'Fantastical 2' Launches for Mac With Yosemite-Style Redesign, Full Calendar Window

[ScottNWDW]

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Thanks, but I meant the main window to the right, the big one. I was hoping that reminders would show up there. Oh well, I'll stick with BusyCal since it does things the way I need.

I use BusyCal as well and in BusyCal the tasks appear in a column on the right, not in the main calendar window, In Fantastical 2, they appear in the column on the left, not in the main calendar. So are you complaining because they are not on the same side?

 

[chekk]

I just posted a review comparing BusyCal and Fantastical 2 over on the forums, focusing on support for multiple calendars and the new 'Calendar Sets' feature in Fantastical:

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=20887803#post20887803

 

[badlydrawnboy]

From what I hear they are working on a Mac version.

I'd be very happy to see this. I love Calendars 5 and prefer it to all other options. But I couldn't find any info about a Mac version on their site??

 

[longterm]

I have it working with two factor turned on. You just need to create and use an application specific password.

I tried that, but it didn't work. I turned 2-factor back on, went back into Fantastical, and it crashed immediately. After trying for 5 minutes to get it to run, I turned 2-factor off again and Fantastical is working fine.

I'm sure this will be addressed in an update... not a big deal.

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I have Fantastical on my Mac and Fantastical 2 on my iPad and iPhone and I agree with your views on this software. I was just about to buy Fantastical 2 for the Mac then I saw your post. What kind of problems are you encountering with Fantastical 2 for Mac?

I'm not having any problems now that I turned off 2-factor authentication. Others have gotten it working without any trouble, but I wasn't one of them.

Other than that speed bump, it's been working fine, and I really like it. I've been using BusyCal for the last several years or so--it's slightly better than Apple's Calendar--but I think I'm going to like this calendar app best of all.

I've tried virtually all of the iPhone calendar apps and have always returned to Fantastical; this is just like it in so many ways and I expect it'll only get better as they roll this out.

As to the price tag, it's no more than BusyCal; if you want to pay a dollar for a Mac app, you're deluding yourself if you think it's going to be a great piece of software.

Those of us who have been around the Mac a long time will remember Now Up-to-Date, which was a wonderful calendar app; it was much more than $40 at the time, and that's easily been 20 years now.

 

[phooi]

Fantastical 2 not working for me

I'm having a bunch of problems with the app.

First, it kept crashing when I tried to add my iCloud account. I will not turn off of 2 step for this app. However, I was able to add my google calendar.

Secondly, I can't seem to get the app to lock down the account. If I quit the app and restart, it forces me through the setup process again.

Finally, I can't seem to get any of the settings to work. I tried changing to white theme, nope. Change the menu icon to color, add today's date? Nope.

I've completely deleted and reinstalled the app a number of times using appcleaner and it made no difference. In case anyone was curious, I downloaded the app from the Mac App Store. I think I need a refund since this program seems like it's not ready for prime time.

 

[Analog Kid]

This thread is a perfect case study on how the App Store's race-to-the-bottom pricing has created a group of consumers who feel entitled to quality work for an unrealistic price - developers' time and livelihoods be damned.

No, this thread is a case study in careful price setting. I use Fantastical, I paid for Fantastical, I like Fantastical, I'm not about to spend $40-50 on an update. I like it because it's a functional calendar that sits in my menubar and fills a gap Apple left (day and time, but no date?).

I don't use the natural language entry, I don't need a replacement for the full window app, and I don't really use Notification Center. Actually, I use Fantastical instead of the Notification Center.

So there's no features I need, and it's not worth paying that price for. There are a lot of times I buy updates I don't need because it supports the developer, but $50 is too steep for that here. F1 works fine for me, I'm not all that freaked out about not matching the Yosemite UI, and sooner or later someone will put out a replacement with the reduced feature set I need at a price I'm willing to pay (yay free market!).

If it were $15, Flexbits would have my money already. Hopefully they've looked at it and determined they'll retain half their customers at the higher price and it will pay off for them. At the price they're charging, it forces me to look at where else I can spend that money. $39.99 will buy you OmniFocus, which I think it a heck of a lot more useful, for example.

what are the chances of the built-in apple calendar, mail, and reminders apps merging at some point in the future a la Outlook? I like both, but would love to have a seamless, native app for managing appointments, tasks, etc.

Dear god, no... I'm so happy not to have to deal with that mess anymore...

That actually sounds like blackmail to me.

"Oh, I am going to charge through the roof for my app and you better pay me for it, otherwise I won't update my app ever."

Uh... There's not a lot of people who work without being paid. I don't think that's blackmail, I think it's putting food on the table.

 

[badlydrawnboy]

I tried that, but it didn't work. I turned 2-factor back on, went back into Fantastical, and it crashed immediately. After trying for 5 minutes to get it to run, I turned 2-factor off again and Fantastical is working fine.

