Integrated Calendar(s) and Tasks/Todo's (and notes?)

[flips]

I am in need of a good calendar app that
- can access the iOS calendars (or sync with MobileMe/CalDAV and Google Calendar directly) As a minimum I need both MobileMe and GoogleCal (multiple calendars and shared/delegated calendars)
- integrates tasks in the calendar and syncs tasks/todo's with MobileMe/Google Calendar/Toodledo (at least one of these)

So far I have found Pocket Informant HD, which seems to be able to most of the above (I think?). I sent an email to WebIS asking for clarification of some details, but I am still waiting for a reply. (A bummer, since there was a MacWorld sale that I now missed. And also, not getting a response does not give a good impression of WebIS support. Hopefully they will respond sometime, and not just ignore me ...)

I wonder if maybe CalenGoo or SaiSuke also has most of the capabilities? (Maybe CalenGoo is only Google Calendar?)

(Please don't recommend Calvetica and other calendar apps that does not include task syncing. That's the main thing I miss. I'm still puzzled by Apple not including this by default.)

 

[flips]

SaiSuke Free does not seem to have tasks (only notes) and I could only choose to sync one calendar at a time. It's much slower than the built in Calendar and Google Cal only.

 

[cvice]

I'm using Pocket Informant HD and really like it. The tasks section is very full featured and does everything I need. Syncing works well with Google Calendars and tasks with Toodledo, though I don't use the Toodledo syncing I did test it. The only thing this app lacks for me is notes, which according to the developers web site is coming in the next release.

You might take a look at Smart Pad. It is pretty slick and there was a lot about it that I liked. Unfortunately the tasks portion lacked too many features for me, but it might work for you depending upon how you use a task system.

 

[flips]

I'm using Pocket Informant HD and really like it. The tasks section is very full featured and does everything I need. Syncing works well with Google Calendars and tasks with Toodledo, though I don't use the Toodledo syncing I did test it. The only thing this app lacks for me is notes, which according to the developers web site is coming in the next release.

You might take a look at Smart Pad. It is pretty slick and there was a lot about it that I liked. Unfortunately the tasks portion lacked too many features for me, but it might work for you depending upon how you use a task system.

Yes, SmartPad looks good (and even more expensive) ... Hadn't heard about that one. To bad there's no demo versions in app store ... I was just reading the App store description of Pocket Informant HD again. Does it sync with MobileMe/CalDAV directly? Or just Google Calendar? It was stated that it does not use the iOS Calendar DB ...

 

[tdmsu]

I think Pocket Informant uses google, SmartPad does caldav and ical, I think.

SmartPad has notes that can be converted to tasks, and a different way to organize tasks, based on how much time you have. You can set it to how much time you have right now, and it will suggest which task in your list could be done right now. Kind of handy, and different from most apps.

 

[zorah]

I have CalenGoo. It works only with Google Calendar which for me is fine as that's the calendar I use. It does work with the tasks too under Google. But Google calendar I *believe* has a way of being able to sync in with iCal too. Not 100% sure, but I recall trying that.

 

[flips]

I haven't found a way to get the MobileMe CalDAV password protected .ics subscribed to in Google Calendar. You can read both google and other caldav's in iCal, but not read/write to MobileMe from Google Calendar.

Anyway, anyone tested Agendus for iPad. Not too promising reviews so far, maybe ... (And also Google Cal only?)

 

[flips]

Hm, I might try to migrate away from other CalDAV's and only use Google Calendar. The CalenGoo, Pocket Informant and SmartPad looks interesting.

Is CalenGoo pretty responsive? Saw some (older) reviews complaining about sync time. It's certainly interesting, and very affordable, considering it is universal.
SmartPad looks really good, but is it worth the price difference (assuming I'm able to go Google only).

Agendus seems to have low ratings, so I'll skip it, unless someone speaks up on it's behalf ...

 

[cvice]

I use Pocket Informant and sync to Google, then on my office PC where we use Outlook on an Active Directory company system, I run Google's sync app to sync one-way from Outlook up to my Google calendar. That way I have all my meetings which are scheduled through Outlook when I'm working show up in my Pocket Informant calendar, yet keep the two separated in terms of editing. This also keeps all my personal calendar stuff away from the company's system. This works beautifully for me.

 

[flips]

Today I decided to give CalenGoo a try. And, wow, I'm actually impressed. It's quick (even on my iPhone3G), universal, stable and I really like the view, tasks integration and zooming/flipping ...
And I was greatly suprised by finding a switch to "Show iPhone/iPad calendars". Amazing, and it works well. I access GMail and another account through the Exchange connector in iOS (turn off calendars for the GMail account since that's showing in CalenGoo. And Voila! everyting is in place.
SmartPad seems to have even better notes handling and task management, but this fits my need perfectly. And the price is just right ...

Way to go!

