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Published on
January 29, 2020
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Updated on
December 30, 2020
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Read time
15 minutes
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Agile project management expert, Fred Wilson, recommends the Best Calendar Apps to boost your productivity in 2021 in this article.
Getting things done in a timely manner depends on the way you plan your day. If you feel like missing out on different scheduled tasks, perhaps a To Do List app can render help. On the same note, some people keep a notebook for their checklist items, while others just rely on their memory (which is not recommended at all).
The use of calendar applications is the main reason that keeps your day organized and supercharge your level of productivity. As the age-old expression goes: ‘Time is money’, you must leverage various technology-based solutions to make the most out of your time and stop the delays in your work schedule.
Calendar apps can help to schedule events, tasks, meetings, and customer calls in advance to gain control over your work. Many people have switched to calendar tools but still, some users don’t use calendar apps on a daily basis. They find calendar applications hard to use. Besides, the cost and a lack of functionality factor can also be intimidating derivatives at users’ end.
There are a lot of calendar apps available in the digital space – Which one to choose to fulfill your needs? That is an important question. This article will help you to decide which calendar application best fits your needs as a manager, entrepreneur, business person, and freelancer.
Usually, these are the factors we look for when choosing the best calendar application:
This factor is very important to choose the best calendar app available, and it is considered as the main yardstick on which we rated different applications.
People, who usually experience a busy work schedule, need to choose an application that is easy to use. You don’t need to read long manuals on how to use the calendar applications. The application usage process should be self-explanatory – so much so that even an amateur could use it.
In that context, get software that provides basic templates on how to use the app for different industries and different professionals.
This one is obvious. Choose the calendar app that provides the greatest number of feature sets and functionality. However, you need to check if the given features in the calendar application are of use to you.
There are a lot of calendar apps available in the market right now. So, you need to choose wisely which features matter to you and help in organizing your work schedule in the desired manner. The main feature that is necessary for the best calendar app is the ability to share and give other people access to your schedule.
You should choose a calendar application that doesn’t burden your pocket. This way, you can use it for a longer time period. It serves no benefit if you start using one calendar application with the greatest number of features, and end up leaving it because it didn’t have the value factor going on.
It is your job to choose the best calendar application for your personal use and for your team. Let’s dive in and see the best calendar apps review.
nTask is one of the best calendar app that streamlines tasks, activities, projects, issues, and risks on a beautifully integrated in-app calendar. It provides end-to-end tasks and workflow management, hence enabling you to become productive like never before.
There is a huge number of calendar features and functionality available in nTask, with compatibility on different devices such as iOS and Android apps.
nTask gives you the control you need to manage your meetings, events, and tasks on your calendar. As you schedule a meeting using the nTask calendar app, the organizer can control which attendees to invite and who can make additions to the meeting items.
These meeting items are, but not limited to meeting agenda, follow-up actions, discussion points, and meeting attendees, etc.
The user experience of the nTask application will help you to start the calendar and scheduling process with ease. The user interface of the nTask helps you to get the calendar app understanding in just a few minutes.
It provides many other tools that help in managing tasks, projects, meetings, time tracking, issue management, and risk management which is an additional benefit given to supercharge your workflow management with the help of a calendar.
Here is the list of nTask calendar app features:
You can manage all your tasks, schedules, meetings and workflow on nTask. Signup Now!
The best thing about Google Calendar is that you can create multiple calendars in one app with your Gmail or Google account. Google Calendar integrates with every other application available in the cloud (SaaS) and the desktop market.
It is the official (default) calendar for the Android phones and other Android devices. Many people think that there is nothing special about the Google Calendar app is it is for FREE on Android devices. The app gives ease of use like no other apps available. It is ranked number 2 on our list because it is super easy to use and gives hundreds of integrations.
Download: Web | Android | iOS | Chrome Extension
Microsoft Outlook Calendar is the scheduling functionality available for Outlook users that can integrate your contacts, emails and other Outlook event features. With Outlook Calendar, you can create events, appointments, group schedules and organize your meetings.
It works as a personal task manager with simple to use UI. You can send the calendar to anyone in your team who can view and manage their schedules or subscribe to one another’s calendar to get real-time updates.
Outlook Calendar can be used in iOS and Android devices. The Mac version of the Outlook is not so handy (because it is Windows Friendly app), but Microsoft is working to make it better. This calendar tool can make you productive if you are a Windows lover and work more on desktop apps.
