In the chaotic world of business meetings, happy hours, and dinner with friends, it’s hard to stay on top of it all without losing your mind. But thanks to a piece of technology that has been around long before the invention of the smartphone, we are able to manage our hectic schedules with a calendar. But which tech giant produces the best calendar app?
If you own an iPhone, you have two choices. You can use the built-in calendar from Apple or can download Google’s calendar for the app store.
To cut straight to the chase, Google is the clear winner in almost every way shape and form. If you are looking to stay organized and be efficient, the choice couldn’t be clearer. Check out the results from our competition below!
Ease of Access
Now, both Apple and Google deserve an A+ on the convivence factor because they are free to use and can be synced with accounts you already have active.
If you use any G Suite services like, Gmail, or Google Drive, you already have access to Google’s Calendar. This calendar can be opened up on any web browser and can be downloaded straight to your iOS or Android devices. Unfortunately, you cannot download the Google Calendar app on Mac OS and Windows 10 computers, bummer.
As mentioned earlier, Apple’s calendar is already preinstalled on every iPhone, iPad, Mac computers, and any Apple device connected to your iCloud account. Just like Google’s Calendar, it can also be opened up on the web.
The downside for Apple is that you can’t find their calendar on any Android or Window devices.
Ease of Use
If your calendar app isn’t easy to use, you might as well delete it off your phone.
Google does an amazing job laying everything out with a colorful, easy to view style, that makes everything visible with just one glance.
One of the best features is the “schedule view” which makes every event easy to see and is organized chronologically.
Typically, Apple products are known for their ease of use, this did not translate over to the calendar app.
Unlike Google’s big, bold, and colorful design, Apple’s text is small and hard to read. This makes checking events on the fly almost impossible. I wouldn’t be surprised if this has caused people to miss crucial events.
When it comes to ease of use, Google comes out on top.
Integration
If your calendar doesn’t communicate with your email, or messaging app, then it’s not very useful at all.
Take Google’s Calendar, for example, it will scan your emails and automatically add items to your calendar that are related to events. So if you can an email about a flight reminder, doctors appointment, etc. Google will have you covered.
Apple’s calendar communicates well with everything under Apple’s ecosystem but is still not as universal as Google’s technology. On top of that, it won’t atomically add events to your calendar like Google.
Event + Calendar Sharing
There is a reason that most companies use Google as their go-to calendar, and that’s mainly because of its sharing functionality.
There is nothing more difficult than organizing meetings with people from different companies spread all over the world, but with Google’s sharing feature, it’s a breeze.
It’s incredibly intuitive and easy to use. Simply add the email of the guest you want to invite and bam! It’s done. And the best part of this? It can be shared with people who don’t have a Gmail account.
Apple only allows you to invite people who are already saved in your contacts. Good luck sending out a speedy business meeting invite under those parameters.
Calendar Notifications
When it comes to notifications, both Apple and Google do a good job making sure you don’t forget your event. You can customize these to come via email or push notifications directly to your phone.
Google takes it a step further by adding another layer of customization that Apple doesn’t. With Google, you can set these notifications to be default across all of your events.
Apple doesn’t allow these default settings making it so you have to set notifications for each individual event. However, Apple does get a bonus point here for offering a special notification called “time to leave.” This notification will alert you of heavy traffic and advise you when to leave, pretty cool notification for commuters!
And the winner is…
After everything is said and done, it is very clear that Google has the go-to calendar app for all of your needs. If you’re busy in the corporate world, studying in college, or trying to stay in touch with friends, Google’s Calendar will make sure you stay on top of everything!
