Great menubar calendar that makes updating my calendar a snap. Never had a problem with it! Got is as part of a Parallels purchase bundle. Now, as for Fantastical2, the price is $39. I won't be upgrading for that price since OS X comes with a decent usable calendar.
To Fantastical, you need to come up with an enticing upgrade price for FC1 users because $39 is overpriced IMHO for software that competes with FREE in OS X.
This is continues to be my main daily business calendar. When Apple split Calendar to have Reminders as a separate app, it made no sense to me. Events and tasks should be in the same program. Well Fantastical is a better calendar and reminder app than either of Apple's apps are individually. My only complaint is there's not enough contrast in the light theme mode, so I have to use the dark theme mode. Other than that, it's the best calendar/reminder app I've used on the Mac.
Love it. It's been my default calendar and reminder app on my Mac and iOS devices for years. I do wish completed reminders would sync more quickly (i.e; marking a reminder completed on one device may mark the reminder completed on another device, but you're still presented with an alert for that same reminder on other devices, especially if that reminder is for a recurring event).
Wish I could have used it to bring Google, Apple and Exchange calendars together all in one place. - but it required two factor for Apple (no thx) and wouldn't use my Exchange credentials to sync. Oh well - tried it and deleted it.
Like (1)
Version 2.5.1
1 answer(s)
Big Johnson
26 September 2018
Two-factor authentication is vitally important on any device that supports it.
It may be a PITA, but probably much less so than having your personal data/pics stolen and circulated on the WWW.
Do you recall the iCloud celebrity photo leaks in 2014?
Those accounts were hacked because they used weak passwords and iCloud security was weak - it did NOT use two-factor at the time.
In Sept. 2014 Apple posted the following statement to its website. https://apple.co/2QYbDat
"Update to Celebrity Photo Investigation
We wanted to provide an update to our investigation into the theft of photos of certain celebrities. When we learned of the theft, we were outraged and immediately mobilized Apple's engineers to discover the source. Our customers' privacy and security are of utmost importance to us. After more than 40 hours of investigation, we have discovered that certain celebrity accounts were compromised by a very targeted attack on user names, passwords and security questions, a practice that has become all too common on the Internet. None of the cases we have investigated has resulted from any breach in any of Apple's systems including iCloud® or Find my iPhone. We are continuing to work with law enforcement to help identify the criminals involved.
To protect against this type of attack, we advise all users to always use a strong password and enable two-step verification. Both of these are addressed on our website at http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4232.
In other words, Apple says this leak wasn't due to any holes in iCloud or Find My iPhone. The celebrity accounts were specifically targeted and likely breached because of weak passwords and a lack of two-step verification."
TWO-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION FOR APPLE ID Two-factor authentication is an extra layer of security for your Apple ID designed to ensure that you're the only person who can access your account, even if someone knows your password. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204915
USING APP-SPECIFIC PASSWORDS App-specific passwords allow you to sign in to your account securely when you use third-party apps with your Apple ID. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204397
FOR ANDROID USERS:
TWO-STEP VERIFICATION FOR APPLE ID If you want to improve the security of your account, but don’t have devices that can be updated to iOS 9 or OS X El Capitan, you can set up two-step verification for your Apple ID. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204152
This calendar app does what it says, but the additions are not worth the almost $40 price tag. Apple's native calendar app does everything well enough.
I LOVE this software but LOATHE Apple's mandatory two-factor authentication. So even after investing in the desktop and iOS versions of Fantastical, I never use it. So lame.
Love this app and use it every day. However, I wish the developer would add the option for having a menu bar clock along with the calendar icon. This, for me, would make it perfect.
I am sure the software is good and does all it says, but I can't see me spending USD50 (close to AUD70) on a calendar app. Yes, I use my calendar every day; yes, I use it on ipad and iphone as well as my MB Air, and yes it works out at 50c/day or whatever, but it's just too expensive. No criticism, no hassles, just a comment from someone who has to make ends meet.
7-13-17
I have Fantastical 1.3.19, and wrote Flexibits asking about a Discounted Upgrade price for existing customers, like normal developers do. They replied: "There's no separate upgrade price from Fantastical 1. We had launch pricing when Fantastical 2 was released in March 2015, but that has ended. We have an educational discount available, but there's no separate upgrade price".
