Next Stop: A lean and private Calendar, please (Apple Calendar)

[PinkElephant 8,119]

After we got first a privacy nightmare, and then the probably most bloated calendar on earth, could we please now get a lean, secure and friendly calendar as our choice ?

Apple Calendar integration, please !

 

[ProfMac 1]

I would love this, too. I hope it is in the works somewhere. 

Followed by Evernote's own calendar someday -- perhaps I am asking for the moon, but it would be cool too 🌙 . 

[mackid1993 730]

Just give me CalDAV so I can use any calendar I want. Many of the more privacy oriented providers that aren't end to end encrypted use CalDAV (as does Google Calendar as a matter of fact). It's an open standard and should be easy to support given they already support Google Calendar.

Fortunately I use Fastmail and right now sync my Fastmail calendar to Google calendar via an ics subscription.

If Evernote ever supports 2 way calendar I can switch it around and drive Google Calendar through Fastmail, so either way my current workflow won't change and I can still benefit from my calendar in Evernote.

[Jon/t 1,293]

I think Apple Calendar is being looked at but the API is very restrictive. Not as open as Google & Outlook. Apps like Fantastical use the local APIs on the device. I think they are investigating though.

CALDAV would be great but a freaking nightmare to work with. I spent some time with it once and it almost made me cry! Problem is different folk use all sorts of different end points and calendar discovery points and I remember going back and forth with the Vivaldi browser developers about integrating Zoho Calendar with it and they managed it, but its not right, titles of calendars are wrong. At least with well thought out specific service API you know what you're getting.

[PinkElephant 8,119]

I don‘t really believe in this „Oh, Apple makes it hard“ storyline. If I can sync it by syncing to Google calendar first, and then the Google calendar to EN, I don‘t see a reason to take Google out of the chain (wich is an excellent idea, no matter where).

Things 3 has an interface to the calendar, but it is on device, I think. Can be a solution for those of us who work Apple only. Sometimes 80% quick is better than 100% never.

About CalDAV: This can work, but only if the user runs a proper setup, syncing it to a central server hosting the calendar. I think this more or less dooms it - how many users are able to configure this properly and securely, including remote access ?

[VincentC 266]

10 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

About CalDAV: This can work, but only if the user runs a proper setup, syncing it to a central server hosting the calendar. I think this more or less dooms it - how many users are able to configure this properly and securely, including remote access ?

Not me!  Like @mackid1993, I'm a Fastmail user.  When they introduced CalDAV, I spent an hour trying to decipher how to use it.  I barely got past the first screen.  Then I decided that my time would be better spent going on a motorcycle ride.  I use paid service Calendar Bridge to sync Outlook to Google and then Google to Evernote.  It works so well that, instead of trying to get the new Outlook / Evernote integration to work, I'll probably just go on another motorcycle ride.

Vinnie

[mackid1993 730]

26 minutes ago, VincentC said:

Not me!  Like @mackid1993, I'm a Fastmail user.  When they introduced CalDAV, I spent an hour trying to decipher how to use it.  I barely got past the first screen.  Then I decided that my time would be better spent going on a motorcycle ride.  I use paid service Calendar Bridge to sync Outlook to Google and then Google to Evernote.  It works so well that, instead of trying to get the new Outlook / Evernote integration to work, I'll probably just go on another motorcycle ride.

Vinnie

I have a free solution I wrote about in this post: 

I expose my Fastmail calendar as an ICS subscription and use this Gapps Script to sync it to Google Calendar every 15 minutes: https://github.com/derekantrican/GAS-ICS-Sync

It's super easy to get set up and then you never have to touch it again.

As per using caldav with Fastmail, in your client you just enter: https://caldav.fastmail.com, your username and an App Password generated inside Fastmail. It's that easy. I use it with DavX5 on my phone so I can use the native calendar app with Fastmail.

 

[mackid1993 730]

I'm also not 100% sure but at least at some point iCloud calendar supported CalDAV for 3rd party clients. I believe it's just https://caldav.icloud.com and you need an App Password.

Evernote is essentially just a client connecting to the calendar, so CalDAV support would enable it to work with pretty much anything but Exchange (which it now supports kind of).

[mackid1993 730]

With two way calendar sync coming I found a new solution for myself. Fastmail allows management of external calendars, they support Google Calendar, Apple Calendar as well as any CalDAV provider. It's pretty awesome.

I made a new Google account with the same email on my custom domain as my primary Fastmail address this way calendar invites I send come from the correct email. I migrated my calendars from Fastmail to this new Google account (the account has all Google features with the exception of Gmail). My calendars now show up in Fastmail and I then linked that Google account to Evernote.

Now my workflow doesn't change in Fastmail, and I'll be able to still use 2-way calendar sync when it's released without having to give up the calendar interface I like. I give up a little data to Google, so hopefully one day Evernote will support CalDAV, I'll probably be waiting a looooooooooooong time for that though, hence my new solution.