Best calendar apps for iPhone 2023: Apple Calendar and alternatives

Published on

April 24th, 2023

Author

Tina Zayas

Best calendar apps for iPhone 2023

1. Apple Calendar

Best overall calendar app for iPhone

Apple

Pros: Easy to use, Syncs across all Apple devices, Clean

Cons: Limited in features, Basic functionalities, No meeting scheduler

Features: Travel Time, Create events from other apps, Siri integration

Cost: Free

Apple Calendar is preinstalled on iPhone and Mac devices. I chose this to win best overall because the onboarding is seamless and it is tightly integrated with other iPhone apps like Messages and Notes to instantly create events from text. It’s a solid option for the everyday user and syncs across devices automatically. There are no ads, and while it isn’t as feature-rich as other apps on this list, it gets the job done if you have basic scheduling needs.

You can connect other calendars such as Outlook and Gmail to manage your personal and work calendars efficiently in one app--there is no limit to how many calendars you can sync! For in-person events and appointments, you can use the built-in Travel Time feature to get notifications when it’s time to leave. This is a great feature that helps you stay on time and keep your appointments. Lastly, the iPhone app has a variety of widgets you can add to your home screen to manage your schedule at a glance.

2. Fantastical

Best calendar app for power users

Fantastical

Pros: Available on iPhone and Mac, Multiple calendar views by day, week, or month, Built-in weather forecast

Cons: Subscription-based pricing model, High learning curve, Mac and iOS only

Features: Natural language event creation, Timezone support for frequent flyers, Siri integration, Apple Watch integration

Cost: $4.75/mo for individuals

Fantastical is a highly customizable calendar app loaded with features. The learning curve intimidated me, but the love for this app is so widespread I had to find out why. Fantastical integrates with Siri, Apple Watch, Reminders, and Shortcuts so you can use natural language input to quickly schedule events or create tasks with voice.

Calendar Sets are a handy feature, allowing users to separate work and life calendars or also group shared calendars together to either hide or view them all at a glance. No more OOO calendar clogging up your week view! Year view is also available and creates a heatmap of your busiest days throughout the year.

Read Fantastical reviews from our community

3. Any.do

Best for calendar app for task tracking

Any.do

Pros: Easy to use, Connects with +5000 apps, Voice input, Smart suggestions based on past behavior

Cons: Free version is light on features, No subtasks, Limited view options

Features: Meeting scheduler, Color-coded events, Recurring events

Cost: $2.99/mo

With so many competing responsibilities and workstreams (household duties, motherhood, clients, deadlines!), I use my voice to create tasks whenever possible. Any.do syncs your Apple reminders into the app so you can “Hey Siri” your heart out with tasks.

Recurring events and tasks help you easily put weekly or monthly action items on autopilot, while the My Day view helps to focus users on the immediate action items. Calendar views within the app include agenda view, day, 3 day, and week. No month or year views here unfortunately, but when smashing tasks is your top priority, it’s best to focus on the immediate future.

Read Any.do reviews from our community

4. Google Calendar

Best calendar app for Google users

Pros: Seamless integration with other Google iPhone apps, Clean interface, Customizable notifications

Cons: Limited customization, Must manually create events and tasks, Privacy concerns

Features: Meeting links for video calls, Automatic event creation, Calendar sharing, Color coding

Cost: Free to use

Google Calendar has been living rent-free on my home screen since 2015. It’s clean, functional, and works perfectly with other Google apps such as Maps, Drive, Meet, and Gmail. I love when events magically appear on my calendar based on confirmation emails in my inbox. The menu is easy to navigate and quickly toggles between calendars.

Color coding is an option within the app but it’s not the strongest feature and requires some effort to implement the theme at the event creation. You can easily share your calendars with others and limit the privacy of your event details as needed. Timezone support is also included and has greatly improved over the years, but it’s still not perfect.

Read Google Calendar reviews from our community

5. Sunsama

Best calendar app for iPhone and Mac

Sunsama

Pros: Intuitive, Integrates with task apps, Weekly planning view

Cons: Cost could be a barrier for some, Must be used in conjunction with the desktop app

Features: Unified day view, Timeboxing for tasks and emails, Slack integrations for followups

“If Google Calendar and Trello had a baby it would be Sunsama,” says its founders and they’re not wrong. Sunsama is clean, powerful, and action-oriented to help you get your tasks done each day. The app encourages you to set time blocks for tasks and realistic daily goals. It also syncs with popular task-tracking apps like Notion, Jira, Asana, Todoist (and many more!) so you can use it for work without onboarding your entire team.