They lost my business.
I bought Fantastical v2 about two months ago as a replacement of Calendar.app. Fantastical v2 works just as expected, a simply and easy to use calendar. But it doesn't provide any fantastic feature other than basic calendar event & to do item management.
Fantastical v2 handles iCloud sync with its own built-in procedure; which means you'll need to generate an authentication token from your iCloud account and assign to Fantastical. The problem is, the internet connection of my office is not very stable, especially when connecting to iCloud, and it seems that Fantastical would have trouble handling unstable connections. For the past two months I've got several system warning messages claiming the Fantastical is trying to access iCloud with erroneous or expired HTTPS certificates.
I've no idea why the developers would design their apps this way.
Fantastical does what it claims to do, but there is nothing fantastic about this third-party calendar app.
One of its selling points is natural language input, but Apple’s default Calendar.app does this well enough, if not better. Fantastical might do this better but, after experimenting with this feature in both apps, I can’t help thinking the difference is so negligible that there is no way I could justify paying $39.99.
Furthermore, I don’t add and confirm new appointments without checking whether a particular spot in their calendar is available to begin with. So, I open Calendar.app first to check. At that point, it’s faster to just drag on Calendar.app GUI or click Quick the Quick Event button to create a new event right in Calendar.app.
I sometimes use LaunchBar’s Calendar.app quick entry feature. LaunchBar doesn’t give me natural language input, but I find it much faster to go with LaunchBar’s more formatted approach. I can just type key information and tab away rather than writing a full sentence.
Besides all that, calendar, in general, shouldn’t be such a fancy big part of one's workflow. It’s just a freakin’ calendar. It should just keep my appointments and move out of my way instead of showing off animated dynamic language detection.
Buyers should be aware of the danger of getting used to a novel way of doing things on their Mac. It is a matter of time before the developer finds it either impossible or not worth the trouble to maintain it. The enthusiastic minority Mac fans will always call it “must-have utility, can’t live without.” But the reality is that the vast majority of users, even so-called power/professional users, are content with using Apple’s default Calendar.app or Google Calendar. Here is how it always turns out; You buy a piece of software like this thinking you can miraculously improve the user experiences. Then, you start spending more time tinkering and troubleshooting as you use it more. Soon, you become a volunteer beta tester for the developer while you also become unnecessarily attached to its novel, optional functionality. After a while, you stop seeing updates and bug fixes, and then you painfully realize that the developers of the utility abandoned it for one reason or another. You will be left with a lot of frustration as a result of your novel setup ripped apart only because some developers no longer felt like doing anything with it. Honestly, I’m sick and tired of this classic pattern with indie developers and wasting my time and money in the process.
I found that, in the long run, these “system enhancements” added more complexity, frustration and “needs” to tinker with, and that I was much better off just making good use of all the default features and default apps on my Mac. Any small gains in user experience are not worth the massive trade-off of depending on this type of apps.
Like (10)
Version 2.3.3
5 answer(s)
JamesHarrisPhoto
16 October 2017
Fantastical replaces not only Apple's Calendar app, but also the Reminder app. To me, it's an awesome part of my workflow. You warn buyers to beware because it doesn't fit your workflow, so buyers should also be wary that this is just your opinion, but not everybody else's.
Like
Scott-C-H-
27 October 2017
<quote> You warn buyers to beware because it doesn't fit your workflow, so buyers should also be wary that this is just your opinion, but not everybody else's. </quote>
...And it is why it's called "Review." The potential buyers deserve an opportunity to make an informed decision, not just some sugar-coated collections of "This is KEWL!!! Must have!!! So worth the money!!!" fanboi reviews.
The cold hard truth is that, for most non-geek general users just trying to get things done, so-called "enhancement apps" just don't matter. Tech enthusiasts are so enamored with their apps that they sincerely believe it's normal to spend $50 on a calendar app that does a slightly fancier version of natural language input and spend time fiddling with such app. The reality is that the time you waste fiddling with this type of app very quickly eradicates the very little saving you might get out of this kind of app. That, if it saves time at all.
