maybe, yeah. It definitely felt half-baked, but at the same time, v2 had the hallmarks of somebody in way over their heads. "I can write a great calendar widget. This means I can write a comprehensive calendaring suite, too!". Then they just drowned in code.

Let me know if this is better enough all around to merit a second look. I bought V2 day one, and after I realized how buggy and broken it was, just asked for a refund a few days later. Reluctant to give them a second shot.

 

[nutmac]

Damn, €39.99 is already 20% off. And they have separate iPhone and iPad apps (€4.99 and €9.99 respectively). Delusional.

Anyone that offers paid app across 3 or more platforms should offer annual subscription really. I would gladly pay $20/year for iPhone ($3-5), iPad ($5-10), and Mac ($40-50) versions of Fantastical. I am looking at you too, Omni Group.

 

[SlipperySlop]

Wow, the hatred for this app is unreal, but not surprising on this forum where almost everything is hated by almost everyone. Sad, but true.

Fantastical 2 is fantastic and well worth the cost. Once I got used to it, I've loved it and stopped using Calendar. Should the price be less? Probably, but I'm still happy to have the app.

 

[Razeus]

Wow, the hatred for this app is unreal, but not surprising on this forum where almost everything is hated by almost everyone. Sad, but true.

Fantastical 2 is fantastic and well worth the cost. Once I got used to it, I've loved it and stopped using Calendar. Should the price be less? Probably, but I'm still happy to have the app.

I think you're just justifying your purchase.

For us normal people, the hatred (if you want to call it that), stems from it's pricing. It's STILL not a universal app for one price, and the Mac app is severely overpriced. Their app icon is so generic is absurd.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

This is a well made app. Perhaps one should try it!

 

[Razeus]

Talk to me when they get with the program and make it universal. I'm not about the nickel and dime business model.

 

[page404]

Really, 40$ for a calendar app? That's a 90's software price! I'll stick with Fantastical 1.

 

[PJL500]

There's one feature they forgot to include; reduce the price!

Right on. The upgrade price is a joke. On principal - not gonna happen.

 

[navaira]

This is a well made app. Perhaps one should try it!

One has. It's cool. But for that price it should go to meetings instead of me.

 

[nutmac]

My proposed pricing for future Fantastical products.

Free in read-only mode (can only view existing calendar events and reminders) for all 3 versions (iPhone, iPad, Mac).

$4.99/year for basic tier. Can create events and reminders with natural language.

$19.99/year for pro tier. Themes, calendar sets, Exchange, widgets, share extension, and other unannounced features (I for one would love more fields, such as conference phone number).

 

[Cougarcat]

I wish they'd make the menu widget as a separate "Lite" app. I'd pay $5 for a Yosemite update (purely cosmetic, no new features) of Fantastical 1.

 

[6836838]

I have fantastical 2 on Mac and Calendars 5 on iOS. It's a great combination.

 

[asdfjkl;]

There's one feature they forgot to include; reduce the price!

$40 is about rock bottom price for any software product. There is just not enough revenue when the price goes much below that. The iOS app store has conditioned people to think software costs $0.99. Even relatively simple apps can cost $100K+ to produce. I'd suggest adjusting your perspective.

 

[navaira]

$40 is about rock bottom price for any software product. There is just not enough revenue when the price goes much below that. The iOS app store has conditioned people to think software costs $0.99. Even relatively simple apps can cost $100K+ to produce. I'd suggest adjusting your perspective.

I'd suggest that Flexibits adjust their perspective, unless you know a way to force people to spend $40 on an app that they don't think is worth that much. You could argue that a music streaming service should charge $40 a month and start one, but you wouldn't end up with a lot of subscribers.

 

[ron7624]

My day is not busy enough I guess. I use the stock calendar and it works great. It syncs perfectly with iOS and if I need anything extra special like repeating weekdays only, I just open my Google calendar and make the needed adjustment.
I'm not sure why there are so many expensive apps that do what can already be done with stock apps.
But, I guess my day is not busy enough for something to tell me what to do with every hour of my day.

 

[Barrierfreeman]

I wish they'd make the menu widget as a separate "Lite" app. I'd pay $5 for a Yosemite update (purely cosmetic, no new features) of Fantastical 1.

This +10000000.

I am currently demoing the free trial of Fantastical 2, and after a day or two of testing I am fairly sure I will not be buying it. It's less about the cost, and more that it doesn't offer me anything significantly different to my current setup. Will just stick with v1 and Calendar for the moment, I think.

However, I might contact the devs about a widget only lite version, maybe with a few little extras in it as well as the UI update, and would happily pay $5-$15 for it.