3 productivity enhancements to Fantastical’s scheduling features

The latest improvements to Fantastical’s scheduling features on Apple’s devices include a detailed overview of your availability along with a new Break Time feature.

A Mac screenshot showcasing the Openings feature in Fantastical for macOS, with a popup displayed when someone requests a meeting
Fantastical’s Openings feature shares your availability with others | Image: Flexibits
  • Flexibit’s popular calendar and to-do app, Fantastical, now provides meeting templates that automatically add conference calls to your time slots.
  • Thanks to a Break Time feature, you can define time slots before or after the scheduled meeting to give you some time to prepare for the next one.
  • And with a detailed overview of your availability, it’s much easier to spot any time slots you still have open and those which are no longer available.

What’s new for Fantastical scheduling?

Fantastical 3.6 launched in February 2022 to take the pain out of scheduling meetings with smart features such as openings, meeting time proposals and more. Today, developer Flexibits has updated Flexibits with several improvements to its scheduling capability. Here are the three new Fantastical scheduling features in version 3.6.5. Read: How to stop your iPhone from deleting old calendar events

Openings availability view

A Mac screenshot showing an enhanced availability view for the Openings feature in the Fantastical calendar and to-do app by Flexibits

With the Openings feature, sharing your availability with others is s easy as a pie. Thanks to a simple interface in the app and on the web, anyone can book a meeting by clicking the desired time slot without having to configure anything. And now, Fantastical makes it even easier to understand how people with your Openings URL see your availability thanks to the following new labels: “Out of rage” (the time for the slot has passed), “Blocked” (a conflict in your calendar is preventing people from requesting this time slot) and “Available” (anyone can request this time slot). Simply hit the ellipsis icon on the Openings Templates screen to check which time slots you still have open and which ones are no longer available for others to click.

Automatic conference calls

A Mac screenshot showcasing automatic conference calls for Fantastical's scheduling features in version 3.6.5

Fantastical integrates with popular videoconferencing solutions like Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams. With Fantastical 3.6.5, you can also join Butter calls. On top of that, Fantastical 3.6.5 lets you use call services with Openings templates to automatically add conference calls to your available time slots. Super-useful and a great time-saver! You could even create different templates for online and in-person events to let participants choose between a face-to-face meeting or an online one. Read: How to print certain events in a time range in Apple Calendar

Break time

A Mac screenshot showcasing a new Break Time feature in the Fantastical 3.6.5 update

From the Flexibits blog:

Over the past few months, Fantastical users have been enthusiastic about letting others automatically request appointments, but having a bunch of subsequent meetings with different people back-to-back can prove to be challenging to arrive at on time.

A new feature, dubbed Break Time, address this by letting you choose a time interval before or after meetings that people request from you. Feel free to use this period to collect your thoughts and arrive at your next meeting fully focused.

Pricing and availability

Fantastical for iOS, iPadOS, watchOS and macOS are available free [App Store link, Mac App Store link]. The software requires macOS High Sierra 10.13, iOS/iPadOS 13 and watchOS 6 or later. To unlock all the Fantastical features, you’ll need a Premium subscription which is available with discounted monthly and annual options. The subscription comes with a 14-day free trial so you can try out all of the features before your credit card is charged. And if you plan on sharing Fantastical with up to five family members, a dedicated family subscription is available.