Like (3)
amutavdzija
27 October 2017
Wow, @Scott-C-H-, why are you so angry at life, man? How about to each their own and whether or not I or anybody use a fancy calendar app or a bare-bones calendar app, none of that materially affects you in any discernable way.
Like
Scott-C-H-
28 October 2017
@amutavdzija
<quote> How about to each their own and whether or not I or anybody use a fancy calendar app or a bare-bones calendar app, none of that materially affects you in any discernable way. </quote>
Then, what's the point of reading reviews? Why are you even reading them? Should nobody share honest observations and thoughts about a particular product?
Like (1)
Odysseus
18 July 2018
I found Scott's review helpful. Like him, I often fall into the trap (or time sieve) of becoming a beta tester for a developer. I do appreciate the fact that reminders and events appear together in Fantastical (although I now mainly use Things 3 for tasks), and Fantastical avoids the annoyance in Calendar where you manually have to accept all changes to shared calendars. The list view of all events and tasks on the left is useful to me. I do wonder often whether I really need it on Mac OS. However, on iOS, I find it essential because Calendar on iOS is really underpowered.
The killer feature of Fantastical for me is the excellent feedback while using natural language input to create an event (or reminder). As I type, the program shows me exactly what the new event will look like, and I can tweak anything by modifying what I type or by directly interacting with the GUI. No wondering what the program thinks of my text.
I found the jump from Fantastical 1 to 2 well worth the $40 (current price) due to improvements in the natural language support. In Fantastical 2 I can easily specify:
- the calendar, using /<name> where the name can be abbreviated (my calendars only require a single letter)
- the alert time ("alert 10" or "alert 1 h"...)
These may seem like simple things but I used Fantastical 1 heavily for a long time and have been wanting these features.
I'm not yet sure how useful I'll find the integrated calendar application, but intend to give it a good try. I appreciate that it shows all events on a given day in Month view, unlike Apple's Calendar. However, I agree with others that is a nuisance that the main application must be running to use the menu bar application. I'd rather they were loosely coupled, like 1Password. Apparently Flexibits is working on this, though no promises if or when it will happen.. It is possible to hide Fantastical 2 in the dock, but then the application has no application-specific menu bar, possibly making some things harder to do.
Fantastical 1 was rock solid for me, and so far 2 is looking good. Support is excellent. I reported one minor GUI glitch and had a patch within a day.
Like (2)
Version 2.3.3
1 answer(s)
Cookie08
17 March 2017
Having the main app open so that it works is the main problem with this app if you have the menubar enabled the main app has to be open for it to work and the app to sync with the cloud???? Every other calendar app runs a background app to handle syncing and the menubar. This has to be the biggest drawback with this app. All the others can manage this BusyCal, iTriumph, Apple Calendar, Informant all the heavy weights can do this with no problems. This is a great app but for this omission I happily go back to using it. Until then I will stick with the others.
Love the app, though it is definitely over priced. With that being said, ever since El Capitan there's been an incredibly annoying bug when opening the menubar calendar while in a full screen app - click on the menu item pulls you out from your fullscreen app to the desktop.. Sierra has exacerbated the issue to the point that clicking on the menu item while in a fullscreen app does absolutely nothing. I've contacted Flexibits regarding the issue, and the claim to be looking into it - but it's been an issue for over a year now, and no fix has come through.
Like (1)
Version 2.3.1
1 answer(s)
r-owen
13 January 2017
Try selecting "Hide Fantastical in Dock". I think that will fix your full screen issues (it fixes it for me in 10.11). I think it is caused by the fact that the menu bar application is part of the main application, so when you bring up the menu bar it goes to whatever space is showing the main application. I sure hope Flexibits will separate those two applications.
It's an average app for too big price. I tried it for the last period and now won't jet it get another big portion of my money. I will find something more fantastical and cheaper, haha)
WHAT, NO UPGRADE PRICE ??? Previous users who have already paid a big price for this app. should not be gouged for $40. This price is totally ridiculous.. I have already paid for most of the features that were in the previous version and paying $40 for the additional features is a rip off. Wake up Flexibits.
