# InstaCal: Menu Bar Calendar — user reviews > 25 indexed App Store user reviews of InstaCal by Higher Bar, LLC. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/instacal-menu-bar-calendar/id1247292524/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/instacal-menu-bar-calendar/id1247292524.md ## Newest reviews (5 of 25) ### 4/5 — One request *2020-10-17* This app is pretty amazing and almost perfect for me. I was hoping to request one addition. Can you please add a way to hide the appointment/reminder panel in case a user doesn't need it? When I click on the calendar to drop down - I was hoping it would show Only the calendar and not cover up the rest of the screen with appointments/reminders. I disabled all calendars but I still get a large empty box that covers up the stuff I'm working on in the background. Thanks! ### 4/5 — Handy Calendar *2020-09-04* The calendar is always at hand; easy to access and close, allows one to see appointments and tasks whenever needed. Of all the calendars I've sen, this one integrates exceptionally well with just about every other calendar I have used. It syncs immediately behind the scenes and picks up everything in Google Calendar, so that I am alwyas up to date. I would love to see each event expand when double tapped. There is only one negatiive: I wanted to clean my macbook pro and needed to delete the app to do so. As far as I can tell, there is no way to delete the app once it is installed. Being able to delete the app is actally important. In this case, one of my calendares was malfunctioning and I needed to delete them all to identify the problem area. This app just cannot be deleted once you install it. I think the programmers shoiuld allow the user to delete it if necessary. ### 4/5 — No Support Contact for InstaCal *2020-04-06* So far the app is functioning pretty well, but there is no way to contact support or access online help when something doesn't work as expected. For example, the app won't let me add an event to either my Outlook or Google calendar from InstaCal, but only to my local calendar. With that said, it does a good job of displaying events that are already on my Outlook and Google calendars. ### 4/5 — Love this app! *2018-06-09* I’ve been using Fantastical for years (purchased), then they came out with Fantastical 2 and wanted me to RE-PURCHASE at full price! Junk! So that’s when I came across this app! WOW! Almost perfect replacement and in some ways better. I do wish you could customize colors even further, but how they have it is pretty great too. What I do miss is the ability to just type in the top (event, time, date) in natural language and it just plops in the calendar. That would make this calendar BETTER than Fantastical. Also, to ask of a huge favor to the developers, I like the strike through option for past events, but that doesn’t hold in the settings after a reboot of the computer. It goes back to default ‘none’ hopefully you can fix that in a future update, then 5 stars for sure. Great job! I’m very happy with this purchase. . ### 4/5 — If you prefered the old menu only Fantastical... *2018-04-25* I was disappointed when Fantastical decided to become a full-fledged calendar app. Frankly, I don’t need Fantastical's bells and whistles. I’ve tried a few menubar calendars after Fantastical and I parted ways and InstaCal is the first that I’ve found to be agreeable. It does what it is supposed to do: it’s a calendar that sits in your menubar, looks nice when you open it up, and makes adding events just a little bit easier. It is not able to ‘read’ text the way Fantastical does, unfortunately, but for me that’s not a dealbreaker (although it would be nice if it could!). I’ve given 4 stars instead of five because the one thing this app doesn’t do consistently is respond to trackpad gestures. You can scroll up and down through events, but you can’t swipe (or anything else) through the months. Also, two taps should allow you create an event, but instead you have to click the plus sign at the bottom of the window. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Crashes frequently and doesn't sync my calendars *2022-11-15* I would've prefered to avoid leaving an negative review, but when I tried to use it, I got a, "you need an invitation to join this private Community" Anyway, our company switched to Microsoft 365 and the calendars are only viewable online or with Outlook. I was hoping this app would be a work around. Unfortunately it's not. I get an error when I try to sync my calendars except for one. The app also crashes anytime I try to change the color of more than one calendar at a time. The last issue si the menubar display. It doesn't change color if the menubar turns black so the app basically disappears. It would also be nice if you could have time as well as date appear. I can only hope that Dato or Calendar 366 get Microsoft 365 support. ### 1/5 — It’s garbage - I bought it, I trashed it! (no support available!) *2020-06-10* I had very high hopes but much of this application simply doesn’t work. Most apps give a short free trial period but not this one and now I know why. What’s worse is that when you click on support it takes you to a Google+ page. Uh-Oh Google+ was shut down months ago! Then, if you look on the developer’s website there is no support or even a contact link. So the developer gets his $6 ( not even worth pursuing a chargeback). So be warned, don’t make the