Time is very important for you. Getting things done is a personal motto and productivity it the core of your business. You have your meetings well planned, you want to know what comes next. You need to know which week is best to book a trip to Venice as part of the summer vacation and what’s a good time to catch-up with an old friend. Having a reliable calendar is a must these days. We did some research and put together a list with some fresh options for you to check out and use beyond the default Apple/Google Calendar.
Your calendar will help to stay on top with notifications, reminders, vacations, meetings, holidays and deadlines. And if you want to add an extra productivity layer, you think business-wise. Then it starts to get a bit crazier. Let’s say you’re switching from your personal calendar to keep track of your entire team of co-workers schedules and important duties.
How to do that effectively, and keep everyone in sync and be able to make the best decisions wisely? This is what we will look to uncover.
Calendar App | We recommend it to: | Platform: | Price: |
|---|---|---|---|
Businesses and individuals looking for a complex task management calendar | Web, iOS, Android | Free plan and paid plans from $32.88/year | |
Families using the Apple ecosystem | macOS, iOS | Free | |
Businesses using the Apple ecosystem | macOS, iOS | Prices start at $4.99 | |
Individuals with a Google account | Web, iOS, Android | Free | |
Businesses and individuals with Office 365 subscriptions | Web, Windows, iOS, macOS, Android | Free app and paid desktop apps from $5.99/month | |
Businesses and families looking to coordinate events | Web, iOS, Android | Free | |
Individuals looking for a mobile calendar app | iOS | $8.99 |
There are many options on the market, and new ones are challenging the big players. Reflect on the fact that you might want just a calendar app, yet, someone else is thinking about a bundle. A calendar plus a to-do or a calendar plus smart notes are common options to improve productivity. You will discover what are the key offerings for all the apps that we will present below.
Furthermore, we will go a bit more into the benefits to look when considering when you choose the calendar apps for work to share, schedule and collaborate for iOS, Android, for Desktop or Online.
Each calendar app has some competitive advantages and addresses a certain type of market. They are trying to differentiate themselves from a feature, platform, design, and price point of view. Some apps can cover a limited set of needs and user groups and others are broader.
Additionally, reflect on the core benefits of such a tool like scheduling your day and receiving notifications for the pending items. When we look at the available calendars, we have spotted that there are not many calendars you can choose, however, the ones there are powerful, well polished and pretty addictive. And yes we saw some that are poorly designed, bulky, with bad reviews and rather than helping gain time, will make your life more complicated trying to understand how to use them. We will not mention such apps in our analysis.
In evaluating the tools we had checked previous reviews such as the Zapier,TechRadar, DigitalTrends, MUO and LifeHack besides the Apple App Store, and Android.
Our analysis concluded that there are a few common characteristics that make an app splendid.
Simple. Is the app easy to use? Did you understand what are the actions that you have to make to benefit the most of this app? Is the Calendar simple and accessible? Can you add an item in the agenda with 2 taps? If yes, then you made a good selection.
Visually appealing. A great calendar app should have a beautiful user experience. Starting with the first use, with the menu items, with the calendar dates, it should be visually appealing, without distractions or inconsistencies in the color palette or interface.
Team-friendly. Sharing is a must. Since we’re looking at business-oriented calendars, having the perspective among the office or team, being able to share and collaborate needs to be central to the app. Some tools that we will facilitate this co-worker interaction on the agenda super easily, however, others hide this facility within the menus, and the configuration is a bit more complex.
Reliable across devices. Each one has different habits when it comes to scheduling meetings or tasks. You can do it at a coffee shop, in the morning, at the office or on your way home. This means that the app needs to work from your smartphone and also on your desktop. Having something flexible, and answers your needs is mandatory.
Tagline: Any.do is an award-winning app used by millions of people to stay organized and get more done. Over 20 million people currently rely on Any.do to keep life under control and get more done.
Description:
Any.do is an all-in-one app to manage your life including calendar, tasks, lists, reminders and a smart assistant that can take care of your tasks for you. Any.do is always in-sync across all your devices.
How it works:
Any.do Reviews:
Simple, yet powerful app.
App store: 4.6 Stars • 48.2K Ratings
Google play: 4.4 Stars • 488K Reviews • 10M+ Downloads
Platform: Web, iOS, Android.
Price: Free; paid plans from $32.88/year.
Pros: free, smooth integration with Apple devices, shared calendar features
Cons: only for iOS and macOS users
Note: We have just found out that they are working on a Calendar tool for the desktop.
Tagline: An elegant personal calendar application that helps you manage your life and your time better than ever before. iCal lets you keep track of your appointments and events with multiple calendars featuring at-a-glance views of upcoming activities by day, week or month.
Description: With Apple iCal, you can:
- Keep track of your schedules, events, and appointments, with at-a-glance views of upcoming activities by day, week or month
- Manage and view more than one calendar at a time from within a single unified window to quickly identify schedule conflicts and pockets of free time
- Share your calendars online with your colleagues, family, and friends, using your Mac account
- Subscribe to other calendars to keep up with work schedules, family and school events, and more
How it works?
Pricing & platform: Comes for free with macOS and iOS devices, or free via iCloud
Pros: free, smooth integration with Apple devices, shared calendar features
Cons: only for iOS and macOS users
Apple Calendar Reviews:
App store: 4.9 Stars • 1.5M Ratings
Discover the official guide for the Mac Calendar
Tagline: The calendar app you won't be able to live without.