There is nothing fantastical in this app. Yes, it's a funny thing for organizing and managing every event using all that stuff like nice colors and different sounds but the same can be done without paying a lot of money. I'd rather write down some several important events in my note book or make a list in Notes on iPhone. Here they ask almost $50 for that additional gaud. So, everybody has a choice.
I was one of those people who wouldn't upgrade because I thought the price to be to high and I was somewhat happy with BusyCal. It has been many months since Fantastical II was released and I have heard lots of good things about it. Wwhen I purchased Gemini II this past week it gave me the option of purchasing Fantastical II at a reduced rate and I jumped at it. I love new features and not wanting to miss any OI watched the tutorial of Fantastical II on Screencast online. I have been nothing but impressed and kick myself for waiting so long to sit down and spend some time learning Fantastical II's feature set. The only one thing I muss is the ability to attach documents to events but other than that absolutely love Fantastical II.
Yes, well unfortunately despite all the commentary on the price, unbelievably its been upped.
I am also a VERY long time user and simply wont pay $75AU for this. No matter how much I like it. If it were $20 AU I might have to think about it.
But its looking like there would be hundreds of lost sales as a result of this price structure. 100 x 20 is better than O x 75.
Please reconsider the price especially for your loyal client base.
Like (6)
Version 2.2
2 answer(s)
Svenster
03 April 2016
Oh and as I own 2 licences its going to cost me $150 AU to upgrade. And unfortunately That just isn't going to happen.
Like (3)
Aaronk
11 April 2016
Flexibits stated when 2.x came out that they were discounting the $50USD price to $40 USD for all users since the Mac App Store doesn't allow upgrade pricing. And they posted on Twitter and Facebook numerous times reminding customers of that and even making sure people knew the date the price would increase.
Also, the 1.x product was a glorified menu bar item, albeit a helpful one. So the 2.x product is way more feature rich and therefore more costly.
While I agree $50 USD is a lot for a calendar, they were always clear that the initial pricing was going to go up and the price is similar as competition (BusyCal, for example).
When Fantastical v1 was released five years ago it filled a much needed void. The last full-featured menubar calendar app, MenuCalendarClock, was already being neglected and well on the way to being abandoned. Not only did Fantastical fit in visually with the current Mac UI, it also brought the ability to add appointments and events using "natural language" instead of having to follow a rigid format. And while there are a few very inexpensive (or free) menubar calendar apps available now, they do not provide all the great features of the original Fantastical. (Nor should they based on their prices. If we want/need full featured apps, we should pay developers to build them, IMHO.)
Then along came Fantastical 2. Instead of just a menubar app it was expanded to a full-fledged calendar app. While there have been many complaints about the increased price and lack of inexpensive upgrade offering for current users, the only similarity to the old Fantastical is the name and menubar feature. The rest is brand new. If you are a heavy calendar user and have many different calendars to manage, Fantastical delivers way more than the built-in calendar app. Its flagship feature (IMO) is the ability to set up calendar sets and allow you to focus on just those calendars that are important to your current tasks. But other nice features are the ability to see all of the events on a specific date using month view instead of the truncated list you get with Apple's Calendar, plus many keyboard shortcuts (if you avoid the mouse in favor of keeping hands on the keyboard as I do.)
Unfortunately, for the majority of us (myself included), the feature set in Fantastical 2 is not needed often enough to justify the cost. I downloaded and ran the trial to discover the features listed above, but at the end of the trial didn't purchase. I think the app is indeed worth the (former) $40 asking price for people who need all the features, but I just don't need them. (Want, yes. Need, no.) Apple's Calendar app covers my personal requirements. (Though, I do understand some of the complaints about the price, but only some. We all have our threshold for the price of any product, but suggestions that Fantastical 2 should be $20 or less are absurd. $50 crosses my threshold, but I very likely would have dropped $40 on v2 at the end of the trial if not for the following paragraph.)
