We all know how important it is to stay organized and not miss a meeting or appointment. Daily planning can be difficult without the right tools and maintaining an active planner is even harder. Free calendar apps allow you to make organization a priority in your life and can facilitate personal scheduling and professional business planning. Here are some apps you can download that will help you stay on top of your personal and business-related schedules.
Outlook
Cost: Free or by Microsoft 365 subscription ($69.99 per year for one person)
Outlook is a combination email and calendar service. It comes included with any Microsoft 365 subscription, or you can sign up for the free online version.
Microsoft’s calendar functions much like Google’s, in that you can create and color-code multiple calendars. You can also add locations and set automatic reminders, so you can keep track of your schedule on the go. With the Android and iPhone mobile apps, it’s easy to take Outlook with you anywhere.
Also, because Outlook includes email, you can easily share your events and availability with your contacts. Plan meetings, invite your contacts, collect RSVPs and keep people updated, all from a single calendar.
Apple Calendar
Cost: Free
Apple Calendar is much easier to use if you have Apple devices, but it makes the list because it’s easy to learn and has plenty of customization options. You can:
- Create and color-code calendars
- Add event location, travel time and other details
- Invite people easily using your Contacts app
- Check invitee availability to choose a time
- Set alerts
- Personalize your day, week, month and year views
Calendly
Cost: Free or by subscription ($8 per user per month for Premium or $12 per user per month for Pro, if billed annually)
Calendly is not a calendar; we consider ourselves more calendar adjacent, but we do make your calendar work for you instead of against you. We make scheduling easier by eliminating the back-and-forth emails usually involved in finding a meeting time. Just enter your availability and Calendly creates a link that will take people to your schedule.
You can send that link to anyone you choose or embed it into a web page. Anyone who opens the link can see the slots you’ve marked as available and pick the best time for them. Both participants get a confirmation email and, if you have a paid plan, you can set up personalized reminders as well.
Calendly also has a robust team functionality that makes it great for work purposes. The tool pools team members’ availability so you can schedule group meetings or auto-assign one-on-one meetings with an available team member.
You can integrate Calendly with many of the tools your team already uses, from Slack to Zoom. If you integrate with Google, Outlook or another supported calendar, Calendly will automatically add your events to that calendar.
Calendar.online
Calendar.online is an easy-to-use web-based online calendar from Germany. Instead of a login, the calendar is accessed via access links. For each calendar, several access links with different permissions can be created. For example, with reading authorization for the family sub-calendar and writing authorization for the work sub-calendar.
This makes Calendar.online particularly suitable for teams and groups. Team members only need the appropriate access link to the calendar and don’t have to set up their own accounts.
Calendar.online offers a live demo that can be accessed with one click to test all available features.
Download: Web | WordPress Plugin
Key Features:
- Different views: day, week, month, year, list, planner
- Easy access via access links (optionally password protected)
- Several access links with different authorizations (reading/writing /adding) can be created per calendar
- Sub-calendars in different colors
- Compatible with all end devices (Android, iPhone, iPad, PC, Mac)
- Import and export features
- Email reminders
- Email notifications about schedule changes
- Print feature
- PDF export
- Website integration
Pricing:
- Free plan
- Paid plan starting at $5.90
SolCalendar
SolCalendar can be called a universal application. It claims to be an all-in-one digital solution having a basic calendar functionality combined with some other advanced features, such as weather forecast for a specific day.
The application supports Google Calendar, as well as tasks, widgets, lunar calendar and even Foursquare.
Those searching for a calendar application to cover just everything in its functionality, SolCalendar is a program to consider. There are a lot of interesting things in this application; the program does an excellent job working in “all-in-one” mode.
Test SolCalendar – the application is available for free. You can test it out without purchasing the service.
IRL Event Social Network
One of the most unique apps on this list is the IRL Event Social Network app. As you can guess from the name, the core focus of this app is social networking. Unlike other social media platforms, you can consider this platform to function similar to Meetup.com. It’s a site where you can connect with other people within your area that share a similar interest.
