Still gets 5*
I’ve been using Calendars 5 for a decade from way back when it was App of the Day on the AppStore. It’s been amazing and useful everyday since. For that I give it 5 stars and this won’t matter in a couple weeks when they pull the app for the AppStore. It’s unfortunate that the team has decided to move away from this great app but I do believe that they’re other offering is just as great. It’s just not great for me… Subscriptions are just not my thing and marking any purchase, lifetime of subscription, for an app I already had a paid version of will never be my thing! Maybe if they offered to unlock the paywall for people that already had Calendars 5 I’d keep using the alternative Calendar. But that does not appear to be the case and so as they sunset the Calendars 5 application so ends my use Readdle’s Calendars… sad face.
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The best ever……
I am totally not a tech geek, that being said, I have and love using technology that was never available to me in the 1970’s, 1980’s or 1990’s. I honestly can can say, without this App, I would be lost. I use it on my iPhone & iPad. Every time that I have a scheduled appointment or an activity, I easily immediately put the function into this App and it automatically taps my Apple Watch to remind me of the upcoming appointment. I use the month view from my phone & tablet to see what I have scheduled in the future and I have never been late or missed a function. I am currently trying to get my mother out of the 1950’s and welcome her to the App. The developers get back to you with any answers to your questions right away and the updates they put out are relative to everyday’s trials and tribulations. I really don’t spend any time writing reviews, but I have to honestly say that this App works great on all my apple devices and are honestly a game changer. I recommended in the past for the developers to develop this App for my MacBook Pro and they did!!!!!!! Only drawback is it is a separate subscription. I do not like that aspect of it but I can still use it on my computer, I just cannot add any new upcoming events from my computer (free version). I have to update the calendar from my iPhone or iPad to have it sync across the board. Buy this App, you will be glad that you did. You will never miss an appointment again.
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Response from developer
Hello there, thank you so much for taking your time and reviewing the Calendars app. We’re happy you enjoy the app as much as we do! Have and amazing day. Dima
App is inconsistent
The app is nice when it works, but I’ve had problems where I can’t edit anything, you tap on it, nothing, you hold it, and it just highlights it if you ask to edit it. When you click edit it does nothing. This can get very frustrating to edit. I’m using an iPhone 11 Pro Max. I just wish they gave you an option to dumb down the interface and an option to give you turn off stuff. Like how it automatically tries to kick a contact in when I use the term “With” just allow me to turn off all the stuff I don’t want, it just feels bloated. When it does kick out a suggestion for a contact you don’t have an option to exit out of it, it just looks like you have to use it. I don’t want that. Just make the UI less cluttered and with less pop us and it’s fine Edit: the fact I sat outside a college in 7 degree weather tells you hot disappointed I was after paying for the app and it’s built like this
2023 edit: after a few updates and better weather I’ve spent some time with this app and it’s one of my most productive apps now.
2023 edit: after a few updates and better weather I’ve spent some time with this app and it’s one of my most productive apps now.
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Response from developer
Hi there, sorry to hear about that. Please drop us a line at helpspot@readdle.com so we could help you with this 🙌 Please add “from AppStore” to the subject, so we could see your email right away. Best, Anastasiia
App is inconsistent
The app is nice when it works, but I’ve had problems where I can’t edit anything, you tap on it, nothing, you hold it, and it just highlights it if you ask to edit it. When you click edit it does nothing. This can get very frustrating to edit. I’m using an iPhone 11 Pro Max. I just wish they gave you an option to dumb down the interface and an option to give you turn off stuff. Like how it automatically tries to kick a contact in when I use the term “With” just allow me to turn off all the stuff I don’t want, it just feels bloated. When it does kick out a suggestion for a contact you don’t have an option to exit out of it, it just looks like you have to use it. I don’t want that. Just make the UI less cluttered and with less pop us and it’s fine
Edit: the fact I sat outside a college in 7 degree weather tells you hot disappointed I was after paying for the app and it’s built like this
Edit: the fact I sat outside a college in 7 degree weather tells you hot disappointed I was after paying for the app and it’s built like this
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Disappointed and Upset
$30 is a lot for a calendar app, especially when there is a perfectly functional free version. I paid because of all the glowing reviews about how I could have a wonderful integrated Tasks+Calendar experience. I also liked that my money was going to a Ukrainian company. They need it. Unfortunately the app fails in two mission-critical areas. #1 You cannot manually force the app to fetch/refresh. Any calendar/task list that does not come from a "push" server will only update every 15mins at best. An instant deal breaker all by itself. #2 You cannot add a task from the Apple Watch. Seriously? I can add an event, which I will never-ever need to do using my watch, but cannot add a task? Weak. Making a quick to-do by hitting a button on my wrist has value. BOTH of these features are available in GoodTask, which is $10 and also has a free-trial. Now I've paid $30 to integrate that experience with my calendar and got...nothing. I feel ripped off.
