It’s official, Microsoft is shutting down the Sunrise calendar app. While it’s not going to be pulled from the App Stores, the Sunrise team won’t be updating the standalone apps anymore.
The Sunrise team fills us in on why…
Since we joined Microsoft at the beginning of the year, we’ve been working increasingly closer with the Outlook team and in particular with the Outlook Mobile team. A few months ago, they asked us to join them in making Outlook for iOS and Android the best productivity apps out there.
This is bad news for all us Sunrise users, it really is/was the best free desktop and mobile Google Calendar app out there right now.
Instead of complaining about how much this sucks, I’m gonna share with you my top 2 replacements to consider.
The first one may shock you.
Apple Calendar App (Free)
Yep, the good ‘ole native Apple Calendar. It’s free, it’s already on your Mac and if you havn’t opened it in a while you may be surprised that it has improved quite a bit over the years.
It’s easy to setup, easy to use and, perhaps the most compelling reason to give it a shot… it’s free. As you will see, my next two recommendations are are a bit pricey. That’s why Sunrise was so great, it was a well-designed and full-feature app that all of their competitors, aside from Apple Calendar, are charging upwards of $40 for.
If you want a powerful Mac calendar app, aside from Apple Calendar, you’re gonna have to pay for it.
My recommendation is to first give Apple Calendar a shot. If after a week you find yourself wishing for more features, integrations and better design, give my next two recommendations a try. You should also get in touch with an ios app developer Sydney today if you need help improving your business app.
Sidenote: Although I recommend Apple Calendar for Mac, I’m not a fan of the accompanying iPhone app. Recently I started using Google’s newly updated Calendar for iPhone app and I’m loving it.
Fantastical 2 (Mac App, $39) (iPhone App, $4.99)
Fantastical is a crazy powerful (but not crazy cheap) calendaring app. It blows all the competition out of the water in terms of features, functionality and design.
A few of my favorite things about Fantastical:
- They’ve really nailed natural language recognition. Creating events is as easy as typing a sentence. You can type “Dinner with Clay 8PM next Friday” and it will automagically add the event exactly where it should go.
- I love how it looks. It has a flat, colorful, Yosemite-inspired design that makes me happy every time I open it.
- In addition to the app that sits in your dock, there’s menubar access so you can glance at your day without having to open the full application.
- I have a ton of calendars, some shared with others, some are synced with outside services like Facebook and task list apps. I can have no meetings all day but have a calendar packed with stuff. Fantastical’s “calendar sets” feature saves the day by allowing me to group different calendars together and view them separately.
If you go and download the free trial on the Fantastical website, I promise you will fall in love with it immediately. But when the 21-day free trial is up, you’re gonna have to cough up $39. I bet you will. 😉
More Fantastical Reviews:
The Best Calendar App for Mac – The Sweet Setup
Fantastical 2 is the calendar app your Mac has been waiting for – The Verge
Fantastical 2 Is a Crazy-Powerful Calendar App for Your Mac – Wired
And of course I just fell in love with Sunrise in the last few months. 🙁 My calendar app of choice for the Mac is BusyCal. Sure wished they made an iOS app to accompany it.
You should really check out Google’s new Calendar app for iOS. They did a great job with the latest update – https://itunes.apple.com/app/google-calendar/id909319292
I totally agree. It’s especially great now that you can add reminders and even automatically schedule time to accomplish goals.
Do you know of any calendar options the allow you to use the “Sunrise Meet” feature? I love being able to create a link of available meeting times to coordinate phone calls or appointments.
Ellen, you’re describing Vyte.
Ben! Thank you! I’m checking into it now. So excited to investigate further. I really appreciate your suggestion.
To replace “Meet” by Sunrise, I have switched to calendly. Vyte.in is more to schedule meetings with few people whereas I usually schedule 1 on 1.
The most important feature for me in a calendar app is the ability to select multiple dates/times for the recipient to choose from.
In Sunrise, I would select several dates and times. This would generate a single link. The recipient clicks the link and sees a list of times I’m available. They select the one that works, and it’s instantly added to my calendar.
IMHO this was Sunrise’s killer feature. Outlook on iOS has this feature, but I’m desperate for desktop.
Do you know of any OSX solutions for desktop, Julia?
I almost bought Fantastical 2, but they don’t offer this.