same mistake that I did. ### 2/5 — I wish this worked a little bit better *2023-05-03* I hate to be critical because the concept is so great, but at the end of the day I can't give this a great rating if my calendar doesn't sync properly. I tried first reaching out to app support, but the link in the app store doesn't work. Developers: I will absolutely change this review to 5-stars, but a major bug needs fixed. When I click the refresh button, my calendar does not update. I might make a subtle change in google calendar such as adjusting the time of an event to earlier or later in the day, and it just doesn't update in the widget. Or sometimes, events from the past don't show up. A small bug which wouldnt affect my rating but you may want to know is that the color options don't work properly. There is no way to "submit" the color you have chosen for a calendar. Sometimes it randomly updates, 99% of the time it just doesnt change and I don't know how to fix the color change I made. This is a cool simple widget for quickly checking today's date and today's calendar events, but without correcting the integration, I will slowly stop using this app and eventually remove it from my menu bar if my calendar is exactly correct when I check this. The difference between an event time change could mean being late to (or missing) a zoom meeting with a client – which costs me business and my livelihood. If the updating / integration gets fixed, I will give this 5 stars and vouch for it to friends. Until then, it's a 1- or 2-star app at best. ### 2/5 — My Fantastical Replacement *2020-07-17* All good things come to an end. I switched to Calendarique because InstaCal’s menu bar location always showed up on the far left (and hidden) instead of being able to be moved (even with the help of BarTender). InstaCal started asking me to relog into my Gmail account after reboots and making me go thru my calnedar selections again and again. For a tool designed to save time I was wasting a lot so I’m out. >>My Original Review My Fantastical Replacement I switched to InstaCal after Fantastical moved to a subscription model. It is a very functional easy to access your calendar from the menu bar app. You shouldn’t have any qualms about getting it to work with your Google Calendar - works great for managing my family’s 5 calendars. Feedback for the developer: - Please work with BarTender 2.0. Your menubar location seems hard coded to stay on the left. BarTender is a great app for organizing placement (I move you next to my clock and cardhop). Everytime I turn on my Mac you go back to your old location. - Please add a text field to the top of the drop down calendar that lets you enter text and then choose either a + icon to add it to your calendar, or a magnify glass to search for the item in your calendar. - Please add a shortcut to open a calendar app/website. You could let folks choose in preferences if it is Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, BusyCal, etc. I find myself double clicking on entries hoping to open the full calendar but I have to do it manually. ### 2/5 — Can't save change and no support *2020-05-05* When trying to edit a reminder, I can open and change it but there is no way to save the change. The only option is to delete it or click back into the main window and lose the change. The App Support line goes to Google which is no longer available. There is no email or telephone number for support. I have to make the needed change back in Mac Reminders. ### 2/5 — Useful Features, But it's Also Spyware *2020-01-25* I actually like this app. It worked well, and it had some very usefull features, like seeing my monthly calander right from the menu bar. But in my opinion, it wasn't developed to be as usefull for the user as it is for the developer and their third parties. This is how they make their profits. PLEASE READ THEIR PRIVACY POLICY BEFORE DOWNLOADING, if you have any concerns about being watched. Personally, giving access to my personal schedule, along with other important information are things I prefer to keep private. Once I figured out what was really going on, I decided to remove InstiCal from my Mac. I've really learned how important it is to take the time and actually read, or at least skim Privacy Policies as a practice. ### 2/5 — A Disappointment *2020-01-05* Works fine as a basic calendar but it doesn't carry over reminders to the next day if you don't finish them. Readdle's Calendars 5 on the IPhone does that with ease and it makes it a joy to use. With this app, if I don't finish a reminder, it stays "stuck" in the original day that I was scheduled to finish it. On top of that, that old, unfinished reminder disappears from view because the calendar defaults to the Today view on top. Disappointing. ### 2/5 — Only in English... *2019-11-18* Only in English... Even foreign date cannot be displayed. In 2019, it's weird, isn't it ? Ezycal does not have this issue but he does not allow to see reminders. A merger of thess two apps will be great. ### 3/5 — It’s OK! *2018-06-24* The application is brilliant in terms of the functionality and helps me to get a quick glance at my upcoming schedules. My only complain is that I couldn’t see a way to control the font size of the calender events. Having such a huge font size is certainly annoying to eyes. Well, may be I missed the setting in preferences but it should have in the under major preferences of the