Description: Designed exclusively for macOS, Fantastical Calendar includes powerful features such as an incredibly intuitive parsing engine, a full calendar window (with day, week, month, and year views), a quick access mini window, iCloud reminders support, time zone support, and much, much more.
Fantastical Reviews:
Fantastical 2 is a crazy-powerful calendar app for your Mac.
App store: 3.9 stars • 15.7K Ratings
Platform: iOS, macOS
Pricing: $49.99 for macOS, $9.99 for iPad, $4.99 for iPhone
Pros: full calendar window, intuitive design, time zone support
Cons: not free, only for iOS and macOS users
How it works?
Note: Fantastical is built by Flexibits, an app design company that builds apps that remove frustration and make your life better.
Tagline: Get the official Google Calendar app for your Android phone and tablet to save time and make the most of every day.
Description: The Google Calendar app helps you spend less time managing your schedule and more time enjoying it. Available on Android, iPhone, and iPad.
• Different ways to view your calendar - Quickly switch between month, week and day view.
• Events from Gmail - Flight, hotel, concert, restaurant reservations and more are added to your calendar automatically.
• To-dos - Use Reminders to create and view to-dos alongside your events.
• Goals - Add personal goals—like “run 3 times a week”—and Calendar will schedule a time for them automatically.
• All your calendars in one place - Google Calendar works with all calendars on your phone, including Exchange.
How does it work?
Platform: Android, iOS & Web
Pricing: Free with a Google account
Pros: free, smooth integration with Google services
Cons: requires a Google account, fewer customization than other apps
Google Calendar Reviews:
App store: 4.6 stars • 118.4K Ratings
Google play: 4.6 stars • 3.07M reviews • 5B+ Downloads
Note: Personal note. We are using it a lot!
Tagline: The Outlook Calendar is the app and scheduling component of Outlook that is fully integrated with email, contacts, and other features.
Description: Outlook lets you bring all your email accounts and calendars in one convenient spot. Whether it's staying on top of your inbox or scheduling the next big thing, we make it easy to be your most productive, organized, and connected self.
How does it work?
Platform: (Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, Web)
Pricing: Office 365 subscriptions, which include the Microsoft Outlook desktop app, start at $5.99/month or $59.99/year. Apps free for Android and iOS.
Pros: fully integrated with Outlook emails, customizable features
Cons: only the iOS and Android apps are free, less intuitive user interface
Outlook Calendar Reviews
Outlook Calendar comes out as part of Microsoft Outlook, which has
App store: 4.8 Stars • 7.3M Ratings
Google: 4.5 Stars • 9.72M Reviews • 1B+ Downloads
Here is an official intro to Outlook calendar.
Headline: Everyone's schedules on one calendar - Connect your moments. Connect to the future.
Description: TimeTree helps you coordinate events all on a single app. With over 15 million users and growing, allow TimeTree to take away the burden of keeping agendas up to date!
TimeTree allows users to create multiple shared calendars. Whether it may be amongst family members for family-oriented plans, amongst coworkers and acquaintances related to work, or just for personal use, our app is adapted to meet various situational needs for both social and personal lifestyles.
How does it work?
Platform: Android, iOS & Web
Pricing: Free. Premium for 4.49 USD/month (44.99 USD/annual),
Pros: multiple shared calendars, official website in calendar format for public events
Cons: advanced features available only for Premium users
TimeTree Reviews
App store: 4.9 Stars • 65.5K Ratings
Google: 4.6 Stars • 186K reviews • 10M+ Downloads
Note: The app comes from Japan 🇯🇵. JUBILEE WORKS is a Japanese startup, mainly by former employees of Yahoo! JAPAN and KAKAO JAPAN.
Headline: Get things done with the best iPhone and iPad calendar app.
Description: Calendars by Readdle is a complete re-imagining of what the best mobile calendar experience should be.
Calendars is smart, excels in both tasks and events and runs on any iOS device you might have. It's the calendar app you have been looking for.
How does it work?
Calendars Reviews
Calendars is an impressive iPhone calendar app that looks terrific, offers easy-to-use features, and works equally well on iPhone and iPad.
App store: 4.6 Stars • 2.9K ratings
Pricing: $8.99 one-time purchase.
Platform: iOS
Pros: both task and event planning, intuitive design for mobile devices
Cons: not free, only for iOS users
Note: Calendars 5 comes from Readdle, the designers of PDF Expert - the app that won the Apple App of the Year.
FAQ
What is the best calendar app for iPhone?
The best iPhone calendar app is Calendars. It is designed for iOS devices and allows you to manage tasks and events while on the move. Calendars by Readdle integrates with other calendars you might use and lets you invite people to events, prioritize calendars, share calendars, and integrate video calls and maps.
What is the best calendar app for Android?
Google Calendar remains the best app for Android. It is free, requires only a Google account (which you already have as an Android user), and seamlessly integrates with all Google services and apps. Plus, the Google Calendar app comes pre-installed on Android devices, making it a convenient choice for all Android users.
What is the best calendar app for family sharing?
TimeTree is the best calendar app for family sharing. It empowers you to create and share multiple calendars with different people, automatically notifies them when shared calendars are modified, features a chat for quick discussions, and lets you create an official website for public events. This versatility helps you stay organized and in control of your family's schedule, and the best part is that it’s free.