I'm sure this will be addressed in an update... not a big deal.

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I'm not having any problems now that I turned off 2-factor authentication. Others have gotten it working without any trouble, but I wasn't one of them.

Other than that speed bump, it's been working fine, and I really like it. I've been using BusyCal for the last several years or so--it's slightly better than Apple's Calendar--but I think I'm going to like this calendar app best of all.

I've tried virtually all of the iPhone calendar apps and have always returned to Fantastical; this is just like it in so many ways and I expect it'll only get better as they roll this out.

As to the price tag, it's no more than BusyCal; if you want to pay a dollar for a Mac app, you're deluding yourself if you think it's going to be a great piece of software.

Those of us who have been around the Mac a long time will remember Now Up-to-Date, which was a wonderful calendar app; it was much more than $40 at the time, and that's easily been 20 years now.

Curious to hear what you like better about Fantastical compared to BusyCal. I'm having the opposite experience. I have been a long-time BusyCal user (Calendars 5 on iOS), and have been happy overall. But they haven't updated the app for Yosemite, nor have they really nailed the natural language input. I like the look of Fanstastical, but I've noticed a few usability issues.

First, when I skip forward beyond the current week and create a new event, after the event is created it snaps back to the current week view. This is a PITA if I want to enter multiple events in a week in the future.

Second, I don't see any setting to accept or decline events added to a shared calendar. I have an assistant who manages my schedule. We share an iCloud calendar. When she adds an event to my calendar, I want to see a notification so I can accept or decline that event, and then add a reminder to it if I accept it. This is possible with apps like BusyCal.

Third, the interface just feels oversensitive and a bit jumpy. Moving events around, changing their length by dragging, etc. doesn't work smoothly.

 

[Gameboy70]

wow, it's currently $50AUD and that's with the 20% off?!

What were they thinking when they priced this? Yes it's probably a very nice calendar app - but it's just a calendar app!

They're probably trying to achieve price parity with BusyCal, which also has a non-promotional price of US $49.95.

I got the previous version of Fantastical through a bundle, so it was worth the price, but the only feature I use it for is natural-language entries from the menu bar. For editing and reviewing entries I'm fine with the stock calendar. As long as menu bar entry still works, I have no reason to upgrade.

 

[elemenohme]

I live in my calendar and love Fantastical, so I almost bought it from the Mac App Store - until I noticed all the negative reviews. I'll wait until they're out of the woods with this release. My calendar is far too important to me to risk it to unstable new software.

 

[Kajje]

Is it overpriced? No.
Is it in line with the general iOS app pricing idea (price low sell many)? No.

Does a company selling software have an issue when numerous people praise its magnificence yet complain about its price? Yes.

I buy apps or do IAPs to support companies. When I make extensive use of an app (or game-app), I do buy an IAP now and then. If the company comes out with another app for 1-2-3 dollars, I tend to buy that new app for the sake of supporting the team.

I'm sure I'm not the only one. It's a couple dollars. I probably spend more on tips for my coffees. I spend more by forgetting to unplug my phone charger from the mains when I'm not around.

The risk in pricing a Mac-app so high is piracy. Something which is obviously less of an issue on (a non-jb'ed) iOS.

Setting the price for your app is not an easy thing.
Setting the price for a splitted iPhone/iPad app because of the large development difference between them is not an easy thing.
Setting the price for above + Mac app must be even harder.

I would have done things differently - or better - I would liked to see they did differently. But we have to respect their decision.

 

[diesel]

I live in my calendar and love Fantastical, so I almost bought it from the Mac App Store - until I noticed all the negative reviews. I'll wait until they're out of the woods with this release. My calendar is far too important to me to risk it to unstable new software.

It looks like all of the negative 1 star reviews in the App Store are the result of a bug that causes crashing at startup or setup. There is also a new 2.01 release that was just released that supposedly fixed this bug among other bugs. For those who got the app running, it looks like their reviews were mostly positive.

 

[Swiss-G]

Hmm... yeah maybe the demo is the issue. I'm on the purchased version and it seems fine with the application specific password.

Looks like the paid version is 2.01 whilst the demo is 2.0

Edit: Demo has been updated to 2.01, same problem

 

[InAustralia]

Expensive!

Like others have stated here, I like Fantastical, but at $50AUD as a discounted price, it is too expensive.

I might go back to Sunrise calendar (which is what I was using before moving to Fantastical) From memory it was pretty good and it's free for the Mac and iOS.

 

[ScottNWDW]

Is it overpriced? No.
Is it in line with the general iOS app pricing idea (price low sell many)? No.

Does a company selling software have an issue when numerous people praise its magnificence yet complain about its price? Yes.