 

[rmm1]

having spent a lot of time investigating calendar Apps - I now use SAISUKE.

Pocket informant is way too complicated - I am surprised that people use it. and surprisingly it Can't search the IOS calendar backwards.

Saisuke can search the IOS calendar backwards (slow but at least it can do it) - a feature so ridiculously overlooked by APPLE. I have yet to find out why APPLE decided to not allow backward searches when spotlight could have so easily made it a quick process.

 

[Tim SPRACKLEN]

having spent a lot of time investigating calendar Apps - I now use SAISUKE.

Pocket informant is way too complicated - I am surprised that people use it. and surprisingly it Can't search the IOS calendar backwards.

Saisuke can search the IOS calendar backwards (slow but at least it can do it) - a feature so ridiculously overlooked by APPLE. I have yet to find out why APPLE decided to not allow backward searches when spotlight could have so easily made it a quick process.

Pocket Informant is great - it's easy to use and there's absolutely no problem in searching the iOS calendar backwards. I use it every day....


I looked at several apps for this and, in the end, chose Pocket Informant HD.

I read that Pocket Informant was buggy but, in my (admittedly) limited experience, I’ve found no problems at all. It has a very nice user interface that's almost infinitely configurable - a complaint that many Forum members make about the iPad’s native ‘Calendar’ app. So you can choose how tasks, events, projects, appointments are colour coded and there is a wide choice of notifications and alarms - so, for example, you can have different alarm sounds for different categories of notifications.

Pocket Informant ‘sits on top’ of the iPad's native ‘Calendar’ app and (optionally) imports all entries that it finds there. They can be colour coded so they can be distinguished from entries made in Pocket Informant itself.

This is important because many other iPad apps use the native ‘Calendar’ app as the default place to put events, invitations etc. So, for example, if you are invited to a meeting by email and you receive that invitation in the iPad’s native ‘Mail’ app, that app can automatically (and quite cleverly) insert that invitation into the default calendar app. Without that integration between the native app and Pocket Informant, you'd have to enter those invitations all over again.

Pocket Informant has lots of ‘hidden’ features too. One of the reviewers remarked that part of the ‘fun’ of using Pocket Informant was discovering them!! The display is infinitely configurable - day, week, month, year at a time. Tasks, events, overdue tasks, projects, projects in progress etc etc all can be optionally displayed on the main calendar. Projects and tasks can have infinitely nested sub-tasks and projects - these can cleverly be integrated with GPS - so, say you needed to purchase some goods from the hardware store. Put that in a To-Do list and link it to the location of the hardware store using the iPad’s native ‘Maps’ app. Next time you’re driving past the hardware store, up pops the notification (‘Remember to purchase some 2â€x4†timber’).

Repeating events are very flexible too, with the ‘custom’ mode being infinitely (I keep using that word!) configurable. So, meetings that occur on the last Thursday and first Monday of every other month - no problem.

It can sync with external calendars - Google for example - and back-up is cool, it creates a backup file that you can email to yourself for safe keeping. If you lose your iPad or all your data is corrupted, that backup can be imported back into Pocket Informant with a single click.

You can create multiple diaries within Pocket Informant - say ‘Work’, ‘Family’, ‘Golf Club’ etc and have their entries optionally displayed on the main screen or restricted to the display of the individual diary. So it’s easy to check if there’s a clash between the golf tournament and your wife's birthday - and hide it if there is......

If you surf to the developer’s web-site, you can download for free a very comprehensive User Manual that will show you in detail what Pocket Informant can do.

The developers are constantly updating the program - always a good sign in my view.

As I said at the beginning, perhaps I'm not a particularly demanding user, but I’ve had no stability problems at all. I should add the usual disclaimer that I have no contact or other relationship with the developers of Pocket Informant other than being a very satisfied customer.

Tim
Scotland

 

[dar512]

Today I decided to give CalenGoo a try. And, wow, I'm actually impressed. It's quick (even on my iPhone3G), universal, stable and I really like the view, tasks integration and zooming/flipping ...
And I was greatly suprised by finding a switch to "Show iPhone/iPad calendars". Amazing, and it works well. I access GMail and another account through the Exchange connector in iOS (turn off calendars for the GMail account since that's showing in CalenGoo. And Voila! everyting is in place.
SmartPad seems to have even better notes handling and task management, but this fits my need perfectly. And the price is just right ...

Way to go!

Thanks for the review. I think I will give calengoo a try.

 

[No1zeppelinfan]

Another vote here for Calengoo. I tried Pocket informant and it was a nightmare, Never worked properly for me. Calengoo is perfect and I've not had a single problem with it.

 

[dar512]

Thanks for the review. I think I will give calengoo a try.

I have purchased calengoo now.

Some of the default settings on the ipad are truly ugly. You will probably want to change the defaults for landscape day view and for agenda.

Other than that I found a few minor bugs, but overall it seems to fit the bill.