Fantastical 2: New Look, Complete Calendar, and Price Increases
Mac: Fantastical has long been one of the best calendar apps for Mac, and today the new version comes with a ton of new features, a new look and, unfortunately, a less affordable price tag.
Like the previous version, Fantastical works as an interface to iCloud, Yahoo and Google Calendars, as well as reminders. It features a natural language parsing engine that allows you to enter calendar events using natural language, such as lunch with Jim tomorrow or 3 pm alarm. The big improvement in Fantastical 2 comes in two forms: a new design with a new lighting theme and a full calendar window. As with the previous version, Fantastical 2 can live on the menu bar, but now you can pull that out and get a complete calendar that you can search by your week, month and year. You can now also customize calendars for a specific location, or switch between different calendars with the press of a key, which should be useful if you manage different calendars at work and at home.
The new design also blends in with the exterior of Yosemite. You can switch between light and dark themes, and the app looks cleaner overall. You will also get Yosemite-specific features like Hand-Off, sharing extensions, and a Today widget. There is a catch, however: the previous version of Fantastical was already priced at a whopping $ 20, and the Fantastical 2 doubles that price at launch, starting at $ 39.99 and going up to $ 49.99 after a limited run. It’s a robust app that does exactly what it’s supposed to do without a glitch, but its price tag can be hard to justify unless you’re really into the new features.
Fantastic 2 ($ 39.99)