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I have a genius but maybe impossible idea…?
I used the Google calendar app on my iPhone/Apple Watch for several years before seeking an alternative. (There is/was a long sync delay, which ultimately became a deal-killer problem.) I’m adjusting to Calendars 5, and while I’m generally liking it with some frustrations (Google Meet is pretty clunky via Calendars 5, for instance), I have found that I have a larger problem…a problem I can only assume others are battling as well.
Due to a near constant bombardment of texts, events, reminders, etc., I find that I’m missing important meeting simply because I my human senses are becoming deaf to my phone and watch alerts. I just don’t notice them anymore. This literally happened just today. Happens all the time!
What I find myself doing (and my husband does this too) is setting phone/watch alarms when I know that I HAVE to be somewhere on time. There has to be a better way! And I suspect there is…it just may not have been invented yet.
Genius/Impossible(?) idea: somehow create a setting that enables calendar alerts that you have to actually turn off at the time of the event, like an alarm. THAT would get my attention!
Possible? 🤔
Due to a near constant bombardment of texts, events, reminders, etc., I find that I’m missing important meeting simply because I my human senses are becoming deaf to my phone and watch alerts. I just don’t notice them anymore. This literally happened just today. Happens all the time!
What I find myself doing (and my husband does this too) is setting phone/watch alarms when I know that I HAVE to be somewhere on time. There has to be a better way! And I suspect there is…it just may not have been invented yet.
Genius/Impossible(?) idea: somehow create a setting that enables calendar alerts that you have to actually turn off at the time of the event, like an alarm. THAT would get my attention!
Possible? 🤔
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Want to love, but can’t
Calendars 5, like all Readdle apps is really nice, and definitely well thought out. I use many of their apps, including Spark, Documents… the thing that drives me crazy about Calendars 5 is the way the app breaks lines of text, especially in day view. It neither hyphenates, nor pushes whole words (that don’t fit) to the next line. I find this ugly, and hard to read/understand my events. I’ve written in to Readdle support so many times on the issue, that I’ve lost count, and always get the same useless response. There’s never a fix for this issue, so either they don’t care, or don’t see it (both of which are ridiculous). Until Readdle starts helping, listening to, and understanding their customers, I can’t rate this app higher than 2 stars. I’ll continue to use Fantastical for now.
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Pretty good but widget is useless
The app is pretty good and intuitive. You can easily see events at a glance, edit etc. The widgets unfortunately are not. What I want is a month view for the widget that can show the events. What I get is a small widget literally just showing what the date is. There is also an “upcoming events” widget that only shows tomorrow. Want to see events 2 days from now? Too bad sucker!! Like I said, it’s a good app, but now I’m looking for a decent widget.
EDIT: based on the quick response from the developer, I am really impressed. Also, I’ve used it for about a week now, and my life is better for it. No joke, because I am not missing events like I was with the apple default. Well worth it.
EDIT: based on the quick response from the developer, I am really impressed. Also, I’ve used it for about a week now, and my life is better for it. No joke, because I am not missing events like I was with the apple default. Well worth it.
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Top notch
Great calendar app all around. VERY easy to distinguish between different events and categories of event through the wide array of color coding available and the information displayed for each event on the calendar - better than Google calendar or iCalendar in my experience. The task list is also extremely useful for tracking and completely daily and weekly tasks. Only complaint (and it’s a relatively big one) is that I don’t believe calendar events aren’t shareable to non-Caledars5 users, making coordination with other apps/platforms difficult. It would also be nice if task lists and items were shareable to other Caledars5 users, at a minimum.
