I love task managers, so back in 2014, I made it my mission to find the perfect app that incorporated to-do lists and my calendar — a no-brainer if you ask me. At the time, Fantastical 2 was the best option as it allowed me to see my weekly plan and mark off tasks at the same time, a true match made in heaven.
Fast forward a decade and I’ve been using Fantastical in some form or another every day since. I love the ability to see my week without jumping between apps and it just makes so much sense to incorporate a to-do list into your calendar. For years I’ve wondered what Apple’s version of this could look like and with iOS 18 it has finally arrived.
So after 10 years of using the same calendar app, I’ve finally opted into trying another, and after 10 days with iOS 18’s Calendar improvements, I think Apple might be onto something.
Calendar app in iOS 18
In iOS 18 Reminders are built into the Calendar app meaning you no longer need to use two different applications to plan your life. Just like Fantastical, tasks are shown at the top of your day with your events below, perfect for balancing hectic schedules.
Now when you go to add an event to your calendar you can opt to add a reminder instead which feels like second nature, almost as if it should’ve been there in the first place. I really like what Apple has done here as I think the calendar and to-do list should be a single entity allowing users to find the workflow that works best for them.
iOS 18 is still in development so I don’t want to talk too much about the application itself and rather focus on the importance of merging the two previously separate apps. The latest software for the best iPhones still lets you access Reminders independently of Calendar but considering how intertwined they are I’m not sure why anyone would do that.
As it stands, one of the main reasons Fantastical is still on my iPhone is because the widget options are far superior to Apple’s first-party offering. Fantastical’s medium-sized widget allows me to see a full month calendar alongside my to-do list while Apple’s alternative only shows today and tomorrow.
One of the major changes in iOS 17 was the inclusion of interactive widgets allowing you to tick to-do lists in Fantastical straight from your Home Screen without opening the app. Calendar on iOS 18 is still lacking in that respect, opening the app when you tap the reminder. That said, this could be something added to the application when iOS 18 launches later this fall alongside the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro.
Best of both worlds… For now
Calendar on iOS 18 now does everything I need from a calendar app and while it may be far more streamlined than Fantastical I’ve only ever wanted to be able to access reminders from my calendar application.
While the app itself is now significantly improved, I won’t be able to uninstall Fantastical until the Calendar widget catches up with the third-party offering. Time will tell if I’ll need to wait another 10 years for Apple to catch up in that respect.
