Fantastical is the Mac calendar you'll actually enjoy using.
Creating an event with Fantastical is quick, easy, and fun:
Open Fantastical with a single click or keystroke
Type in your event details and press return
...and you're back to what you were doing with a shiny new event in your calendar!
Fantastical's natural language engine is expressive and intelligent so you can write in your own style. Fantastical also automatically recognizes the location of your event and can even invite people from your Address Book to the
What's New
Version 1.2.1:
Fixed a crash with certain types of subscribed calendars
This GUI makes a quick review of ical information easy and effective. I think Apple should have designed their ical to incorporate a GUI like this but since they did not, this is a very useful little tool.
As regards calendars, Fantastical, in conjunction with Busycal, is about as good as your going to get on the Mac. However, with this update, I was hoping for more. The developers have been advising for a while now that to-do functionality will be available and we're still waiting. This is not a complaint, just me (and I dare say a few others) hoping that we don't have to wait too much longer as this much needed feature will make Fantastical a 5 star app.
I too use this in conjunction with BusyCal and second the vote for adding To Do's. This and the addition of a menu clock would make this a perfect app.
I only picked this up because it was included in a Macupdate bundle, but now I don't know how I survived without it. Extremely effective and easy to use, and has saved me untold time in keystrokes.
IMO this is good - but not quite as good as QuickCal - qv
As I already have Caliander for display purposes only - its event input is poor, compared to Fantastical and/or QuickCal - I needed a decent input screen. QC is it in my opinion.
BUT
why oh why has Apple not created (a) the tools that developers need (eg) for decent repeating type events (like MS Outlook and Express) and (b) written its own killer calendar app ??
iCal by itself is poor
But Fantastical is otherwise very good - just not the very best IMO
Great little app. It has replaced MenuCalendarClock on my Mac and I'm truly happy with its features and functionality. I don't use iCal's To-Dos and use iStat Menu's clock, so I don't miss those two features in Fantastical. It actually makes the app less cluttered and easy to use.
Having had a serious sync problem after switching to iCloud the developer went out of his way and was very helpful to resolve my rather unique problem, which is why I can say that their support and dedication is as excellent as the app itself.
Gorgeous app that fits my workflow well. I own QuickCal too, which is very nice for adding and listing events, but it doesn't add enough context for me. When I'm scheduling an appointment, I find it helpful to see the monthly calendar and what else I have going on before and after.
It is pricey though. I would have bought it sooner if I hadn't *really* tried to work with (the much less expensive) QuickCal. Worked out for both developers, I guess, since both got paid.
Fantastical has never crashed on me nor shown any other signs of instability.
So easy to use that I rarely open iCal these days. I don't find the lack of conflict detection (available in QuickCal) an issue, because I won't schedule an event without looking at the day's schedule (not possible in QuickCal). I would like to see a direct link to iCal for occasional use.
I was wrong; there is a direct link iCal: double click a date in Fantastical with the option key down. One can set a preference so that double-clicking alone will open iCal at the date.
So far I do not give the app an Overall Rating. However I give it 1 star for Stabilty.
I used the app for about 2 minutes and it crashed 2 times: seems the app hangs for a while after I add a new event, and when I try to call some other functions after that the app may crash.
I tested the app with a iCal local calendar (not even MobileMe or iCloud one), Lion 10.7.2, iCal 5.0.1, Fantastical 1.1.1.
There are some serious drawbacks to this app. I found that it doesn't keep track of changes in iCal - even when iCal is launched and its entries updated and quit again.
I update iCal, wait for quite a bit, then quit iCal, then look in Fantastical, and I see old entries that have been deleted.
Curiously, I found that Fantastical will accurately reflect what's in iCal *whilst iCal is open* but then it will revert to the earlier (outdated) pattern of events once iCal is quit again.
I therefore simply can't rely on it to show what's really in iCal.
On further testing I can confirm that the app is adding previously deleted repeating events into past dates, except when iCal is open, when the events re-configure themselves correctly. Once iCal is closed again however, the deleted past events return.