IRL is that while also providing a convenient calendar for you to schedule events and plan out your day. Though due to it being a secondary focus, you’re lacking a lot of the syncing aspects that other apps have on this list. Regardless, because of this huge social feature, it’s worth considering for those who want to make more connections.
Download IRL Event Social Network here.
Apple Calendar
This one is a favorite for Apple product users on Mac or iOS. Apple Calendar is the default calendar app on all Apple devices and helps you to update your schedule on iPhone, Mac, iCloud and iPad. It has a clean and simple user interface to let you focus on your upcoming events and get organized with its calendar app.
It adds integration on several other iOS apps with drag and drops functionality. You can create new events, edit titles and descriptions, set location, create a note, set reminders and invite meeting members all in one apple device.
Key Features
- Manage multiple accounts in one calendar
- Change color code
- Invite people and get invited on other’s calendar
- Integrate event map by adding the location
- Include travel time to the event location
- Invite team and family members
- Integrate with Google
Pricing
- Free on Mac and iOS devices.
Google Calendar
Starting with Google Calendar is a no-brainer. The free app is tightly integrated with Gmail, Google Contacts, Google Keep, and the rest of the company’s suite of productivity apps.
The feature list is extensive. Sharing calendars with other users is a breeze, you can color-code single appointments and entire calendars, and there’s a helpful Find a Time meeting scheduler which can scan all invitees’ calendars for a mutually available free slot.
But while Google Calendar is the most recognizable app in the sector, it is not without its drawbacks. Power users complain about the lack of labels and tags, and—critically for some users—there’s no offline support when using the calendar on a desktop.
Google Calendar is also available on Android and iOS.
MyStudyLife
If you’re a student (or a teacher!), you need to check out MyStudyLife.
As a sector, education relies heavily on calendars. Thing such as class timetables, homework deadlines, revision sessions, exam dates, and coursework submission all need to be logged and monitored.
The developers have created MyStudyLife with these types of agenda items in mind. The app supports week and day rotation timetables, comfortably manages school holidays and new academic years, and offers a full-featured task manager.
The app has a central dashboard which displays information from all your categories at the same time.
MyStudyLife is available on the web, Android, and iOS. All the platforms have an offline mode and sync to the cloud.
TimeTree
If support for calendar collaboration is essential to you, check out TimeTree. It’s another of the best free online calendars.
The app’s specialty is being able to share an event with anyone else, even if they are not a TimeTree user. You can also share and collaborate on entire schedules, such as a kid’s calendar or a work agenda.
To aid collaboration and event organizing, TimeTree lets you pick what type of calendar you are working on. For example, there are relationship calendars (for two-person sharing), a friends’ calendar (which has a built-in chat feature), work calendars, and more.
TimeTree also has a native reminder and note functionality. Like the calendars, you can share your notes with other users and work on them collaboratively.
CloudCal — An Android Calendar App with a Unique Design
Image Source: APKPure.com
CloudCal is a calendar software for Android users that has an ingenious and yet simple way to show your schedule on any given day.
The app developers invented the so-called Magic Circles, which mark each day on the calendar with a colored arc. The color of the arc and its fullness show you the type of task you need to do, and how many tasks there are during the day. So, if the arc is full, brace yourself—you will be busy!
CloudCal basic version is free for all Android users, but there are more features behind the in-app purchase. However, in most cases, the free version will be just enough to fulfill your basic needs.
The free version of this calendar management software offers free gesture commands, customizable views, and you can sync it with Google Tasks, which may come in handy.
Key Features
- Magic Circles
- Easy Integration with Other Services
- Different Calendar Views Available
- Built-In Smart Bot
- Works Fast with Maps, Locations, and Directions
- Add Attachments to Events
- Can Be Synced with Other Android Calendar Apps
- Instant Availability Setting
Pricing
The basic version is free, while the paid plan starts at $3.49 monthly.
Conclusion
Keeping track of your activities can be a daunting task without an assistant. If you use one of the many free-planner apps, it’ll be much easier for you to stay on top of your various responsibilities. These tools provide you with the necessary aid to get you organized.