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You are here: MacNN Forums > News > Mac News > Hands On: Fantastical 2 (OS X)

Hands On: Fantastical 2 (OS X)
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NewsPoster
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Mar 25, 2015, 09:31 AM
 
This was worth the wait. The Mac version of calendar app Fantastical has lagged behind its iOS counterparts for quite some time, but now they're the ones that need to catch up. Fantastical 2 for OS X is fast, very easy, very powerful, and hands down the best-looking calendar on the Mac. Other than that, it's fine.

Fantastical 1 for Mac was a menubar icon and that was all: you did everything, you saw everything through that menubar icon and its dropdown menu. That was good for very quickly entering a new appointment or checking what today has waiting for you, but it wasn't great for looking over your whole month. You could do it, and we did it, but the menubar Fantastical didn't completely replace our need for Apple's own Calendar. Fantastical 2 for OS X retains the menubar icon, but it also adds a more regular calendar app window.



It's regular in the sense that it shows you a month view like every other calendar app, but it does so an unusual window. It's most like Apple's QuickTime player: it floats there with all the functions you need, but without the kind of standard window furniture like title bars and scroll bars. It's classy. That's the word for this: it floats, it has crisp and well-chosen fonts, it packs in a huge amount of information yet you can take it all in with a glance. Classy.

The one place the rather exquisite design breaks a little is when you search for an event. This is much improved over Fantastical 1, in that searching leaps you to the event on the month view, and also in the scrolling list of events on the side. However, it marks out the resulting event with a solid outline. It's hard to know what else it could do -- shading is already used to show different calendars such as Home and Work -- and it snaps your eye to your search result just as you'd want. However, it looks slightly clunky, and this is of course a reason to never buy Fantastical 2 ever.



The new search is fast, though. As keyboard junkies, we particularly like how you can switch to Fantastical 2 and either enter a new event, or search for an existing one, without taking your hands off the keys. if you do enter a new one, you can, as before, write with natural language such as "Drinks with Bert Tuesday at 9am" and Fantastical 2 won't raise an eyebrow at your drinking habits. However, you can now also directly write what has often been a bane of calendars on computers: you can type "every third Wednesday in the month" and Fantastical 2 gets it.

You've picked up on the subtle hints that we like this app. That said, no calendar is an island. We've previously recommended BusyContacts as an excellent address book app, and if you use that, there is a strong argument that you will benefit from using its companion calendar application, BusyCal. That is a strong calendar that has earned itself a fan club, but Fantastical 2 is better. Its natural language entering of events is more, well, natural. It's quicker to enter new events, and search for existing ones.

Fantastical 2 has its own companion apps: there isn't a Fantastical-based address book, but there is Fantastical 2 for iOS. It's not a universal app, you need a separate Fantastical 2 for iPad and for iPhone. One tremendous thing about Apple's OS X and iOS is that the core calendar database it provides is used by all these third-party apps too. So you can try them all without having to export your data from one and import it to the next. It also means you can use any of the Fantastical 2 calendar apps, and never even try the others.

Did we mention that Fantastical 2 is gorgeous? If you're going to stare at a calendar all day, it should look this good.

Fantastical 2 requires OS X 10.10 or later. Its regular price will be $50, but at time of writing it is reduced to a special launch price of $40 on the Mac App Store.

Who is Fantastical 2 for:
People with taste, and a need for a strong calendar.

Who is Fantastical 2 not for:
If you're already invested in alternatives such as BusyCal, it's hard to justify spending more money on an alternative -- but we think you'll be glad you did.

-- William Gallagher (@WGallagher)
( Last edited by NewsPoster; Mar 25, 2015 at 09:51 AM. )
     
James Katt
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Mar 25, 2015, 10:20 AM
 
BUSYCAL and BUSYCONTACTS do a much better job than Fanstatical 2 on OS X. Obviously, all three can work together. Fantastical can work in IOS while BUSYCAL can work on OS X.
     
Sabon
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Mar 25, 2015, 11:21 AM
 
So it uses the Apple calendar database so you can switch between Calendar OR Fantastical 2?
     
Paulrm
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Mar 25, 2015, 12:02 PM
 
Sorry, but I've recently paid for three separate versions of this software, and if they're not going to offer an upgrade path, I'll make do with the older version. It's ridiculous to pay full price for this software again.
     
asandlin
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Mar 25, 2015, 12:30 PM
 
Desktop Informant, by the makers of Pocket Informant, is a much better deal. Highly robust calendar and task manager; pairs beautifully with the mobile applications; access to iOS and iCal data, as well as several other available sync sources; is currently available in Early Access release for 40% discount. I'll keep using Informant, and skip Fantastical.
     
pairof9s
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Mar 25, 2015, 12:53 PM
 
Paulrm: supposedly there is a discount, but for everyone. It's $10 off from the standard $50 price for short term. Either way, I'm with you...I'd pass on paying that much again for this app. This seems to be a problem for many existing users.
     
sidewaysdesign
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Mar 25, 2015, 02:00 PM
 
As useful as this app has been, $40 for an upgrade — chiefly for a facelift, for my needs — is unusually stiff, especially when you consider this app has been part of Mac bundles for $10 (for the entire bundle) within the past year.

I will not be churned...
     
Charles Martin
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Mar 25, 2015, 02:32 PM
 
I really love Fantastical on my Mac and iOS devices, but as is normal for me I'll wait until a sale happens before investing. On the bright side, if you recently bought Fantastical for Mac and would like to get the new one instead, you can apply for a refund on version one. Also, it seems likely that they will stick with version 2 for iOS for a while, so the Mac price is probably all you'll pay for updates from them this year.

I agree the price is quite steep, but for those like me who want to wait for a sale, the current version continues to work fine. You can also send the developer your (civil) thoughts on the price and why you won't be upgrading if you're so inclined.
Charles Martin
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tvalleau
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Mar 25, 2015, 03:46 PM
 
All I can get it to do is crash as soon as it looks at my icloud calendar. It may be the best thing since sliced bread, but I've yet to even see its interface. Fortunately, Fantastical (v1) still works. I've sent the crash log to the developer.
     
lifjoy
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Mar 25, 2015, 05:16 PM
 
Crashes for me too-- when trying to import calendars from iCloud and Google. Didn't they test this?
     
   
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