The Free version of Outlook can fulfill your basic needs like drag and drop options to create a meeting or a task, and sending a meeting request. You can subscribe to the Pro version of Microsoft Office to get more functionalities.
Download: Web | Android | iOS | Windows | Mac
Want a DIY printable calendar? Check out hundreds of templates on Canva:
HubSpot’s meeting scheduling tool provides users with a personalized booking link they can share via email to invite people to view their availability and book time. When someone schedules a meeting, it will automatically be added to your Google or Outlook calendar and pushed to the free HubSpot CRM.
Every time someone books a meeting with you or your team, their contact information will be added to the CRM where you can track and manage the relationship. Aside from this, you can also use HubSpot’s free email marketing tool to further nurture that relationship.
HubSpot Meetings is also part of the HubSpot All-In-One WordPress plugin. By adding this plugin to your WordPress site, you’ll gain access to HubSpot’s free CRM, marketing, sales, and customer service tools, as well as HubSpot Academy – a free online educational resource.
This one is a favorite for Apple product users on Mac or iOS. Apple Calendar is the default calendar app on all Apple devices and helps you to update your schedule on iPhone, Mac, iCloud and iPad. It has a clean and simple user interface to let you focus on your upcoming events and get organized with its calendar app.
It adds integration on several other iOS apps with drag and drops functionality. You can create new events, edit titles and descriptions, set location, create a note, set reminders and invite meeting members all in one apple device.
Any.do (Previously called ‘Cal Calendar’) is a calendar app that is available on nearly all the devices you can think of. It is available on Android, iPhone, iPad, Mac, Web, Siri, Amazon, Windows Desktop, Slack, Chrome and Firefox extensions, and wearable gears.
It works as an all-in-one application to manage your goals, tasks, notes, reminders, and schedule. Any.do can help stay on top of the loop with its elegant calendar app. It gives location-based reminders and real-time notifications on your schedule.
Just like Apple Calendar, you can add the travel time to location-based events with Any.do. You can set custom colors to your special events or appointments to not get drowned in a clutter.
Download: Web | Android | iOS | iPad | Mac | Windows
Fantastical is a cool calendar app by Flexibits. If you are looking for the best paid calendar app for iOS and Mac then this app will fulfill all your needs. It is nice to have a calendar app for Apple products, but you can also download it for the desktop as well.
It is an easy to use calendar app with a colorful view that gives you more controls. You can quickly add events to your calendar from the menu bar with the event details and enables you to see the agenda items for your set event. In the event details, you can add links, invitees, notes, and location. You can integrate it with other Apple apps such as Safari and Maps.
Fantastical app can fetch the location directly from your event details and adds to your event. You can localize your Fantastical app into six available languages.
Download: iOS | Mac | Apple Watch | Desktop
Thunderbird is one of the best free Linux calendar apps. This tool is also used for emails and gives the calendar functionality. You can get the Thunderbird from the add on and also directly use it from the app. It gives you a tab for tasks, email, and calendar. You can easily use it for team communication, management, and appointment scheduling.
The Thunderbird Lightning gives you a calendar tab where you can view the complete summary of all the events in your schedule. It also shows the events planned for the future. You can easily search for your events with the time filters and built-in categories for the client calls, birthday, special events, etc. It is the best choice for Linux users and can be downloaded for Windows.
If you are looking for a calendar app that can work on multiple applications, then 24me will be your option. It works as a mobile assistant which delivers a unified interface for appointment booking, meetings, notes, and your tasks.
You can easily synchronize your Outlook, Yahoo!, iCloud and Google Calendar to have one view for all your other apps. You can also integrate other social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Also, you can integrate your banking apps with 24me. 24me can make your hectic routine calmer and smoother.
It is the best calendar app for teachers and students. Scheduling the course work is really important for both students and teachers to finish work on time. The educational sector needs are a bit different than the corporate sector, so using a dedicated calendar app for students and teachers helps the people in this field.
The students in universities usually follow a semester system based on a yearly quarter. With such apps, they can easily schedule their studies and course work making them more productive. My Study Life has made it easier for educationists and students to get more done with calendar apps. It is available on Android, iOS, and web. You can set the lesson plans, log assignments, keep track of exams, and create a task to do with ease.
