While [Shawn Blanc thinks Fantastical 2 for iPhone is *the best*][1], I am more reserved. I think Fantastical 2 is tied with Horizon ((I have a business relationship with the developer of Horizon, but no business interests in Horizon itself.)) for a very close *second* place, as Apple’s built in calendar app stands atop the mountain.
First let me explain my two problems with Fantastical 2, as both can be seen with a screenshot.
1. When there are no events for the day, that is not immediately evident if you are prone to taking a quick glance. Instead one could be forgiven for mistaking tomorrow as today. (see the red arrow) I did this dozens of times while testing the app.
2. Why are all-day events given the same priority of time based events? That is, I think of all-day events more like reminders (hey garbage day idiot), than I do as appointments. I cannot be alone here. I would love to see all-day events de-emphasized a bit.
Other than that, Fantastical is a superb app. However I like Apple’s offering better for two specific reasons:
1. The live date in the icon without an icon badge is just killer. I know third-party developers cannot do this, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love it.
2. The “search view” in Calendar is excellent for my needs. (But suffers from the same problem as Fantastical’s #1 issues listed above. While they both handle “all day” events similarly, I give an edge to Apple here as I find it easier to note it is all day. That’s a highly subjective call though.)
I know a lot of people hate the new Calendar app, but I am not among them. For those that just hate it for some reason that I cannot comprehend, both Fantastical 2 and Horizon offer excellent alternatives. If pressed, I’d give a slight edge to Fantastical 2 over Horizon as I find it “fitting” better visually on iOS 7.
[1]: http://shawnblanc.net/2013/10/review-fantastical-2-iPhone/