Best Calendar App for iOS

Source: Sunrise

A great calendar app is like a great assistant. It lets you know 30 minutes before important appointments, updates you about events with work friends and college friends, and has directions ready as you walk out the door. I can’t afford an assistant, but luckily calendars apps are a lot more affordable: some of the best options for iPhone can be had for under $9.99. These apps do a lot more than Apple’s stock calendar app, which has only one great feature: that its icon changes to show the date on your home screen. When you look elsewhere, you might find deep integration with Facebook events, one-tap access to conference calls, and even sports schedules you can subscribe to with one tap.

I've tested a lot of them to find out which one most successfully tiptoes the line between essential functionality and a massive feature list that will have you scratching your head. Inputting events, fulfilling promises, and not being late to your next date is all up to you. But there are certainly some effective apps to help you get there.

THE OVERALL WINNER
SUNRISE (App Store: Free)

Source: Sunrise

Sunrise does everything you’d expect from a calendar app — recurring events, alerts, birthdays, Google Maps directions, and more. It’s the little things that make Sunrise truly special, though: its weather indicators, photo avatars for event attendees, smart icons that change to reflect your events, its integration with popular services like SongKick and TripIt to show upcoming concerts and trips. With Foursquare integration, you can even see a history of all the places you’ve been. Evernote integration lets you see your reminders inside your calendar.

Sunrise is intimately connected to the web unlike any other calendar app, and has been adding new integrations on an almost weekly basis. You can add "Interesting Calendars" for free like World Cup games, national holidays, and sports team schedules. Sunrise’s Facebook integration is also best-in-class, which is important if your friends and family send invitations to Facebook events. This also means you won’t have to fill out a separate birthdays calendar, since Sunrise imports them (and even lets you text a friend or write on their wall directly).

Additionally, Sunrise has free companion apps for iPad and desktop — and the latter trumps Google Calendar in almost every way. There are some rough edges here, however. Sunrise has no real week or month view (it only has a three-day view and a simplistic month view). There’s also no search, though I’m told that feature is coming imminently. In total, however Sunrise manages to pack a huge feature set into a very handsome, minimal, and free package. This combination is exceedingly rare. 

Note: Sunrise calendar is also the best Android calendar app as well. Free too.

THE RUNNER UP BUT BEST FOR THE POWER USER
FANTASTICAL 2 (App Store: $9.99)

Source: Fantastical 

Fantastical 2 doesn’t have Sunrise’s many bells and whistles, but it’s so solid that it’s impossible not to recommend it. It comes in a very close second place. Fantastical is easy to read, takes moments to set up (since it imports the calendars you’ve already added to your phone), and has best-in-class language recognition. This means you can type in "Dinner with David tomorrow at 8PM at Chipotle," press "Add," and you’re done. No more poking around with dates and times. Even better, as you type Fantastical shows what else is going on in your calendar so you can plan around upcoming events.

Power users will love the app’s integration with Reminders, Apple’s to-do app that you might already be using, and the optional app badge to display the current day. The app also includes a true week view, unlike Sunrise, but offers no detailed month view. Fantastical is way more expensive than its competitors, so it might scare off all but the most serious schedulers. But, if you’re looking for an app that keeps things simple and doesn’t clutter (or provide) your calendar with any third-party services, Fantastical is a great bet especially for calendar power users

Source: Sunrise; Fantastical;