Task status in Sunsama will also stay in sync with your external task apps so your team will know when you complete tasks. You can also integrate with Slack and easily create follow-up tasks from your most important messages. Thank you, next, Slack reminders.

Read Sunsama reviews from our community

6. TimeTree

Best calendar app for families

TimeTree

Pros: Easy to use, Collaborative, Free options

Cons: Limited customization

Features: Attach documents to your events, Pin important events, Easily check collaborators’ availability

Cost: $4.49/mo

TimeTree is my new go-to calendar app. It’s the absolute best option for families and was an easy win for this category. Roles allow you to collaborate more easily with the important people on your calendar. You can add recurring reminders for monthly or weekly events on your calendar. Memos allow you to bucket specific tasks and to-dos.

You can also search the app to find memos, events, or tasks. Calendar chats are another tool to plan and discuss specific things related to your tasks and events with collaborators. Pinning important events is great for families because let’s face it, kids can be unpredictable so your schedule might change sometimes. Pinned events are the can’t-move items in your schedule and it helps to see that when you’re rescheduling other events and appointments.

Read TimeTree reviews from our community

7. Cron

Best-designed calendar app for iPhone

Cron

Pros: Meeting scheduling made easy, Excellent timezone support, Private

Cons: High learning curve, No shared calendars, Still invite-only

Features: Command-line tool, Connects to Google Calendar, Availability sharing

Cost: Free (for now)

Cron won the 2022 Golden Kitty Award for the #1 Mobile app of the year. The keyboard-first app is beautiful in light and dark modes and there are subtle gestures that make the app a delight to use. I like how they display timezones in the scheduling tools and it is easy to quickly know what time it is where my teammates are.

Availability sharing works very well and it’s a lot like Calendly. You can mark holds on your calendar, share the slots, and schedule said meetings very easily. The app also works with your personal and work email so you can manage your life in one gorgeous app. Another top feature is the menu bar calendar which displays when your next event starts and allows you to join with one click.

Read Cron reviews from our community

8. Dawn

Best minimal calendar app for iPhone

Dawn

Pros: Beautiful,100% private, Minimalistic, Lovely gestures

Cons: Free version is limited, Light on features overall

Features: Spaces to organize different aspects of your life, Task tracking, Customizable

Cost: $1.49/mo

Dawn doesn’t have a lot of features but it does a few things well. The app is uncluttered and a pleasure to navigate. Swipe left to see different calendar views of your days and year. Spaces are available to premium users and this feature allows you to create different folders and organize your tasks and events in specific buckets.

You can use these to plan a trip, track projects, and build a prioritized bucket list for your to-dos. If you are the kind of person who gets screen overload when using your phone, I recommend trying Dawn to see if it’s a good fit. The app is free to download and you have the option to pay monthly or a one-time payment. The price is hard to beat!

Read Dawn reviews from our community

Which calendar app for iPhone is best for you?

Work-life balance isn’t just a buzzword. A great calendar app can be a powerful tool for improving your time management in your personal and professional life. Whether you’re a parent, student, CEO, or someone who just wants to be more organized, a well-designed calendar app can help you juggle your commitments and achieve your goals. Explore all of the best calendar apps for iPhone on this list and let us know if you found a new favorite!

What makes a great calendar app for iPhone?

Ease of use - I looked for simplicity and clear onboarding flows to determine the ease of use for all the apps on this list. The apps with a higher learning curve are noted above, but the time spent learning is well spent when you unlock the features and functionalities of the calendars.

Integration with other apps - No one is on an island, your calendar included. I looked for apps that had great integrations with email clients, productivity apps, and to-do lists.

Notifications - What’s a calendar without notifications and reminders? A great calendar app has easy-to-read notifications and helps you keep your appointments. All the apps on this list check that box and then some!

Design and UI - Ease of use is one thing but when an app is also easy on the eyes you come back to it and use it more. I paid close attention to the overall design, gestures, sounds, and menus in each app.

Calendar views - A great app should give you multiple calendar views to see your day, week, month, and year and quickly get a sense of your schedule.

How we tested the calendar apps

Product Hunt is a launchpad for thousands of calendar apps and integrations so naturally, I started with a quick search for the most popular and highly rated calendar apps on the platform. From there I compiled a shortlist of the calendar apps to download and test for a few days each.

I went through onboarding flows as intended, studied each app to learn the different features, and performed my usual calendar functions to manage my week. Things like scheduling meetings, creating and editing events, logging my to-do’s, and managing my notifications helped me to understand which apps to select for this list.

Comments (6)

Beige

influencer

hi @tinaciousz, thank you for the great list, I was actually looking for such solutions myself! Maybe, you also have some recommendations regarding scheduling tools as well?