Popular Calendar App 'Fantastical 2' Coming Soon to Apple Watch

[MacRumors]

Flexibits, the developers behind the popular Fantastical 2 calendar app for iOS and Mac, today released a teaser suggesting the app will be expanding to the Apple Watch in the near future. A new page on the Flexibits website reads "It's almost time" before transitioning over to the Apple Watch depicting a screenshot from the new app.

Little can be determined about the upcoming Apple Watch app from the screenshot, but it appears to have a clean design with a useful timeline-based calendar for tracking daily appointments and events. A Fantastical app for the Apple Watch will be a welcome addition, as Apple's own Calendar app is limited in functionality.

Fantastical 2 is one of the premiere Calendar replacements available on Mac and iOS, popular for its simple interface, Reminders integration, and its ability to parse event entries based on natural language input.

Flexibits has not given information on a specific date, but in a tweet, the company says the app is "almost here." As with all Apple Watch apps, the Fantastical app will be introduced through an update to the existing iPhone app.

Fantastical 2 for iPhone can be downloaded from the App Store for $4.99. [Direct Link]

Article Link: Popular Calendar App 'Fantastical 2' Coming Soon to Apple Watch

 

[Trik]

Well at least it comes with the iPhone version so they're not charging me again...

 

[Aluminum213]

Until these apps are native, they are way too slow for me to care

 

[Benjamin Frost]

Fantastical news.

 

[BillyTrimble]

Until these apps are native, they are way too slow for me to care

Your lose. You must be a very busy and important person.

Fantastical is an incredible program. I'll be a happy to use in on the watch until it becomes native. Most of the non native programs I use are just fine on the watch.

BTW, for some reason, your screen name is very familiar to me.

 

[John.B]

Popular ______ App '________' Coming Soon to Apple Watch

...rinse and repeat...

 

[nutmac]

Well at least it comes with the iPhone version so they're not charging me again...

I will probably be down voted for saying this, but I actually wish developers of multi-platform software (e.g., Flexibits, Omni Group, Tapbots) add annual subscription pricing.

I can totally see myself paying a reasonable annual fee (e.g., $15/year for Fantastical, $25/year for OmniFocus, $5/year for Tweetbot) for frequently used apps, especially if one license includes access to all platforms (Mac, iPhone, iPad).

 

[cmChimera]

Well at least it comes with the iPhone version so they're not charging me again...

In-app purchase.

 

[Mactendo]

Posting news about screenshots?

 

[ck2875]

A Fantastical app for the Apple Watch will be a welcome addition, as Apple's own Calendar app is limited in functionality.

So what exactly will this do that the Apple Calendar app can't?

It's pretty hard to beat raising your wrist and simply saying "Hey Siri, schedule a dentist appointment for 10am on June 27th" and have Apple Calendar automatically create the event for you.

 

[Analog Kid]

So what exactly will this do that the Apple Calendar app can't?

It's pretty hard to beat raising your wrist and simply saying "Hey Siri, schedule a dentist appointment for 10am on June 27th" and have Apple Calendar automatically create the event for you.

I don't know if this can do it, but I'd like a Calendar glance with a month view-- and an the app that can change months...

Or at least I haven't figured out how to do that with the native app...

 

[CarlJ]

I will probably be down voted for saying this, but I actually wish developers of multi-platform software (e.g., Flexibits, Omni Group, Tapbots) add annual subscription pricing.

I can totally see myself paying a reasonable annual fee (e.g., $15/year for Fantastical, $25/year for OmniFocus, $5/year for Tweetbot) for frequently used apps, especially if one license includes access to all platforms (Mac, iPhone, iPad).

I'd rather keep the payment aligned with the work: release major new feature set, make it an in-app purchase. Developer gets new money for new development, old and new customers get the same deal (base price plus N upgrades). And I'm happy to pay for the upgrades. Yes, it is troublesome where the app has to function with/without arbitrary feature sets, but I've seen too many subscription systems end up where not enough gets upgraded once the revenue stream is assured.