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Have been happily using Readdle Cal 5 for 5 yrs!
Love this app. I’ve been relying on Readdle Calendar5 App for 5 years. It’s easy to use and works the way my brain THINKS it should work not the other way around (making it a well designed app). The ONLY feature I’ve ever thought missing is the ability to search for an event by name resulting in a list of those name links so I can easily find an event (past/future) without knowing the date or month or year. Having to search for something without knowing the Month or Day is almost impossible.
P.S. ATTENTION DEVELOPERS Just noticed my App isn’t syncing my old iPhone with my new iPhone😳 (I’m using two phones same phone # for another couple weeks). Wondering how many events are missing within the last couple months???
P.S. ATTENTION DEVELOPERS Just noticed my App isn’t syncing my old iPhone with my new iPhone😳 (I’m using two phones same phone # for another couple weeks). Wondering how many events are missing within the last couple months???
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Five stars..I think!
I’ve had this app since the beginning and after trying every calendar app, this is my go toooo! HOWEVER, of all 347 apps on my phone, I have to say this is the most frustrating. Every time I launch it, it’s a crap shoot as to whether it will open or not. Such as scheduling a doctors appointment before leaving the office, I try an open Calendars 5 and I get a blank screen..it happens all the time. Then I have to reboot my phone. It’s hit or miss. I try an open it, nothing. Then a few minutes later, it opens..go figure! It does it on my iPhone 6 plus, and the adventure continues here on my iPhone 12 pro max. So if you’re the type of person that likes to reboot your phone every time you want to check your schedule or make an entry, then look no further, Calendar 5 should be your choice. ~jd/
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Love the app after a week of using it!
I have always had trouble with discipline but with this app I have planned my day from when I wake up(6am) until when i go to bed(10pm) mon thru fri. Best app without a subscription, please keep it that way!
As for future request, I would appreciate it so much if the team can make the apple watch “vibrate” and/or make a sound when a new event comes up. For instance if I need to walk the dog at 6pm my apple watch will vibrate and I can just lift my wrist up. Currently I can only hear the light notification sound from my phone. It would help so much more because I wouldn’t have to always have my phone nearby and would never have to keep checking it constantly.
As for future request, I would appreciate it so much if the team can make the apple watch “vibrate” and/or make a sound when a new event comes up. For instance if I need to walk the dog at 6pm my apple watch will vibrate and I can just lift my wrist up. Currently I can only hear the light notification sound from my phone. It would help so much more because I wouldn’t have to always have my phone nearby and would never have to keep checking it constantly.
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Almost perfect
This is one of my favorite calendar apps for the iPhone. There are only 4 reasons I don’t use it as my only calendar app...
1) When you Export or Share, it doesn’t include Tasks, only Events. That makes it almost useless for me as I have Tasks every day that need to be included when exporting.
2) Also when you Export or Share, you cannot use the List view, which is my favorite. You can only use Day, Week, or Month. Week and Month cut off details from each event, and Day requires one for per day no matter how few events you have, which is a waste. So List view makes the most sense when exporting/printing.
3) They don’t have any location based reminders. This is a big one. The native iOS calendar and reminders app have these.
Other 3rd party calendar apps like Informant get around this by simply adding the ability to use the iOS event or task editor when adding new items, so you can enter options for when it’s time to leave based on traffic and current location, or when you arrive to or leave a location, etc. This is massively helpful.
4) The widget and every view mode in the app cut off every event/task title after just 1 line, so you can’t see the full title.
There should be an option for the Widget and List view to allow you to show 3-5 lines of text before being cutoff.
(Not in the Week, Month, or Day views, as those have time blocks with limited space. But the List view and Widgets are not limited to time blocks, so should be able to show more)
1) When you Export or Share, it doesn’t include Tasks, only Events. That makes it almost useless for me as I have Tasks every day that need to be included when exporting.
2) Also when you Export or Share, you cannot use the List view, which is my favorite. You can only use Day, Week, or Month. Week and Month cut off details from each event, and Day requires one for per day no matter how few events you have, which is a waste. So List view makes the most sense when exporting/printing.