The real deal-breaker for me is the menubar icon, which is now (sadly) integrated into the main app. If you quit Fantastical 2, the menubar icon goes away. This seems, by far, the most confusing design decisions for the developers to make. I use my Mac for a variety of tasks and activities. I have app sets for each of those. When I'm focusing on a task, I use Cmd-Tab to switch between apps. I don't keep apps running that I'm not using. I especially don't want my calendar app to show up in the app switcher to distract me from what I'm doing. But I still want quick access from the menubar all the time. This is, unfortunately, not possible with Fantastical 2. I even checked with the developer to see if there was some way to do this that wasn't obvious, but was told no.
If you need a full-featured calendar app, it's hard to beat Fantastical 2. But if you just want a full-featured menubar calendar, Fantastical is no longer a viable solution. I wish the developers had kept Fantastical as a menubar-only app and added a new calendar app to their product line. At the very least I wish the menubar app would continue running without the full app. For now I'll keep running Fantastical v1 until it breaks and then move on to whatever the most full-featured menubar offering is at that time.
Like (7)
Version 2.1.4
3 answer(s)
tulbox
21 January 2016
I had the same issue as you and it's much improved by just setting "hide fantastical in dock". No longer via cmd-tab. However, still not enough for me to blow $70 CDN so I'll be just using v1 until it busts (I use Fantastical principally for the natural language input.
Like (1)
Odysseus
30 March 2016
Fantastical 2 can still be used as a full-featured menubar calendar (and as "tulbox" pointed out, you can hide Fantastical in Dock so that it doesn't appear in the app switcher. I used it with BusyCal as my main calendar in this way.
Like
Briand
30 March 2016
Admittedly I wasn't clear on that point. What I want is, when I'm working on something that requires I use my calendar, I want it to appear in the app switcher, but when I'm working on something else, I don't want it to appear. So, I can either (1) choose one of those options, not both, or (2) keep toggling "show in dock." This is the scenario I posed to the developer and they confirmed these were my choices. I don't feel that either one is an acceptable solution, especially since so many apps allow menubar icons to continue running when the main application is quit. Since I wrote my initial review I paid for Calendar 366 Plus and BusyCal, a combination that gives me exactly what I want. Since both were on sale at the time, I paid $20 less than Fantastical.
Great great app. Such a relief from Apple's own Calendar app and Reminders UI-disaster. This review apply to iOS as well.
Well done (and thanks) Flexi-guys!
There's a new player in town!
I just downloaded Calendar 366 | Plus, nspektor's menu-bar calendar offering. It is not as full featured as Fantastical 1.3, but neither is it bloatware like Fantastical 2.x. I want to access my calendar at a glance from the menu bar (Calendar 366 does this nearly as well as Fantastical) and to be able to enter new events without opening the Apple calendar (Calendar 366 does this, but isn't as elegant as Fantastical 1.3), but the price: $6.99! I like Fantastical 1.3's natural-language engine for entering new events, but since 99% of my calendar use is checking on the events that are already entered, I can live without it. The search for a replacement for Fantastical just got a whole lot more interesting!
To further this BS on the product, I bought version 1.x and now they've blocked you from ever downloading it. So I essentially wasted my money. This is exactly like Calendar save the menu feature.
Like (1)
Version 2.1.4
1 answer(s)
csk137
30 December 2015
If you go to Flexibits' Fantastical support page, there is a link to download Version 1.
I use BusyCal but got convinced the buy this program because it is supposed to be much more "feature rich." I used it for a brief period and I feel the opposite. There is nothing wrong with the app, just nothing special. I have asked for a refund.
You can spot those canned 5 star reviews a mile away. I bought and liked liked this app at 1.0, but found the $39 "upgrade" price insulting. The full version of 2.0 isn't worth that much money. It's best feature is usually accurate (but not always) plain language input, so how much time does that save the average user for that much $? I had already stopped using version 1 because of a consistent and extremely annoying bug, a popup every 5 minutes that said my password or login wasn't working in Yahoo! Mail account. I won't even try version 2 to see if the bug has been fixed because of the upgrade price.
I've heard that there is some compatibility issue with El Captain. However, much to my surprise, Fantastical "1" is working very well under OS X 10.11! I'm using the last version 1.3.18.