 

[Geek Girl]

Although I was not thrilled to pay for Mac, iPad and iPhone versions, it was worth it to get better function. Love Fantastical. Wish Flexibits would develop an equally good email app so I could ditch Outlook. Haven't found anything with features I need yet.

 

[6836838]

Calendars 5 is my preferred iOS calendar. Fantastical in Mac is great though.

 

[BWhaler]

Until these apps are native, they are way too slow for me to care

Agreed.

----------

Fantastical news.

LOL.

The app looks great. But again, it'll be too slow.

 

[FieldingMellish]

I bought Fantastical and tried it a few times and it's fallen to disuse on my phone. I don't get the draw. Would anyone describe Fantastical's 3 or 4 most distinctive features over Apple's stock calendar?

 

[furi0usbee]

Oh let me count the devices for which I have to pay for the same app! Boy, imagine the upgrade path when all new devices come out and updated major versions of these apps are available.

I'm starting to think Apple cripples their own apps so people will buy the third party alternatives and Apple pockets 30% of those sales. That's much easier than working on your default iOS/Mac OS apps. Why would Apple spend much on iCal, when they can make more from their 30% cut on all the iCal alternatives?

Now I get it.

 

[Nuvi]

Although I was not thrilled to pay for Mac, iPad and iPhone versions, it was worth it to get better function. Love Fantastical. Wish Flexibits would develop an equally good email app so I could ditch Outlook. Haven't found anything with features I need yet.

Flexbits "no universal apps" -approach is somewhat irritating. If 2DO can pull off critically different GUI's for iPhone and iPad on single universal app than Flexbits shouldn't have any problem. Also the Mac app pricing is new form of highway robbery. I love the apps but hate what I paid for them.

 

[John.B]

I bought Fantastical and tried it a few times and it's fallen to disuse on my phone. I don't get the draw. Would anyone describe Fantastical's 3 or 4 most distinctive features over Apple's stock calendar?

I keep it around on my iPhone because the duplicate events feature is very handy, and occasionally the ability to set more than 2 alerts (the iCloud Calendar supports up to 5). The main downsides are inconsistent contact locations and the lack of support for travel time (apparently due a restriction by Apple).

 

[macmurray]

Flexbits "no universal apps" -approach is somewhat irritating. If 2DO can pull off critically different GUI's for iPhone and iPad on single universal app than Flexbits shouldn't have any problem. Also the Mac app pricing is new form of highway robbery. I love the apps but hate what I paid for them.

Why'd you pay for them then?

I don't get the constant crying about what apps cost these days. Boxed software used to be hundreds of dollars, with no updates, ever. Money is growing on trees for developers. Didn't you all see the story about the top 5 grossing app in the Mac App Store making essentially peanuts? These developers deserve to be properly compensated for good work. Why spend the time and money developing a great app if it's going to provide a less than stellar return on investment?

For the record, don't own any of the Fantasical versions, I'm good with the built in app. But the crying about paying 5, 10, even 50 for good software is getting old. I happily bought all versions and pro upgrades of OmniFocus because it's incredibly useful software that I use every day. In fact, I look forward to opening my wallet again for the next major versions.

 

[CarlJ]

Would anyone describe Fantastical's 3 or 4 most distinctive features over Apple's stock calendar?

The built-in calendar has improved dramatically over the last few revisions, compared to when Fantastical first came out. I see two big draws, really. The first I'd call, hmm, "situational awareness" - having a main view that shows the location of today in the context of the current week or month of the calendar on the upper part of the screen, with the events for today and the next few days on the lower part of the screen - that covers 95% of what I want to see from/in the calendar ("where in the week/month are we" and "what is coming up today and in the next few days"), all on one screen without having to tap anything or click back and forth between screens (the stock Calendar.app has improved over the years, but still doesn't reach this level of immediate access in a easy-to-read form, indeed, it's one of the places where iOS is a little too flat now, and it hampers readability). This is the reason why Fantastical is on the front page of the home screen on my iPhone, and Calendar.app is in a folder called "Built-ins" on the last page of my home screen.