3) They don’t have any location based reminders. This is a big one. The native iOS calendar and reminders app have these.
Other 3rd party calendar apps like Informant get around this by simply adding the ability to use the iOS event or task editor when adding new items, so you can enter options for when it’s time to leave based on traffic and current location, or when you arrive to or leave a location, etc. This is massively helpful.
4) The widget and every view mode in the app cut off every event/task title after just 1 line, so you can’t see the full title.
There should be an option for the Widget and List view to allow you to show 3-5 lines of text before being cutoff.
(Not in the Week, Month, or Day views, as those have time blocks with limited space. But the List view and Widgets are not limited to time blocks, so should be able to show more)
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Hope to return to the previous date selection.
The date selection function is designed against humanity. The previous date selection is very convenient and intuitive, I don't know why it must be designed in the form of a scroll wheel. When modifying the date of a time period, the operation is very annoying. I just want to simply shorten the period of time. Modify the deadline. The initial date changes accordingly. A little carelessness will stretch the length of time to one month. It is very annoying to operate, and it greatly affects efficiency.
Hope to return to the previous date selection. I have seen many other software’s date selections that have a scroll wheel that turns into a calendar shape. Only you, this software, gets rid of its dross and takes its essence.
Hope to return to the previous date selection. I have seen many other software’s date selections that have a scroll wheel that turns into a calendar shape. Only you, this software, gets rid of its dross and takes its essence.
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Great again!
With this most recent update the functionality of the location field for events is back to working as it did a version ago. Entering/searching location data is a function that I use a lot and I was very disappointed when the ability to do this was changed to the point of being useless. Now that this functionality is back I have increased my rating of Calendar 5 from three stars to five. I thank the developers for listening and making Calendar 5 a great app. Highly recommended.
Previous review: Populating the location field for an event is not as efficient or effective as with previous versions. Why was it deemed necessary to change this feature for the newest version? For my money this is a step backward. I am looking for another calendar app.
Previous review: Populating the location field for an event is not as efficient or effective as with previous versions. Why was it deemed necessary to change this feature for the newest version? For my money this is a step backward. I am looking for another calendar app.
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Latest update won’t allow single time event
I’ve used this app for years and loved it and now with the latest update when I put something on my Calendar for say Monday June 15th at 2pm it make an automatic time frame of ending the following day at 2am so that my monthly calendar looks like I have an event that lasts for 12 hrs when it’s just a Drs appointment. It clutters up my screen and when I try to change the ending time so that it all falls during the same day it automatically changes the start time. Sometime all of the automation app developers add doesn’t really help. It add something that I need to remove do what would be a simple task. If something isn’t an “All Day Event” that doesn’t automatically make it a several day event. It just means it’s an appointment for a specific time. An event that lasts several days should be the exception that I need to go a little further to do. Most events are a specific time not several days. Several days are for a block of time that I will be out of town for work or a vacation. It’s made the app a pain to use.
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Been Using for YEARS- still love it
I've been using the Readdle calendars 5 app for years now. My husband and I both have the app so we can share the calendar more fluidly. We each can view our own work calendars, but share our family calendar. It will link just about any calendar you have and any you sync into iOS/Google. The app is intuitive, but what I have always loved is the variety of color, how you can set all-day events and most importantly the way the month and week views look. It is so much easier to view than the iOS calendar that makes you dive in further to see what you have planned. I recommend the app to all of my friends who are looking for something new. It is definitely worth the expense so they will keep creating more useful apps and updating this one.
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Worthy Fantastical replacement
Like many coming by here these days, I was a loyal Fantastical user for years, and never had a reason to look at other calendar apps. Turns out that while I wasn’t looking, Readdle went and made a nice one (I’m also a Spark and Documents user, so I’m not surprised). I’ve already moved Fantastical from the top left of my 1st screen to the trash, and haven’t looked back.
Calendars 5 has the polish of those apps, and most if not all of the functionality of Fantastical that I loved. There are even things I like more, like the list view, which is a lot less jumbled. The iOS widget is also cleaner, and the Watch app, with only a little testing so far, seems pretty configurable. The week view is a little strange, but it’s not a view I use much.