I've also used the main competitor to this program, BusyCal (as well as the stock calendar, of course). The one area where Fantastical is light years ahead of its competition is natural-language input. I can enter "Committee meeting on the first and third Wednesdays of every month at 2:30pm" and it gets it right, which no one else does.
Visually and functionally, however, Fantastical leaves a fair amount to be desired. For example, in month view, there is no prominent title to tell you what month you're looking at! Both BusyCal and the stock calendar have a prominent "October" or whatever at the top of the window, but in Fantastical, if you've been scrolling around the months, you have to hunt for the first day to see the month name.
There's no way to horizontally resize the list of appointments or reminders on the left of the screen, no way to hide it completely, and no way to move it to the right. This is a bit crazy, since its contents duplicate the pulldown menubar widget (also a deficiency), and you might very well want it to disappear. Or alternatively, to be bigger so lines don't wrap, which would give it an advantage over the pull-down widget (which, ironically, can be horizontally expanded).
But all in all, it works and the natural language input is great. Dithering between it and BusyCal, however. BusyCal's default appearance is significantly more legible, and much more customizable.
Fantastical is exactly what I've been looking for in a calendar. I've been consistently frustrated with OS X's Calendar. BusyCal was nice but didn't knock it out of the park for me.
Things that are home-runs for me:
1. The integration of "reminders" and the calendar is flawless - exactly what I need.
2. The natural language to task or calendar event is incredible and something I didn't even see myself initially using. Now that I've started I love it.
3. The OS X menu bar drop down is dynamite - gives me precisely the information I want to know about my day and I can even add events and tasks.
4. Handles different time zones like a champ (another reviewer said it doesn't support multiple time zones?)
5. Beautiful layout and information exactly where I'd like to see it
6. I got to try it out for 21 days before buying - a must when dropping $40 on a calendar.
Areas for improvement:
1. Option for brighter/bolder calendar colors. I love how the colors of the appointments are darker than OS X Cal's, however I'd like them to be even bolder (like MS Outlook).
2. Non-traditional week settings - Can I look at 10 days? This is something I loved from Busycal. Would like to look at the 5-day work week from the main window as opposed to going to preferences to change it.
3. Adding travel time like OS X Cal does (the ONE thing I like about OS X Cal)
4. MS Outlook has this way of showing you via an arrow that there are calendar events/appointments not displayed because they are out of the scroll window. I've yet to see an OS X calendar do the same, but it is a behavior I like from Outlook.
Previously, I couldn't justify the price of Fantastical as I was unable to access my business calendars from home. Since I've switched jobs to a more calendar centric organization, this software totally fits the bill. Not sure I could recommend this with the current $40 price tag simply for someone organizing their personal life. However if you use your calendar to make money and OS Xs cal is not meeting your needs, give this software some serious consideration.
Reliable, easy scheduling without a lot of fidgeting. Rely on the calendar grouping quite a bit for doing scheduling and don't have to fiddle with it because of Location Services knowing when I'm at the office or at home, or somewhere in-between.
Like
Version 2.0.7
1 answer(s)
WetNet
31 August 2015
Hello pathetic trolling moron! We get your comments. Stop trolling and let other have their say.
Tried it when it was launched. Couldn't really see any point in paying this amount of money for it at that time. I have Fantastical1 and that is all I need.
As others here I too contacted the makers of fantastical to find out if there would be an upgrade to F1, but I just got a mail about how good this new app is.
So last week I thought-OK, I'll give it a go again,. Not that I need it, but I am a sucker for "cool" apps ;)
It didn't work as expected, so I emailed them with a question. No answer. I the emailed them again after 6 days. No answer.
To me it seems that they have problems wit the support. And to buy a quite overpriced app without the ability to get answers on how to troubleshoot it ....
Nope, this is unfortunately a no-no. Sorry.
I bought version 1 for $10.50 and now the price for version 2 in the Australian App store is $AUD is $49.99
But version 1 works just fine. ??? I tried to reason with them on email to explain that they're living in fantasy land but they blithely emailed back with how extraordinary their new features were. The new version, "has a new 'mini window' and foreign language support" etc etc I'm sure all that coding was difficult for them. But in the real world, this is a calendar app worth ten bucks.
