Feb 07, 2013  Master your tasks: The 10 best to-do list apps Get more done in less time, and share tasks with your team. Here are the top to-do list and note-taking apps.

This year has been a literal dumpster fire, but we all still have lives that we need to live, as hectic as they can be. We know — you have meetings, appointments, events, errands, and so much more on your plate, and managing everything can be quite difficult. That's why it really helps to have a digital calendar to help you track everything on your schedule. Here are some of our favorite calendar apps on Mac.

Fantastical

Fantastical has been around for several years now, and even though it has switched to a subscription model, it remains the favorite calendar app for many of us here at iMore.

With Fantastical, you are getting a fully functional desktop app that also has a menubar version for quick access. You can customize your views for daily, weekly, monthly, and even yearly, and your agenda of events appears in the side bar as well. If you are running multiple calendars at once, things can get gnarly — Fantastical lets you customize sets of calendars to view at once, and they can even be location-based, so things don't get too crazy when viewing. For example, you can have work calendars viewable while you're at work, but personal ones when you're at home.

The natural language input is also top-notch, as the app easily understands and fills out all of the appropriate fields while you type out something as simple as 'Have lunch with Mom at In-N-Out on Tuesday at 2 p.m.'

While Fantastical does have a subscription model now, previous users of Fantastical 2 get most of the features unlocked, so it's still very functional. If you're new to Fantastical, there is a trial to test it out to see if you like it before deciding on a subscription. The free version has restricted features.

Fantastical 3

Fantastical has a beautiful interface that's easy to use and plenty of robust features.

Computer

Source: Busy Apps FZE

Another great option is BusyCal. This app automatically syncs up with any accounts that you're using with the Mail app on Mac, and everything will be up-to-date. The design of the app itself is simple and clean, but there are plenty of powerful features as well. One of those is the Smart Filter, which lets you create rules for what events are shown. For example, you can set a filter to only show birthdays or repeating events. BusyCal also lets you have multiple Smart Filters set up at once, making it easier to organize your hectic calendar.

Other features of BusyCal include a menubar app, travel time, natural language input, and a ton of customization options including font face, size, colors, time format, and much more. If you don't like Fantastical's subscription model, BusyCal and its one-time cost is an excellent alternative to consider.

BusyCal

BusyCal packs in a ton of useful features and is highly customizable. It also has a single, one-time cost.

Source: Qbix

If you are satisfied with the default Calendar app on Mac, but just want a companion app to go with it in the menubar, then Calendars is worth a look. This free app lives in your menubar, acting as a viewer for the calendars that you've set up in Calendar. It serves as a quick way to see your schedule and agenda in a single glance, so you aren't able to add new events from this app. There is an optional subscription that gives you more features, like adding Google Calendar accounts and backgrounds.

Calendars

Calendars lives in your menubar and serves as a companion to the default Calendar app.

Source: Fanatic Software

Need your calendar app to be more than just a calendar? Then Informant is the one you're looking for. This powerful app rolls your calendar, task manager, and notes into one, giving you everything you need in a single glance. The task manager element of Informant is also very flexible, working with you, whether it's GTD, Franklin Covey, or a simple and basic task list. Informant also has support for multiple filters, so you can easily switch and access the important stuff whenever you need to.

Informant

Informant rolls your calendar, task manager, and notes app into one.

Source: Higher Bar LLC

If you want your calendar to live in your menubar, but need a bit more functionality than Calendars, then InstaCal is worth considering. This app also lives in your menubar, so it's not a full blown app like the others. However, it keeps your calendar a click away, so you can view your events, agenda, and even tasks, as well as having the functionality of adding new events and tasks directly. InstaCal works with any of the calendars that you already have set up in Calendar, or you can manually add unlimited accounts from Google, Office 365, and Outlook. It also has Dark Mode support, customization options, and more.

InstaCal - Menu Bar Calendar

InstaCal lives in your menubar but still gives you plenty of functionality, including the ability to add events and tasks.