The second feature, for me, is the natural language input for creating an event - when adding an event while simultaneously talking to a human, I find this much easier to use than a checkbox/dial-spin form. Siri is eroding away the uniqueness of this feature, and I'm not particularly complaining, though there are times you don't want to look that nerdy.

As a bonus, I really, REALLY like that the Mac version is essentially a duplicate of the iOS version, available in a box in the corner of my screen, a split second and one key-combo away, giving me the same immediate situational awareness (and natural language input) as the iOS version. As a result, I pretty much never open the standard Calendar app on OS X.

 

[FieldingMellish]

I keep it around on my iPhone because the duplicate events feature is very handy, and occasionally the ability to set more than 2 alerts (the iCloud Calendar supports up to 5). The main downsides are inconsistent contact locations and the lack of support for travel time (apparently due a restriction by Apple).

I've been entering travel times as its own appointment in the stock app. Kind of a reality check on available time when organizing a day of visits.

----------

The built-in calendar has improved dramatically over the last few revisions, compared to when Fantastical first came out. I see two big draws, really. The first I'd call, hmm, "situational awareness" - having a main view that shows the location of today in the context of the current week or month of the calendar on the upper part of the screen, with the events for today and the next few days on the lower part of the screen - that covers 95% of what I want to see from/in the calendar ("where in the week/month are we" and "what is coming up today and in the next few days"), all on one screen without having to tap anything or click back and forth between screens (the stock Calendar.app has improved over the years, but still doesn't reach this level of immediate access in a easy-to-read form, indeed, it's one of the places where iOS is a little too flat now, and it hampers readability). This is the reason why Fantastical is on the front page of the home screen on my iPhone, and Calendar.app is in a folder called "Built-ins" on the last page of my home screen.

The second feature, for me, is the natural language input for creating an event - when adding an event while simultaneously talking to a human, I find this much easier to use than a checkbox/dial-spin form. Siri is eroding away the uniqueness of this feature, and I'm not particularly complaining, though there are times you don't want to look that nerdy.

As a bonus, I really, REALLY like that the Mac version is essentially a duplicate of the iOS version, available in a box in the corner of my screen, a split second and one key-combo away, giving me the same immediate situational awareness (and natural language input) as the iOS version. As a result, I pretty much never open the standard Calendar app on OS X.

I'll try those ideas. Thanks.

 

[Tbone999]

Look, I bought Fantastical and discovered that its so-called natural language recognition isn't so hot -- I reverted to using Apple's Calendar (which also recognizes natural language, frankly). I actually find it more cumbersome to add events to my calendar using Fantastical than with the native app. And then they released the update: for $39! That's absurdly overpriced. As far I'm concerned, no need to send any more cash their way.

 

[John.B]

I've been entering travel times as its own appointment in the stock app. Kind of a reality check on available time when organizing a day of visits.

You can set a fixed travel time (5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, etc.) for any appointment. But... if Maps can determine the appointment's location, you'll get additional options for driving or walking based on current location, and the ability to set an optional starting location.

Once travel time has been set for an appointment, you can set alerts based on the start of Travel Time (at start of travel time, 5 minutes before travel time, 30 minutes before travel time, etc.), instead of, say, 30 minutes before the start time of the appointment.

For those appointments, both the iOS and OSX calendar apps will show the padded travel time above the appointment in daily or weekly view. In daily view it is labeled with a car/walking icon and the amount of travel time.

Frankly, I have no idea why Apple has been reticent to tell people about travel time when they've obviously put so much effort into designing it -- for both iOS 8 and Yosemite. It's my favorite new "it just works" feature, at a time when so much of their stuff doesn't. Reminds me of the old days.

 

[Tbone999]

You can set a fixed travel time (5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, etc.) for any appointment. But... if Maps can determine the appointment's location, you'll get additional options for driving or walking based on current location, and the ability to set an optional starting location.

I had no idea this option existed! (Although you can plainly see it when you create an event.) Thanks!