Companies need to work hard to maintain the trust of their user base. When you commit to a product you expect an upgrade path that's reasonable over time and consistent with the initial outlay. So, it's annoying to find out that the next version of a product you've been using is now 4 x the price of version 1. It feels a bit like 'bait and switch'.
Like (9)
Version 2.0.6
2 answer(s)
Malby
05 June 2015
Sorry - not '4 x the price' but '5 x the price'
Like (2)
Essadee
24 June 2015
Leaving a 1-star review because you don't want the new features. #headdesk
I bought Fantastical 2 the first day it was released. Got my money back because it was horrible, with crashers and lots of delay when (fast) scrolling
Now at 2.0.4 it was time to try again and buy a new license. Lag and crashers seems gone but deleting a new unnamed event is still a nuisance. Also app needs to be in open in background to get notifications etc. WTF
Back to BusyCal which rules :)
This is the whole damn circus when all I wanted was to see the elephants. Toooooo expensive and not nearly as user friendly as almost all the other calendars. I deleted my copy too.
Obviously a fine calendar. There's only one reason I won't use it., Unlike Calendar and BusyCal, Fantastical doesn't give the user the option of sending himself e-mail alerts, which for my purpose disqualifies it. And I agree that Fantstical is too pricey.
Like (4)
Version 2.0.4
1 answer(s)
Chocky
14 June 2015
Can't speak to version 2.0.4 but 2.0.6 can send email notifications.
I'd happily pay even $9.99 for the very handy menubar, but never the full $40. Under $10 is a kind of impulse purchase, beyond that the audience is significantly smaller.
About 1 in 4 Macs is running Mavericks OS 10.9.x right now --- Seems very premature to ditch support for all these people and only support 10.10.
Like (3)
Version 2.0.3
4 answer(s)
Pik80
28 April 2015
It seems premature for them to still be using Mavericks. What reason is there to still be on it? I haven't noticed any additional bugs moving to Yosemite and Yosemite is also more secure. I am not aware of much steeper hardware requirements and supporting old OSes takes time and resources away from the developer that could be better spent improving the product.
Like
Dana-Sutton
09 May 2015
Pik80, maybe you should have written "postmature" rather than "premature"? Obviously you are not having any problems with wi-fi and .0rBluetooth on Yosemite. But plenty of us are, and we congratulate and envy those people who have chosen to stick with Mavericks, in which these features used to work just fine.
Like (4)
Cowicide
12 May 2015
Pik80, there's a lot of reasons that 1 in 4 macs are still running Mavericks. For example, there are stability issues with Yosimite. Also, there are compatibility issues with apps, etc.
If you look at most popular software, they are compatible with Mavericks. Fantastical's approach of prematurely leaving Mavericks behind is an anomaly, not the norm.
Like (2)
Essadee
24 June 2015
Take it up with Apple for not backporting some of the new APIs into older OSes?
At $40 this app is an OVERPRICED joke. I like it enough, but after the 14 day trial I deleted. NOTHING ABOUT THIS APP merits $40. I have it on iOS (iphone and ipad) love it on those devices at those prices. Moved to Sunrise. Flexibits has lost their minds w/the price of this app. That is also $40 @ 10% off, so a $50 app. LAUGHABLE.
If you aren't merely a software collector, it's best game in town. Low friction for creating appointments, great compatibility with CalDAV and iCloud. The Calendar sets facilitate really easy scheduling for people with more than a couple of calendars. Not a tool for casuals and if you just want a menubar calendar there are several options available elsewhere — this is for users that need a smarter calendar.
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It may be a PITA, but probably much less so than having your personal data/pics stolen and circulated on the WWW.
Do you recall the iCloud celebrity photo leaks in 2014?
Those accounts were hacked because they used weak passwords and iCloud security was weak - it did NOT use two-factor at the time.