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Fantastical is the Mac calendar you'll actually enjoy using.
Creating an event with Fantastical is quick, easy, and fun:
Open Fantastical with a single click or keystroke
Type in your event details and press return
...and you're back to what you were doing with a shiny new event in your calendar!
Fantastical's natural language engine is expressive and intelligent so you can write in your own style. Fantastical also automatically recognizes the location of your event and can even invite people from your Address Book to the event.
Your events have never looked better
Plan your day in style with the most attractive calendar you've ever seen. Color-coding and beautiful design help you quickly make sense of your schedule. You can even change the number of events you want displayed, allowing you to focus on what's important.
Need more info about an event? Just click on it and the event's important details will be displayed instantly.
Edit and delete with ease
Presenting the easiest and quickest way to change your events: select the event you want to change and take control of your event with a single click or keystroke. For example, add event notes to existing events. Enter the information that's important for you to remember and it will stay attached to your event.
BYOC (Bring Your Own Calendar)
Fantastical works with your favorite Mac calendar application: iCal, BusyCal, Entourage, or Outlook.
You can even use your iCloud, MobileMe, Google Calendar or Yahoo! Calendar accounts: simply add them to iCal and you're all set.
+2
+8
Hkim reviewed on 27 Jan 2012
+7
+221
Bigboysdad reviewed on 24 Jan 2012
+2
+326
+32
+2
+4
Ckueny reviewed on 21 Jan 2012
-2
+2
-1
normb reviewed on 03 Jan 2012
As I already have Caliander for display purposes only - its event input is poor, compared to Fantastical and/or QuickCal - I needed a decent input screen. QC is it in my opinion.
BUT
why oh why has Apple not created (a) the tools that developers need (eg) for decent repeating type events (like MS Outlook and Express) and (b) written its own killer calendar app ??
iCal by itself is poor
But Fantastical is otherwise very good - just not the very best IMO
+129
+1
+153
Gryphonent reviewed on 14 Dec 2011
Having had a serious sync problem after switching to iCloud the developer went out of his way and was very helpful to resolve my rather unique problem, which is why I can say that their support and dedication is as excellent as the app itself.
+3
+27
Maxter reviewed on 24 Nov 2011
+4
+4
François Cuneo reviewed on 08 Nov 2011
Just add tasks and it will be perfect!
+3
+9
+1
-4
+1
+2
+43
ChristopherPrice reviewed on 07 Nov 2011
It is pricey though. I would have bought it sooner if I hadn't *really* tried to work with (the much less expensive) QuickCal. Worked out for both developers, I guess, since both got paid.
Fantastical has never crashed on me nor shown any other signs of instability.
+9
Zeb B reviewed on 07 Nov 2011
Never a crash in 10.6.8.
+9
+1
I used the app for about 2 minutes and it crashed 2 times: seems the app hangs for a while after I add a new event, and when I try to call some other functions after that the app may crash.
I tested the app with a iCal local calendar (not even MobileMe or iCloud one), Lion 10.7.2, iCal 5.0.1, Fantastical 1.1.1.
+4
I update iCal, wait for quite a bit, then quit iCal, then look in Fantastical, and I see old entries that have been deleted.
Curiously, I found that Fantastical will accurately reflect what's in iCal *whilst iCal is open* but then it will revert to the earlier (outdated) pattern of events once iCal is quit again.
I therefore simply can't rely on it to show what's really in iCal.
It's a shame, because the eye-candy is nice.
+4
+4
http://flexibits.com/support
Obviously having repeating events shifted is not a good thing and we want to fix it. Thanks.
+4
+13
+915
ksomji rated on 21 Feb 2012
ebd35 rated on 18 Feb 2012
-4
Jm4 rated on 13 Feb 2012
stevepiel rated on 07 Feb 2012
ryankearney rated on 03 Feb 2012
Zogworthy rated on 01 Feb 2012
Eduardo Rolon rated on 27 Jan 2012
+1
Janguita rated on 24 Jan 2012
+3
Aaron-T. rated on 15 Jan 2012
wellyngton rated on 11 Jan 2012