I buy apps or do IAPs to support companies. When I make extensive use of an app (or game-app), I do buy an IAP now and then. If the company comes out with another app for 1-2-3 dollars, I tend to buy that new app for the sake of supporting the team.

I'm sure I'm not the only one. It's a couple dollars. I probably spend more on tips for my coffees. I spend more by forgetting to unplug my phone charger from the mains when I'm not around.

The risk in pricing a Mac-app so high is piracy. Something which is obviously less of an issue on (a non-jb'ed) iOS.

Setting the price for your app is not an easy thing.
Setting the price for a splitted iPhone/iPad app because of the large development difference between them is not an easy thing.
Setting the price for above + Mac app must be even harder.

I would have done things differently - or better - I would liked to see they did differently. But we have to respect their decision.

Well said. Right now the app is $40, and I have wasted $40 on so many other things in the past. If there is a piece of software that I use on a constant basis, and is useful to me I don't mind paying the price that the developer charges. A few years back I paid well over $100 to get OmniFocus on my Mac, iPhone and iPad. They have since been updated to OmniFocus 2 and again I had to pay for the apps again, granted OmniFocus 2 is now $40, but that is a "lighter" version. As a previous owner of the original OmniFocus I was updated to the Pro version of OmniFocus 2, which if bought would have been $80. What I am saying is, if the software is important to me I will pay the price to upgrade.

Same with BusyCal, when I got my MacBook in 2011 BusyCal was $50, I bought it used it everyday and when BusyCal2 came out had to buy it all over again. I just don't get where people think that all apps whether it be on the Mac or iOS should be priced as free or $0.99 and then be updated forever for free. Developers do a lot of hard work deigning and writing this software and I think they deserve to be paid for their work. When there is a piece of software that does what I need it to do, I don't mind paying the price for it. Fantastical is one of those apps, yes I can get by with the native calendar, and reminder apps, but it's the unique features some of the third party apps have that make the experience so much better, and therefore I buy into the app.

People could get by driving a base model of a car, but they turn around and get a model with a lot of extras or in many cases getting the same car with a fancier nameplate, it's the same principle here. You could get by buying the cheapest car Hyundai makes, it will get you from point A to point B, but you chose to buy that Mercedes Benz S Class instead.

 

[grad]

Quite frankly, the apologists in this thread miss the point, being either rich and arrogant or not-existing/potential customers and ignorant. It's not that Fantastical is the only app most users have to pay for upgrading every now and then. You know what? Yes, 40 EUR (soon to be 50 EUR) is too much for such an app (never mind for an upgrade of a previous version that cost much less) and yes, Apple Calendar is not good enough without the menu bar and some of Fantastical's or BusyCal's functions.

It's these "small" programs that give the additional functionality or proper interface to make a platform great for everyday use. And many people are happy to support the small independent developer who does what the big software house won't or can't do - by overpaying for niche software.

But when you essentially stop development of the old version of an application that we all know needs updating (it's not that Google or iCloud APIs will stand still is it?), put a high price on the next version and at the same time you completely disregard your current customer base by not offering an upgrade path then you should expect complaints not loyalty. It's a slap in the face for many of us. MAS is only an excuse.

 

[ScottNWDW]

Quite frankly, the apologists in this thread miss the point, being either rich and arrogant or not-existing/potential customers and ignorant. It's not that Fantastical is the only app most users have to pay for upgrading every now and then. You know what? Yes, 40 EUR (soon to be 50 EUR) is too much for such an app (never mind for an upgrade of a previous version that cost much less) and yes, Apple Calendar is not good enough without the menu bar and some of Fantastical's or BusyCal's functions.

It's these "small" programs that give the additional functionality or proper interface to make a platform great for everyday use. And many people are happy to support the small independent developer who does what the big software house won't or can't do - by overpaying for niche software.

But when you essentially stop development of the old version of an application that we all know needs updating (it's not that Google or iCloud APIs would stand still is it?), put a high price on the next version and at the same time you completely disregard your current customer base by not offering an upgrade path then you should expect complaints not loyalty. It's a slap in the face for many of us. MAS is only an excuse.

Fantastical 2 is essentially NOT an upgrade to an old version. It is a whole brand new application altogether. The "old" version was just a menu bar drop down box. the new Fantastical 2 is a whole new program, which includes the menu bar app. Essentially it is a new program altogether.

 

[ScottNWDW]

It doesn't come close to the features available in Informant, which finally come out with a Mac version. And it is GORGEOUS. (And slightly cheaper.)

Desktop Informant is a wonderful app and I am very happy to see that the desktop version is finally out. Technically though it is in what is called an early release, which means that it is in sort of a "beta" version. The official 1.0 version will be available later this year. The "Early Release" version contains most of the core features, but it is still missing many of the features that were planned by the developer.

