Take control of your schedule with Fantastical [50 Essential iOS Apps #30]

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Fantastical Ticker view upcoming events
Understanding your calendar, reminders, and events is fast and easy with Fantastical
Photo: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac

50 Essential iOS Apps: FanstasticalManaging a busy schedule is something we all deal with from time to time. Relying on a calendar app makes it easier, but entering every meeting, project, or appointment can be a hassle. Fantastical is the best calendar app for adding events to your calendar and managing your schedule.

What is Fanstastical?

Fantastical is a third-party calendar and reminders app with a focus on ease of use. Through natural language processing, adding events to your calendar, complete with detailed locations and attendees, is as easy as writing a sentence. Fantastical also integrates with the iOS Reminders app to show time-based reminders, to maximize your productivity and efficiency inside the app.

Why it’s great

Using natural language to create events is the killer feature of Fantastical. The ability to type “Team Lunch Thursday 11:30 at Carson’s BBQ” and have an entry added to a calendar titled “Team Lunch”, scheduled for Thursday at 11:30 with a location of Carson’s BBQ is a huge time-saver.

To address users having multiple calendars, the developers have made it easy to assign an event to a specific calendar, simply by entering “/calendar name.” This reduces the number of different taps and scrolls needed to quickly add events.

Fantastical event entry and calendar view
Natural language input makes adding events to your calendar as easy as sending a text message.
Screenshots: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac

Viewing events and maintaining your schedule with Fantastical is also very useful. The “DayTicker” view shows you a quick visual of the next few days, while a full calendar view provides a full months worth of information. A customizable list displays below the calendar or DayTicker, showing future events.

The ability to tweak and personalize Fantastical is another reason to love it. Unlike the stock Calendar app, you can control how much information you see in various places, the reminders lists to display, and the app used to open links or driving directions.

Finally – the Fantastical widget is incredible useful for knowing what’s next on your schedule. Unlike the default Up Next widget, which simply shows a list of events with their time, Fantastical gives you a clear idea of how long you have until your next appointment or reminder. It also uses a larger font and a visual timeline to help relay information quickly and easily.

Who it’s for

Fantastical is great for anyone looking to do more with their calendar app. If you suffer from a chaotic schedule, or frequently need to add events to a calendar, this is the best calendar app for you.

Bottom line: Fantastical is the best calendar app

Whether you’re looking to take advantage of more third-party applications, or just want more control over your calendar and reminders experience, Fantastical is great. It’s customizable, flexible, and incredibly simple to use.

Price: $4.99

Download from: App Store

See more of our 50 Essential iOS Apps

Want more essential iOS app reviews? Check out our ongoing series, 50 Essential iOS Apps.

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