CalCal|Simple Calendar vs Basic Calendar
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
CalCal|Simple Calendar
This calendar app offers a unique scrolling interface for easy navigation through your schedule. It integrates with your existing iPhone calendar and provides quick event entry with suggestions. Advanced features like weather forecasts and custom repeat rules are available with a PRO upgrade.
- Scrolling month, week, and day views
- Pop-open UI for detailed week view
- Event search and highlighting
- Integration with iPhone calendar
- Quick event entry with suggestions
- Drag & drop event rescheduling
- Weather forecast integration (PRO)
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Tapping through a busy week one day at a time? In CalCal, keep scrolling a week and it pops open right inside the month view. ■ A calendar built around scrolling Scroll the tabs at the top, scroll between months, and scroll each week in the month view. You can see all your plans just by scrolling, without jumping between screens. ■ Pop-open UI Reach the last event in a week and just keep scrolling. That week opens right up inside the month calendar, so you can see the whole week at once. Scroll the same way to close it. ■ Search Search your events by keyword. See the matches in a list, or highlighted on the month calendar. ■ Works with your iPhone calendar CalCal uses the calendars already on your iPhone, so you can start right away. ■ Quick entry Type an event name to see suggestions for events you use often. One tap, and you're done. ■ Drag & drop (free) In the month view, use drag & drop or copy & paste. In the week, 3-day, and day views, pick up an event and move it to another day or time. All free. ■ One tap to events and days Tap any event bar on the month calendar to open it directly. Tap a date to see that day's events in a list. ■ Weather forecast (PRO) See the weather and temperature next to your events, up to 10 days ahead, so you can plan around it. Also shows when rain is expected, plus sunrise and sunset. You can choose the location for the forecast. ■ Pinch between month, week & day (PRO) Pinch out or in with two fingers to move between the month, week, and day views. ■ Event order & pins (PRO) Some days, timed events matter more than all-day ones. Switch the order with a single tap. Pin a key event to keep it at the top of its day. ■ Notifications Get a daily summary of your events at a time you choose, plus alerts for each event, all set up in detail. ■ Make it yours Change the text size and colors while watching a live preview. ■ Siri and Shortcuts Open today's events, search, or a new event right from Siri and Shortcuts. ■ iPad and iPhone Duo CalCal also works on iPad. On iPhone Duo, it fits each pose: closed, open, or partly folded. ■ Widgets Check today's events right from your Home Screen. ■ Repeating events "Every 3 days," "Every Mon, Wed & Fri," "2nd Tuesday of each month," "Last Friday of each month." Set up any repeat the way you want. ■ Dark mode A calm look that's easy on the eyes at night. ■ Holidays The holiday calendar you choose appears right in the month calendar. ■ Rokuyo (PRO) Shows Rokuyo, the traditional Japanese six-day cycle of lucky and unlucky days (such as Taian). ■ CalCal PRO (one-time purchase) One purchase unlocks these features for good: ・Weather forecast, sunrise and sunset on the calendar ・Custom repeat rules ・Event bar styles and text colors ・Event order ・Pinch between month, week & day ・Rokuyo ・Pin key events to the top ・No ads ・PRO features added in future updates The calendar that shows your plans. Make your days lighter with CalCal. 【Blog】: https://calcal-app.blogspot.com 【X】: https://twitter.com/calcal_app
Basic Calendar
Personalize your schedule with decorative notes, visual charts, and customizable widgets. Easily search for events, create drafts, and export your calendar views as PDFs or images. Enhance important days with a variety of free and purchasable stickers and highlighters.
- Monthly sticky notes
- Event duration and count charts
- Event search and draft creation
- PDF and PNG calendar export
- Emoji and sticker decorations
- Customizable widgets
- Month and week views
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Your plans, with a personal touch. Basic Calendar brings your month, week, notes and recorded events together. • A little note on your month Place a sticky note on the monthly calendar. Move it, resize it and adjust the paper opacity. One yellow note in each month is free. Sticky Notes Plus is an optional one-time, non-consumable purchase for up to three notes per month and seven paper colors. It is not a monthly subscription and does not require a new purchase each month. All Access Pass and verified eligible previous supporters include this access. • Look back at your calendar Explore monthly and yearly charts by scheduled event duration, event count or sticker share. Compare with the previous month or year, filter calendars, and revisit related dates and events. These charts summarize available calendar records; they do not measure actual activity, productivity or goal completion. All-day events are excluded from duration totals, and overlapping events are added separately. Lookback is free. • Find a plan and make a new draft Search event titles with a date range and calendar filter. Create a new event draft from an eligible existing event and choose its date and destination calendar. Invited, recurring and read-only events cannot be duplicated. • Save a month as PDF or images Export an A4 calendar as PDF or high-resolution PNG images for sharing or printing. Events are off by default. Choose whether to include events and date decorations; event notes, locations and links are excluded. Sticky notes are not included. Export is free. • Make important days stand out Emoji, the basic circle and the red highlighter are free. Illustrated sticker packs and additional hand-drawn styles and highlighter colors require optional one-time in-app purchases. All Access Pass unlocks current and future decoration sets. Verified eligible previous supporters receive the same access without another payment. • Your week and Home Screen Switch between month and week views, choose device calendars, and check your dates and events with small, medium and large widgets. Personalize the app and widgets with color themes. Show Korean or Chinese lunar dates; Korean lunar dates support Gregorian dates from January 1, 1900 through December 31, 2050. Calendar access is required for events; event syncing depends on device settings and your calendar service. Date decorations can optionally sync through iCloud with the same Apple Account. Sticky notes and custom lookback titles stay on this device; sticky notes do not appear in widgets or exports. Purchase availability and local prices are shown in the app when products are available. Long-press a date in month view to add an event or decorate that date. Save calendar selections as named display sets, switch between them, and return to All calendars. Optionally sync the sets through iCloud; the currently applied selection stays on each device.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: CalCal|Simple Calendar at 100% against Basic Calendar's 0%. CalCal|Simple Calendar also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). Basic Calendar's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and rating (4.8 vs 4.5). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. CalCal|Simple Calendar sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Basic Calendar sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Basic Calendar holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 5 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 100% of CalCal|Simple Calendar's written reviews are positive against 0% of Basic Calendar's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
CalCal|Simple Calendar ships an update weekly, Basic Calendar every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | CalCal|Simple Calendar | Basic Calendar |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (4 ratings) | 4.8 (5 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 4 | 5 — better |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 2 weeks |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 44 MB | 19 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Teruto Yamasaki | dotori king |
Customer experience
CalCal|Simple Calendar
Basic Calendar
In-app purchases
CalCal|Simple Calendar
- CalCal PRO$9.99
Basic Calendar
- Simple Daily$0.99
- Highlighter Set$0.99
- Pastel Days$0.99
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- Animal Friends$0.99
- Vegetable Garden$0.99
- School Days$0.99
- Workday$0.99
- Sticky notes plus$0.99
- Remove Ads$3.99
- All Access Pass$5.99
Questions
Is CalCal|Simple Calendar free?
Is Basic Calendar free?
Which has better reviews, CalCal|Simple Calendar or Basic Calendar?
Do CalCal|Simple Calendar or Basic Calendar have ads?
Which is updated more often, CalCal|Simple Calendar or Basic Calendar?
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