'Fantastical' Calendar App for iPhone Updated and On Sale

[MacRumors]

The Verge reports that the iPhone version of the popular Fantastical calendar app has been updated to version 1.1, adding a range of user-requested features. Flexibits has also put Fantastical on sale for $3.99, a savings of $1 over the usual price.

Flexibits co-founder Michael Simmons says that all of the new features are ones that have been requested by users of the app.

The last two months have been insane, having all these users and passionate complaints. We wanted to have an update that said 'we're listening'.

The new features include:

- Multiple alerts when creating events
- Time zone support
- Duplicate or move events (tap and hold an event in the event list)
- Go to a specific date (tap and hold the red title bar)
- Event list is now scrollable when using the calendar
- Today's timed events dim after the event has ended
- Copied text containing event info can automatically be made into an event
- Added setting to highlight weekends
- Added setting to show empty days on the DayTicker
- Added setting to display the number of today's remaining events or date on the app icon badge
- State restoration (iOS 6 only)
- A staggering number of other improvements, parser enhancements, and bug fixes

Fantastical is available in the App Store at a sale price of $3.99 for a limited time. [Direct Link]

Article Link: 'Fantastical' Calendar App for iPhone Updated and On Sale

 

[Hurst]

Fantastic app but I can't understand why Apple doesn't offer these features

 

[Xenomorph]

Apple has included a Calendar since 2007.

What does paying the "SALE" price of $4 get me with this app?

Edit: I see this app was originally $1.99, but is "On Sale" now for $3.99.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

I see no reason to buy this. Apple's calendar app is enough for me.

 

[Joe-Diver]

What is the "number" of the other improvements? I want to see if I stagger when I hear it.

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

Apple has included a Calendar since 2007.

What does paying the "SALE" price of $4 get me with this app?

Edit: I see this app was originally $1.99, but is "On Sale" now for $3.99.

Have you ever heard of an introductory sale price?

And yeah if you want to use the default calendar app, default music app, default mail app, default notes app, default browser app, default messages app, default alarm app, default phone app, default reminders app, Apple's ebook's app, and Apple's podcast app that's fine. That's your perogative. But there are a lot of better alternatives out there, and some people would like to use them.

 

[trilaemasu]

The natural language feature of this app was good enough to convince me to buy it when it was released at $1.99. It's much easier to create a calendar entry with this app than with the stock calendar. It's also easier to browse through the entries. However, I'm not sure I would have bought it at $3.99, let alone at $4.99.

Fantastical is basically a features addition to the stock app. Those features are great, but I'd wait until the price is sub-$3 to buy it.

 

[hsotnicam8002]

Yes, but does it sync with Outlook!

 

[Fuchal]

Apple has included a Calendar since 2007.

What does paying the "SALE" price of $4 get me with this app?

Edit: I see this app was originally $1.99, but is "On Sale" now for $3.99.

And it's basically never been updated since 2007 as well.

 

[likemyorbs]

I guess I'm just one of those people who's content with stock apps. I try to use alternatives but always end up going back to stock. I still like safari better than any other browser on iOS including chrome, don't even get me started on weather apps. I just feel like a lot of third party apps make simple tasks more complicated? And iCloud syncing is huge for me.

 

[Carlanga]

meh app for its cost.

ad revenue for MR at least

 

[moderately]

Coming from a Palm, the stock cal was simply inadequate- needed a week view, and wanted to be able to enter events quickly. WeekCal was the first app I found that did this and synced with iCal so I didn't need to get Google involved. It has just gotten better. This looks almost as good for twice the price.

 

[JaySoul]

Bought Fantastical first day and used it for a week, but since then I've just gone back to using the stock Calendar.

Not sure about Fantastical just yet, it has some cool features but I don't know if it's

But I've always been a useless calendar user for basically my whole life, so it's not much reflection on the company themselves lol.

 

[farleysmaster]

This now allows you to duplicate entries, which is a big boon if you do shift work. I'd only found 'week cal' which could do that before, which while it has a lot of features, is not as nice to use as 'fantastical'.

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Coming from a Palm, the stock cal was simply inadequate- needed a week view, and wanted to be able to enter events quickly. WeekCal was the first app I found that did this and synced with iCal so I didn't need to get Google involved. It has just gotten better. This looks almost as good for twice the price.

Stock cal has a week view. Turn the device sideways.

 

[2457282]

Isn't the point of buying Apple the fully integrated ecosystem they provide? For me it is. I used to build my own machines and tweek the hadware and drivers and software and all that, but I just do not have the time anymore. I absolutely agree that there is nothing awe inspiring about the stock calendar app. But for me it works, is well integrated with iOS, and because of the iCloud, is well integrated accross all my devices. For me that is all that I need. Maybe boring, but I take functional and boring as long as I don't have to work at it so much as with Androids and MS systems. For those that want to tinker, I guess they can, but doesn't that lessen the value proposition of Apple?

 

[bfulgham]

Fantastical is great

I generally stick to the stock applications, just like others in this thread. However, after trying out Fantastical I moved it to the main screen of my iPhone, and have relegated the default calendar app to a folder on the last screen.

Fantastical is the only usable mobile calendar app I have run across. I find the sliding date display at the top to make perfect sense, and to give me a good feel for what's coming up in the current day/week/month.

I also really like the natural language parser for entering events. I actually *use* my calendar now, because the data entry and updates are so fast and correct.

The only thing I miss from the old app is the ability to see the current date in the App icon.