A comment below nearly scared me off, around problems connecting to work Exchange servers. Note that that user had issues with connecting *directly* to the server — in other words, entering the credentials directly into Calendars 5 to get items directly from the server, bypassing the iOS internal calendar database. Calendars 5 allows this in addition to using the internal database — in other words, if you can see a calendar on the native Calendars app, you can see it in Calendars 5. For what it’s worth, I can connect to my work’s Exchange server just fine either way.
Readdle, please learn from Fantastical’s experience and don’t screw up a good thing!
Calendars 5 has the polish of those apps, and most if not all of the functionality of Fantastical that I loved. There are even things I like more, like the list view, which is a lot less jumbled. The iOS widget is also cleaner, and the Watch app, with only a little testing so far, seems pretty configurable. The week view is a little strange, but it’s not a view I use much.
A comment below nearly scared me off, around problems connecting to work Exchange servers. Note that that user had issues with connecting *directly* to the server — in other words, entering the credentials directly into Calendars 5 to get items directly from the server, bypassing the iOS internal calendar database. Calendars 5 allows this in addition to using the internal database — in other words, if you can see a calendar on the native Calendars app, you can see it in Calendars 5. For what it’s worth, I can connect to my work’s Exchange server just fine either way.
Readdle, please learn from Fantastical’s experience and don’t screw up a good thing!
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One of the Best
Besides Timepage, a calendar app that I tend to switch back and forth with Calendars 5, this calendar is nearly one of a kind. I love the functionality of the calendar, and how it looks like a calendar, and how you can integrate your tasks with it as well. It truly is one of the best calendar apps out there.
With that being said, one bug that needs to be fixed is the tasks. If you don’t complete a recurring task on time, or forget to check it off, and you do so the next day or some time in the future, it duplicates the task. This is minor, so something I can look past on.
Another bug I noticed is not being able to create calendar event if you include someone’s name in the event title and they don’t have an email address. The app glitches, and I can’t see/set any other information (such as time, location, recurrence, etc.) because the drop down menu for that person’s name remains on the screen. This needs to be fixed so that when adding someone’s name to the event title, you can bypass the email address insertion prompt.
Lastly, one feature request I have is a “Time To Leave” alert, where the calendar can read traffic reports from, say, Google Maps or Apple Maps, and alert you for when you need to leave based on how long it will take you to get to your destination.
Otherwise, this app is fantastic, and, as mentioned before, one of the best out there!
With that being said, one bug that needs to be fixed is the tasks. If you don’t complete a recurring task on time, or forget to check it off, and you do so the next day or some time in the future, it duplicates the task. This is minor, so something I can look past on.
Another bug I noticed is not being able to create calendar event if you include someone’s name in the event title and they don’t have an email address. The app glitches, and I can’t see/set any other information (such as time, location, recurrence, etc.) because the drop down menu for that person’s name remains on the screen. This needs to be fixed so that when adding someone’s name to the event title, you can bypass the email address insertion prompt.
Lastly, one feature request I have is a “Time To Leave” alert, where the calendar can read traffic reports from, say, Google Maps or Apple Maps, and alert you for when you need to leave based on how long it will take you to get to your destination.
Otherwise, this app is fantastic, and, as mentioned before, one of the best out there!
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Random timing of notifications
This would be by far my favorite calendar app based on interface and usability but for the fact that it randomly sends alerts at the wrong times, sometimes days after the event has already happened. I have contacted the developer about this a couple of times, but the problem has persisted. If they ever fix this, the app will be close to perfect. I hope they will also release a Mac OS version.
UPDATE: the app is still failing to send alerts in a timely fashion. A few days ago, I received an alert for an event that had occurred 3 days earlier. I again notified the developer. This is the only app of any kind that I use that has this problem, so I really don’t understand why the problem has not been fixed. I have lowered my rating from 4 to 3 stars because of the developer’s lack of responsiveness for well over a year in fixing this bug.
UPDATE: the app is still failing to send alerts in a timely fashion. A few days ago, I received an alert for an event that had occurred 3 days earlier. I again notified the developer. This is the only app of any kind that I use that has this problem, so I really don’t understand why the problem has not been fixed. I have lowered my rating from 4 to 3 stars because of the developer’s lack of responsiveness for well over a year in fixing this bug.
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