In Sept. 2014 Apple posted the following statement to its website. https://apple.co/2QYbDat
"Update to Celebrity Photo Investigation
We wanted to provide an update to our investigation into the theft of photos of certain celebrities. When we learned of the theft, we were outraged and immediately mobilized Apple's engineers to discover the source. Our customers' privacy and security are of utmost importance to us. After more than 40 hours of investigation, we have discovered that certain celebrity accounts were compromised by a very targeted attack on user names, passwords and security questions, a practice that has become all too common on the Internet. None of the cases we have investigated has resulted from any breach in any of Apple's systems including iCloud® or Find my iPhone. We are continuing to work with law enforcement to help identify the criminals involved.
To protect against this type of attack, we advise all users to always use a strong password and enable two-step verification. Both of these are addressed on our website at http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4232.
In other words, Apple says this leak wasn't due to any holes in iCloud or Find My iPhone. The celebrity accounts were specifically targeted and likely breached because of weak passwords and a lack of two-step verification."
TWO-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION FOR APPLE ID
Two-factor authentication is an extra layer of security for your Apple ID designed to ensure that you're the only person who can access your account, even if someone knows your password. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204915
USING APP-SPECIFIC PASSWORDS
App-specific passwords allow you to sign in to your account securely when you use third-party apps with your Apple ID.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204397
FOR ANDROID USERS:
TWO-STEP VERIFICATION FOR APPLE ID
If you want to improve the security of your account, but don’t have devices that can be updated to iOS 9 or OS X El Capitan, you can set up two-step verification for your Apple ID.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204152
You warn buyers to beware because it doesn't fit your workflow, so buyers should also be wary that this is just your opinion, but not everybody else's.
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...And it is why it's called "Review." The potential buyers deserve an opportunity to make an informed decision, not just some sugar-coated collections of "This is KEWL!!! Must have!!! So worth the money!!!" fanboi reviews.
The cold hard truth is that, for most non-geek general users just trying to get things done, so-called "enhancement apps" just don't matter. Tech enthusiasts are so enamored with their apps that they sincerely believe it's normal to spend $50 on a calendar app that does a slightly fancier version of natural language input and spend time fiddling with such app. The reality is that the time you waste fiddling with this type of app very quickly eradicates the very little saving you might get out of this kind of app. That, if it saves time at all.
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How about to each their own and whether or not I or anybody use a fancy calendar app or a bare-bones calendar app, none of that materially affects you in any discernable way.
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Then, what's the point of reading reviews? Why are you even reading them? Should nobody share honest observations and thoughts about a particular product?
Previous users who have already paid a big price for this app. should not be gouged for $40. This price is totally ridiculous.. I have already paid for most of the features that were in the previous version and paying $40 for the additional features is a rip off. Wake up Flexibits.
Why have I got a smiley face? I am not smiling!
I am also a VERY long time user and simply wont pay $75AU for this. No matter how much I like it. If it were $20 AU I might have to think about it.
But its looking like there would be hundreds of lost sales as a result of this price structure. 100 x 20 is better than O x 75.
Please reconsider the price especially for your loyal client base.
Also, the 1.x product was a glorified menu bar item, albeit a helpful one. So the 2.x product is way more feature rich and therefore more costly.
While I agree $50 USD is a lot for a calendar, they were always clear that the initial pricing was going to go up and the price is similar as competition (BusyCal, for example).
Visually and functionally, however, Fantastical leaves a fair amount to be desired. For example, in month view, there is no prominent title to tell you what month you're looking at! Both BusyCal and the stock calendar have a prominent "October" or whatever at the top of the window, but in Fantastical, if you've been scrolling around the months, you have to hunt for the first day to see the month name.
There's no way to horizontally resize the list of appointments or reminders on the left of the screen, no way to hide it completely, and no way to move it to the right. This is a bit crazy, since its contents duplicate the pulldown menubar widget (also a deficiency), and you might very well want it to disappear. Or alternatively, to be bigger so lines don't wrap, which would give it an advantage over the pull-down widget (which, ironically, can be horizontally expanded).
But all in all, it works and the natural language input is great. Dithering between it and BusyCal, however. BusyCal's default appearance is significantly more legible, and much more customizable.
https://flexibits.com/fantastical/faq
If you look at most popular software, they are compatible with Mavericks. Fantastical's approach of prematurely leaving Mavericks behind is an anomaly, not the norm.