It's important to note that the Fantastical stores its calendar data in the system calendar -- so things like alerts, reminders, and other operations are visible to the system as a whole.

Fantastical is more like a better front-end to the system calendar.

This is one of the few apps I use every day, and I think it's a steal at the current price.

 

[bretm]

And it's basically never been updated since 2007 as well.

The week view was a decent update. But there's not much needed and it's fully integrated. I'm with the others, why make a mess of things? And a calendar app for $5. Obviously $5 isn't much money, but quite alot compared to other iOS apps.

 

[Westacular]

Isn't the point of buying Apple the fully integrated ecosystem they provide? For me it is. I used to build my own machines and tweek the hadware and drivers and software and all that, but I just do not have the time anymore. I absolutely agree that there is nothing awe inspiring about the stock calendar app. But for me it works, is well integrated with iOS, and because of the iCloud, is well integrated accross all my devices. For me that is all that I need. Maybe boring, but I take functional and boring as long as I don't have to work at it so much as with Androids and MS systems. For those that want to tinker, I guess they can, but doesn't that lessen the value proposition of Apple?

You do realize that Apple has an API for accessing the system calendar data, and 3rd-party calendar apps pretty much universally use that?

In other words, all the calendar data you have in one app is automatically present in every other app. As far as integration goes, there's no downside to using something like Fantastical -- from the first instant you load it, all your calendars are already present there, and everything you do is synced to your other devices the same as it would be if you were using the stock calendar app.

And Fantastical is much nicer and much, much faster to use than the stock calendar app.

 

[smirking]

I was one of the suckers who bought this when it was $4.99 and one of Apple's featured productivity apps. All it does is repackage stuff that you already have in the stock Calendar and Reminders programs and not always in a good way... at least for my needs.

I'm sure that some people will find it useful, but just don't trust the reviews that say this is some kind of mind blowing app that totally reinvents calendaring. It's not. It doesn't even have its own calendar engine.

EDIT: I just realized I'm talking about something else here. I paid $9.99 for Fantastical... for the OSX version for my MacBookPro, not for my iPhone. Yeah, maybe the iOS version is indeed very useful. The stock calendar app in iOS sucks. On the desktop side of things, Fantastical is a waste of money.

 

[stockcerts]

I also tend to stay with the core stock applications, although if it goes on sale for $1.99 again...I may be willing to give it a try.

 

[mattwolfmatt]

I guess I'm just one of those people who's content with stock apps. I try to use alternatives but always end up going back to stock. I still like safari better than any other browser on iOS including chrome, don't even get me started on weather apps. I just feel like a lot of third party apps make simple tasks more complicated? And iCloud syncing is huge for me.

Fantastical syncs automatically with the iOS calendar app, and therefore syncs with iCloud. I have Fantastical for iOS and OSX, use them both all the time. They work great with iCloud.

 

[JNGold]

I was one of the suckers who bought this when it was $4.99 and one of Apple's featured productivity apps. All it does is repackage stuff that you already have in the stock Calendar and Reminders programs and not always in a good way... at least for my needs.

I'm sure that some people will find it useful, but just don't trust the reviews that say this is some kind of mind blowing app that totally reinvents calendaring. It's not. It doesn't even have its own calendar engine.

Huh? It has natural language processing engine that understands context to easily enter in events and put them in a proper calendar. The UI is clean and very efficient. I don't know what you mean by a "calendar engine" but if you think any calendar replacement app has its own "engine", I think you are misunderstanding what these apps really do. I can name almost a dozen apps that put the stock iOS calendar to shame.

----------

Fantastical syncs automatically with the iOS calendar app, and therefore syncs with iCloud. I have Fantastical for iOS and OSX, use them both all the time. They work great with iCloud.

I am getting the impression that lots of folks posting here really don't understand how these calendar apps really work and that the iOS calendar and reminder DB is open to developers.

 

[jdechko]

Fantastical syncs automatically with the iOS calendar app, and therefore syncs with iCloud. I have Fantastical for iOS and OSX, use them both all the time. They work great with iCloud.

Huh? It has natural language processing engine that understands context to easily enter in events and put them in a proper calendar. The UI is clean and very efficient. I don't know what you mean by a "calendar engine" but if you think any calendar replacement app has its own "engine", I think you are misunderstanding what these apps really do. I can name almost a dozen apps that put the stock iOS calendar to shame.

----------



I am getting the impression that lots of folks posting here really don't understand how these calendar apps really work and that the iOS calendar and reminder DB is open to developers.

I bought Fantastical on both Mac and PC just for the natural language processing for input (both on sale). Other than that, I rarely use any calendar program on my iPhone because its easier to just check notification center for upcoming events.

 

[Pared]

This developer listened to me and did the one thing the stock app never could: allow you to copy and past an event.

That alone is worth your purchase. I'm still shocked they included it after my email. It was the only thing I need to justify the app cost.

 

[smirking]

Huh? It has natural language processing engine that understands context to easily enter in events and put them in a proper calendar. The UI is clean and very efficient. I don't know what you mean by a "calendar engine" but if you think any calendar replacement app has its own "engine", I think you are misunderstanding what these apps really do. I can name almost a dozen apps that put the stock iOS calendar to shame.

What I meant is that it can't exist without the iOS calendar running underneath it. It's an interface, not a full fledged calendar program... That's what I meant and I may be wrong because...

I just realized that we're talking about the iOS version, which might actually be pretty useful. I paid $10 for the OSX version, which is useless. All those great features about natural language that the dev is touting is available in the stock calendar app on the desktop.