I have bee using their iOS version since it came out on the iPhone 3G, as well as the Windows Mobile version before the iPhone and I am excited for finally having a dedicated Desktop version.

 

[Trahearne]

Fantastical 2 is essentially NOT an upgrade to an old version. It is a whole brand new application altogether. The "old" version was just a menu bar drop down box. the new Fantastical 2 is a whole new program, which includes the menu bar app. Essentially it is a new program altogether.

The ultimate reason behind this endless debate is that those people who are screaming at the price do not think F2 for Mac justifies its price tag and has tons of reasons to back their views, no matter it is all new or whatever else. For people who purchased it and are loving it, the price tag is nothing and similarly we have tons of reasons to love it despite the price. That's said Flexibits has been in the calendar business in the Apple ecosystem for years, and I assume they didn't blindly set the price just because of a wishful thinking of higher price equal to higher revenue.

 

[Release]

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Thanks, but I meant the main window to the right, the big one. I was hoping that reminders would show up there. Oh well, I'll stick with BusyCal since it does things the way I need.

I use BusyCal as well and in BusyCal the tasks appear in a column on the right, not in the main calendar window, In Fantastical 2, they appear in the column on the left, not in the main calendar. So are you complaining because they are not on the same side?

No, not at all. In BusyCal (in the To Do Prefs) there are check boxes that let you show your To Do's in the main Calendar window. All my To Do's and Events show up in the main window (along with being in the sidebar). It's kinda pointless to see your day that only has the events and not any reminders/To Do's. I was hoping Fantastical did this but apparently not. It doesn't matter though, after trying the trial of Fantastical, I prefer BusyCal.

 

[prowlmedia]

Possible. But in fairness he didn't state that and since Yosemite tends to a negative rap sometimes here I don't think I was out of place.

EDIT: Maybe this post from him will convince you. But thanks for sticking up for another member without checking first.

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=20783422#post20783422

Sure. It works great for me. No major Problems and I am a pretty hardcore user. I will say it does seem to run smoother as a clean install than an upgrade. But the same can be said of any machine I suppose.

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And giving that the fantastical developers hate making upgrades, I sincerely don't think they deserve not even 1/5th of the money they are asking.

Fair enough. I don't know enough about the actual app.

$40 is still only enough to buy a meal these days ( McHappyMcMeals not included)

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I sure do understand the cost of professional software but this not the app which will be putting food on the table. Anyway, compare Fantastical 2 pricing to Office 365 pricing and you see what I'm saying. This app is overpriced by huge margin when comparing it with competition.

Sure but also massively pirated which is ironically more an issue for small Devs - certainly as 360 is Sub based. It's pretty hard to pirate that I imagine and you will not have access to any of the cloud stuff even if you did.

I am only defending small dev and what is technically a very small amount of money. Oh and I am sure it will be 20 Bucks on a deal soon enough - then included in bundles etc.

 

[4583568]

I am curious to see a similar thread once Vesper for mac launches! It will be a great read.

Anyway, I do not exclude a "fantastical 2 mini" later this year at 10$ or so. They already coded the new menu bar and just need to sell some more copies of fantastical 2 at 40-50$.

 

[JuryDuty]

I love Fantastical 1 on my Mac and 2 on my iPad and iPhone, but $40 for the Mac version of 2? That's too rich for my needs.

 

[GlenK]

No, not at all. In BusyCal (in the To Do Prefs) there are check boxes that let you show your To Do's in the main Calendar window. All my To Do's and Events show up in the main window (along with being in the sidebar). It's kinda pointless to see your day that only has the events and not any reminders/To Do's. I was hoping Fantastical did this but apparently not. It doesn't matter though, after trying the trial of Fantastical, I prefer BusyCal.

One of the features I love most about BC is you have the choice. I use that right pain to add in ToDos with NO priority. Then as I find time to do them I just drag them over to the day they will be done. It's a simple thing but it works great for my daily planning process.

 

[photographypro]

The iPad and iPhone versions work for me with iCal

I have the Fantastical 2 apps for iPhone and iPad, and Fantastical on the Mac. I too was shocked at the price.

Especially since I normally use Siri to set appointments and reminders, which is faster than Fantastical. Only if I'm in a meeting or church do I use Fantastical to set these things, but they get put in the Apple Calendar and Reminders.

For maybe $10 as a faithful customer would I pay for an UPGRADE to my Fantastical, but even $20 to the general public is too much when the Apple Calendar is actually really good.

 

[wassupdoc]

Maybe the way to make this a more reasonable upgrade would have been to use in app purchase. Make the menubar application 10-15 bucks and an in app upgrade for the actual calendar app replacement another 20-25 bucks. Then those of us who only really needed the menubar app could have bought that alone. Even the 10-15 is more than I want to pay but better than the 40 just to get the menubar upgrade.