by Updating a beloved app for iOS 7 is no easy task. Simply tweaking the interface to match Apple’s lighter, cleaner style can affect the user experience in unexpected ways, but a full-on overhaul can bring its share of problems too, as features are squeezed out in the name of simplicity. Released as a new standalone app, Fantastical 2 has neither of these problems. With an effortless redesign that refines everything we love about the original version, the calendar app retains its spot at the head of the class.
Fantastical never felt much like an iOS 6 app, and its sequel is similarly unlike any iOS 7 app we’ve used. Its unique interface retains the patented DayTicker format, however the whole thing has been polished with a brighter brush. The red marker-circled date has been replaced with a solid blue dot, but otherwise it’s exactly the same, including the gestures to expand and contract the full calendar.
Flexibits hasn’t messed with Fantastical’s functionality either. The infinite scrollable agenda view — which is even more appreciated after Apple axed Calendar’s in iOS 7 — gains integration with Reminders so your to-dos are given the same prominence as your appointments. Tasks can either be entered in Apple’s app or by using Fantastical’s input screen, which has gained an extended keyboard for quicker text entry.
The natural language engine is better than ever, gracefully translating your words into appointments without missing a beat, and an overdue landscape mode shows a week’s worth of upcoming appointments at a glance. A new, animated way to send quick birthday greetings is a nice touch, as is the expanded event screen, which now includes location-aware maps.
Fantastical 2 is pretty close to perfect, but we have a couple of quibbles. We wish we could do more than just edit events in landscape mode, and we’re still waiting for the ability to set a second alert. Also, we’d love to see Flexibits spread its wings and make a universal version of Fantastical for the iPad someday.
The bottom line. Fantastical 2 shows that sequels can be better than the original.
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