application. Also, I wish there was a time frame setting that would allow to display events and reminders within that particular window. I usually care more about events scheduled only for the current week. Again, I didn’t see such a setting in preferences. It would have been a five star app for me, but the lack of font customization and event window is a big diasppointment. ### 3/5 — convenient, but.. *2018-03-26* the fact that this app can be easily accessed thru the menu bar at any time without opening any application makes it very convenient, something the Apple Calendar app should step up their game on. However, the biggest annoyance is that if or when you try scrolling to future or past months, or selecting a certain date from the drop down menu cal, it will take you to a completely different month, opposite of what you’re looking for. So say i want to see when my next meeting is, i will scroll down, or simly select the date but it will take me back 3-6 months, if not the year before, instead of showing me the actual day and date i want. this is very annoying and inconvenient. i don’t know if it’s simply my computer, i hope iCal can fix it because i was unable to make a refund after the hassle. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — LOVE IT!!!! *2026-08-23* InstaCal is *insanely* awesome! I literally use it every single day. It makes adding new events to my calendar so quick and easy right from my laptop. No more fumbling back and forth between my computer and phone just to add/edit something to my calendar. It’s simple, convenient, and has genuinely made my everyday workflow so much easier. LOVE it! Thank you for making an awesome app! :-) **Developer response:** Thank you, this made our morning. Adding an event without reaching for your phone is the whole reason InstaCal exists, so it is good to hear it lands that way. ### 5/5 — Très patraque *2026-06-15* Une très bonne application qui ajoute un pti plus fort sympathique à MAC Os. L’utilisation est très simple et s’intègre très bien à la barre de menu. JE recommande **Developer response:** Merci beaucoup pour ce retour, ça fait vraiment plaisir. Content que l'intégration à la barre des menus vous plaise. ### 5/5 — Très bonne app. *2023-01-24* Très bonne app. Un bogue ce mois de janvier noté january 2022 mais février est bien en 2023. Un affichage permanent sur le bureau pourrrait être une option utile. ### 5/5 — Use it all the time! *2022-07-15* This is such a handy app. The only thing I wish is that it would stay where I put it on the menu br. I like it on the right, but every time the computer restarts it moves all the way to the left. I have. lot of menu items so it is often hidden on the left side. ### 5/5 — Works how I expected. *2020-04-15* It does what it claims - I have a calendar with all the days of the week when I click it as a bonus it pulls in my Outlook calendar from work so I see my upcoming mettings too. I got used to clicking the calendar on my PC machine to see the days of the week. This does that. Anything that save me even a single click I give a thumbs up - ### 5/5 — Very Nice *2020-01-25* This is a very nice, easy to use, addition to my Mac that provides me with easy access to the informaiton I want in a condensed view. Very nice job. I do wish there was some additional options in the setup procedure to allow me to select "just the current day" view only and maybe put a space between the days with events in list view to make it easier to distinguish that upcoming events are on othger days. But over-all, very nice and well worth the few dollars it cost. ### 5/5 — Peut encore s'améliorer mais déjà très bien ! *2019-04-29* Un suggestion pour améliorer la lisibilité des rappels : un petit filet de séparation ou encore mieux, une légère différence de teinte entre chaque rappels. Sinon c'est parfait ! ### 5/5 — Extremely Handy App *2019-01-25* I've been using InstaCal for over a year. Easy sync with both multiple calendars, and calendar apps. Accessing your calendar from an always available MenuBar dropdown menu is a simple, obvious, and elegant way to effortlessluy check your schedule, add appointments, etc.. Much simpler, IMO, than than opening your full calendar app. Apple should hjave built this feature into MacOS.'s Date & Time app lomg ago.. But they didn't Totally worth the investment. ### 5/5 — Indispensable ! *2017-12-13* PArfaitement synchroniser avec le calendrier APPLE. très utile en barre de tâche. Excellente app. Je recommande vivement ! ### 4/5 — Missing support *2021-05-01* As mentioned, this is a good replacement for the original Fantastical. I had trouble setting it up initially but eventually was able to get it to sync with an Office365 account. However, all events show up 3 times. I cannot find any online help and there does not appear to be a way to contact the developer. This is very annoying and so only 3 stars. If there was a way to fix this, i would rate it 4 stars. It does not show the details of the events (links, notes, etc) and this would keep it from being 5 stars for me. Update: I found that by deleting the birthday and holiday calendars, events only appear once. Loss of the holiday and birthday calendars is not critical as this computer is used for work. So upgraded to 4 stars. Links to meetings sometimes are clickable, sometimes not. Would be nice if this were fixed or more consistent. --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-01.*