UpTo’s original take on the iPhone calendar was fairly unusual. the app allowed you to follow the calendars of friends or organizations, whose events then appeared on your calendar; you could the interact withe the events more or less the same way you would a Facebook post: There were likes, comments and a handy “I’m in” to signify attendance.
The problem is, in order for anything with a social twist to work, lots of people need to use it — and based solely off my observations while using the app, that didn’t seem to be the case. Also, some users may have found the app overly complicated.
So now, UpTo has been radically redesigned with a focus on layers instead of social connection. But is it better?
Gone is the pretty heat map and the ability to interact with friends’ events. What’s left is the ability to follow calendars published by friends or an organization or on a subject — like, say, the White House or video game releases — and that feature has become UpTo’s raison d’etre.
The key new feature is layers. Instead of a muddle of events all vying for space on UpTo’s interface, events are hidden behind the main calendar; pinching the screen reveals events from organizations or friends you’re following that haven’t yet been added to the main calendar (you can also view each organization’s calendar via a button). You can then add events simply by swiping and tapping. Web-based Publishing tools for organizations wishing to make UpTo calendars remains, from what I can tell, as easy as ever.
Simple. But one problem still exists: Not enough people use the system. The vast majority of my friends still haven’t heard of the app; TechCrunch remains the only tech blog to use the service (Cult of Mac UpTo calendar, anyone?). Time will tell whether or not this update will attract enough users to make this the goto iPhone calendar, or whether UpTo will see a third redesign.
There’s still no iPad version, but UpTo says one’s coming.
Source: UpTo
