My October 2024 Calendar App Hunt Begins
So October next year is packed for me – vacations, client deadlines, kid stuff, all mixed together. My old calendar app? Totally useless. Kept missing stuff. Time for an upgrade, right? Figured I’d test-drive the big names everyone talks about for handling a crazy month like that.
Started simple: downloaded all the free versions on my phone. Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, Fantastical, and some newcomer called Timepage. Deleted my old junk immediately. Fresh start for a messy month.
Actually Using These Things Day-to-Day
First up, Google Calendar. Typed in “October 31st dentist 9AM”. Worked fine. But man, adding the kid’s Halloween parade? Pain. Kept trying to auto-correct “parade” to “meeting”. Drove me nuts swiping away suggestions.
Tried Apple Calendar next. Looked clean, but oh boy… Put in my flight to Rome on October 12th. Wanted to add the confirmation number? Nope. Tiny text box only. Had to shove it in the notes section like some 2005 nonsense.
Fantastical got fancy. Just typed “Dinner with Mike Oct 15 7PM”. Boom, created the event. Natural language thing actually worked. Felt smart. But then… Tried moving the event by dragging? Screen went bananas. Swiped the whole week away somehow.
The Real Deal-Breakers
- October 31st Visibility: Google’s “month view” made Halloween look like a postage stamp. Outlook actually showed the word “Halloween” without squinting.
- Offline Access: Airport testing! Flight delayed October 22nd – opened Apple Calendar. Blank screen. Zero sync. Timepage? Worked. Knew my gate change before the airline did.
- Reminder Madness: Scheduled “Buy pumpkins” for October 28th. Fantastical popped up… at midnight. Woke me up. Actual nightmare fuel.
Conclusion – What Stuck?
After two weeks of forcing myself to only use one app per day, Outlook won. Sounds boring, I know. But here’s why:
- That “focus time” block thing? Blocked out October 8-10 for project work. Didn’t let ANYTHING interrupt.
- Shareable family calendar? Wife updated soccer practice time Oct 19th. Changed on my phone before I even looked. Magic.
- Saw the entire month of October laid out CLEARLY. Color-coded work/personal/kid chaos. Didn’t miss a single Halloween event.
Felt like finally seeing my month through a clean windshield instead of smeared mud. Uninstalled the others yesterday. Done wasting time. Now my thumb knows exactly where to jab for adding “October 2024 tax filing deadline.” Shudder.