Download: Web | Android | iOS | Chrome Extension
TimeTree is one of the best calendar apps used for team collaboration. When you create a new calendar on TimeTree the application will ask you the purpose of the calendar such as; for work, relationship, group, friends and family, or personal calendar. It gives the capability to add comments and start a discussion on the calendar plan. You can easily share your calendar schedule with others as well.
With the help of TimeTree you can create multiple calendars to display your events on the overlay and gives a complete view of your schedule. Moreover, you can choose different colors with the help of color codes and import other’s calendars as well.
Key Features:
Pricing:
Looking for a calendar app for your family? Then Cozi will fulfill your needs to book your family schedules. Family schedules are difficult to manage and have many conflicting appointments. It is designed for families that are quite busy and find it hard to get time for them. You can consolidate different calendars in one view, create checklists, shopping list and set the schedules.
Cozi lets you create the main calendar and you can share it with anyone you want within your friends and family. Each participant in the calendar schedule is given a different color so it is easy to identify the responsibilities. Moreover, you can collaborate with your family as well with Cozi in-built messenger.
Woven is number 13 in our best calendar apps list. The Woven app helps you to manage your time efficiently by bring all your personal, work, and family calendar in one place. Woven gives you the power to control your calendar with smart features such as scheduling links, templates, tags, analytics, insights, group polls, and calendar sharing.
You can easily sync your Woven calendar with multiple accounts like Gmail and Outlook. This gives liveliness to your calendar scheduling activity and helps you focus on your deliverables. Woven is working on to improve their app background with more widgets and also gives a dark mode view with smart fields.
The group poll feature gives an edge to Woven app, which is not offered by other calendar applications, where you can ask others for the best time for a meeting and share the availability with your colleagues.
Download: Web | Android | iOS | Mac | Windows
BusyCal 3 is a third-party iOS and macOS calendar app for Apple lovers. It was founded in 2007 by Dave Riggle and John Chaffee. It is a flexible calendar application that help you save your daily time scheduling your work and events. It gives multiple calendar views in terms of List views, Days, Weeks, Months, and Year. You can set your calendar and gives it a view that fits your needs by setting custom colors, font style, and time format.
It gives you the ability to manage your to-dos in BusyCal 3 and assign a date or time to them. You can easily view and edit the calendar details in the information panel. Moreover, you can use smart filters to organize and look for your desired task or schedule, and save the searches.
Calendar.online is an easy-to-use web-based online calendar from Germany. Instead of a login, the calendar is accessed via access links. For each calendar, several access links with different permissions can be created. For example, with reading authorization for the family sub-calendar and writing authorization for the work sub-calendar.
This makes Calendar.online particularly suitable for teams and groups. Team members only need the appropriate access link to the calendar and don’t have to set up their own accounts.
Calendar.online offers a live demo that can be accessed with one click to test all available features.
Download: Web | WordPress Plugin
Timepage is a visually appealing app designed by the makers of the Moleskine notebook.
The app has similar minimalistic visual elements that you may be familiar with from the Moleskine notebook.
The interface is clutter-free and elegant, with a red, white, and black color scheme.
Timepage works with the iPad, iPhone, and Apple Watch.
It is one of the top calendar apps with features you may not find anywhere else. It includes time tracking with a smart “heat map” solution that lets you know you’re really busy during the week.
Download: iOS
Just as the name suggests, Business Calendar 2 comes as a user-friendly application meant for business and casual folks alike. Well, by “casual”, I meant home users. No offense to casual people out there.
Anyhow, Business Calendar 2 combines a smart user interface, tons of widgets, and the ability to manage multiple calendars. If you are into multitasking and team management, this tool is the right fit for your company.
Right off the bat, this app offers multiple templates and pre-installed themes. Take your pick according to your requirements. The multi-calendar system comes with a nice layout so that you do not have to scroll over to each individual calendar.
The free version pretty much covers it all. However, if you would like the ad-free experience, then go for the paid version.
Download: Android | Huawei App | Amazon
You may want to get productive with calendar apps, but nobody wants to spend long hours tweaking around with minor level intricacies. You need to choose a specific calendar app that allows you to create repeat/recurring tasks and/or events.
Furthermore, if you have knowledge about a good calendar app that deserves to be listed in this review let us know at fwilson@ntaskmanager.com
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