The battle for my go-to calendar application has been hotly contested for some time now.
I’d say the war of applications started heating up in the last few years. I’ve entered into the working world and started becoming increasingly flooded with tasks that need to be completed either at work, at home, or in the store.
My general inclination always is to experiment; testing one application after another to see if it provides even a marginal gain in productivity from what I’m currently using.
I’ve tried that with my calendar app time and time again. I’ve tried Google Calendar, Fantastical, Timepage, Structured, Daybridge, Cron, and am eagerly awaiting a beta invitation to Amie.so, magicalhq.com, and risecalendar.com.
🧐 The problem
There are certain functionalities that I simply need my calendar application to have. There are certain I prefer as well.
Application needs
- Able to collaborate with my wife: My wife and I share a family calendar, as well as our individual calendars. This helps us plan the activities we’re doing together, as well as helps us get a better understanding of what each other’s days look like.
- Able to sync multiple calendars across ecosystems: Essentially this just needs to be able to pull information from Outlook — the platform my organization, and my wife’s school use — but bonus points to the application that also syncs Apple calendars and Google calendars.
- A great-looking UI: Look — like it or not, if you don’t like looking at an app (and yes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder), you’re not going to like using the app.
- Cost-effective: Our budgets are tight right now in my household, as they are for a lot of people, so I need an app that is either free, has tiered pricing, or is at the very least budget-friendly.
Application wants
- Task management: I love using Todoist for task management (read more here), but throughout the years I have really been longing for a way to view my tasks in the context of my daily or weekly schedule).
🫠 Close, but not quite…
Over the years I’ve tried applications that were close to what I was looking for but didn’t quite stack up in all the ways I needed them to. The two most notable instances are Google Calendar and TickTick.
Google Calendar
On paper, google calendar seems to be the ideal solution for my application needs. It can sync multiple calendars, has built-in task management through Google Tasks, has an attractive UI, and is free.
Honestly, Google Calendar really could effectively be my go-to for tasks and calendaring. I truly enjoy using it whenever I start experimenting. I’ve only found a couple of downsides in my testing, and they are minor.
First, Google Calendar (at least on Mac) doesn’t have a standalone app. I should say, it’s a browser-based experience only. I could get over this pretty easily (and I should mention there is a workaround to this if you’re a Chrome user), but for someone who really prefers having one app for each workflow in the dock, this doesn’t work out great for me.
My other complaint with Google Calendar is that Google Tasks isn’t very robust. It handles subtasks, note-taking, and reoccurring schedules well enough, but there isn’t much to speak of in terms of prioritization, filtered views, or customization. After using Todoist regularly for some time now, it’s hard to go back to less robust task apps.
TickTick
TickTick was another application that was very close to having all the functionality I needed but was just a little short. My biggest complaint with the app is that while it allows tasks to be visible from the calendar view (behind a paywall), you can’t check off tasks without clicking into them first, and it’s hard to distinguish them from regular calendar events. I also wasn’t in love with the UI, and you can’t capture quite as much information in quick add as you can with some other apps.
🍎 My Apple Calendar set up
Apple Calendar has been the calendar application that I consistently keep coming back to, and constantly find myself happiest with.
The calendars I use daily are:
iCloud
- The Calendar: the definitive calendar that my wife and I share to record everything that we are doing together. This helps us keep track of all of the engagements that require both of us to be present.
- Alec: Where I document all of the events on my plate, outside of work. Shared with my wife so that she can know what my schedule looks like.
- Lexie: Where my wife documents all of her classes and events. Shared with me.
- Periphery: Used occasionally for things that could clutter a regular calendar. Where I schedule things like travel time, cooking, cleaning, or walking our dog.
Exchange
- Calendar: My work calendar, where all of my meetings within the organization get scheduled.At any given time, you’ll likely just find 3 calendars active: The Calendar, Alec, and my work Calendar. Periphery is most helpful when I have somewhere out of the ordinary I have to drive to and need to know travel time, and seeing Lexie’s calendar is nice, but really just something I reference from time to time.
Every once in a while I practice time-blocking with the Periphery calendar as well, but typically just when I’m working on an important project with a tight deadline, or if I just feel like I need a little more structure in my day. I like to keep it on this calendar because it can get busy, and I typically keep this calendar turned off.
🤔 Final thoughts
You might be thinking, “Why? Google Calendar has much more of what you’re looking for than Apple Calendar.”, and you know what, you’re right. On paper, Google scores higher when it comes to my wants and needs than Apple does, but there’s an x-factor.
Overall, with my wife and I being so entrenched in the Apple ecosystem, it just makes the most sense for both of us to use it. It’s not a perfect system, but it works.
Thanks for reading!
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