Source: AntLogic

Do you want a calendar app that is simple and lightweight? Mini Calendar fits the bill perfectly. It gives you access to your calendars three ways: on the desktop, from the Dock, and from the menubar. When it's on the desktop, it is always-on and sits above the wallpaper. From the Dock, you just need to click on the icon and it will bring up the calendar as a popup. Mini Calendar is configurable in terms of color, shortcut keys, and it can show you sunrise and sunset times too. It's just a light and fast way to get to your calendar when you need to.

Computer App That Puts Schedule On Homescreen Mac 10

Mini Calendar

Mini Calendar is a lightweight calendar app that you can access from your desktop, Dock, or menubar.

Source: Vincent Miethe

Rounding out the list is Calendar 366 II, which is another menubar calendar app. However, it's one of the more fully featured ones, which is quite impressive. With Calendar 366 II, you get full access to your calendar and reminders right from your menubar, and you can change the view to year, month, week, day, agenda, or even list. It has eight themes for light and dark modes, custom colors, calendar sets, custom font sizes, Spotlight integration, travel time, Alfred and LaunchBar support, and so much more. To pack all of the features of a full on application into just the menubar is pretty amazing, and the cost of the app is not too much either, all things considered.

Calendar 366 II

Calendar 366 II is one of the most feature-packed menubar calendar apps there is.

Keep your schedule organized

Computer App That Puts Schedule On Homescreen Macbook Pro

These are just a few of our favorite calendar apps on the Mac App Store. What are your favorites? Let us know in the comments!

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With Screen Time, you can see how much time you and your kids spend on apps, websites, and more. Make informed decisions about how you use your devices, and set limits if you'd like to. Learn how to turn on Screen Time, use a Screen Time Passcode, track usage, limit usage, and approve requests for more time.

Turn on Screen Time

Make sure that your Mac is using macOS Catalina, then follow these steps:

  1. Choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, then click Screen Time.
  2. Click Options in the lower-left corner.
  3. Click Turn On.
  4. To be able to see usage information for every other device signed in to iCloud with your Apple ID, select ”Share across devices” on each Mac. And on each iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, go to Settings > Screen Time and turn on the same setting.
Computer App That Puts Schedule On Homescreen Mac

If you're using Family Sharing to manage a child account, you can turn on Screen Time directly from each of your child's devices. Or follow these steps to do it from your Mac:

  1. Choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, then click Family Sharing.
  2. Click Screen Time in the sidebar, then select your child's name from the list on the right.
  3. Click the Open Screen Time button to return to Screen Time preferences.
  4. Choose your child's name from the menu in the upper-left corner.
  5. Click Options in the lower-left corner.
  6. Click Turn On.

Before deciding whether to select ”Use a Screen Time Passcode,” learn about Screen Time passcodes.

Use a Screen Time passcode

Set a passcode so that only you can change Screen Time settings and allow more time when app limits expire. If you're a parent, use this feature to set up enforceable content, communication, and privacy limitations for your child.

If you're using Family Sharing to manage a child account, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, then click Screen Time.
  2. Choose your child's name from the menu in the upper-left corner.
  3. Click Options in the lower-left corner.
  4. Select ”Use Screen Time Passcode,” then enter a passcode when prompted.
  5. If you're using the latest version of macOS, you're offered the option to enter your Apple ID to enable Screen Time passcode recovery, in case you forget your Screen Time passcode.

Computer App That Puts Schedule On Homescreen Mac 2017

If you're not using Family Sharing to manage a child account, follow these steps:

  1. Make sure that you're on the same Mac used by the child, and are logged in to the standard account used by the child. If you're not sure what to do, just continue with the steps below: Screen Time will help you.
  2. Choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, then click Screen Time.
  3. Set up Downtime, App Limits, Communication Limits, and Content & Privacy with all of the limitations that you want for your child.
  4. Click Options in the lower-left corner.
  5. Select ”Use Screen Time Passcode,” then enter a passcode when prompted.
  6. If you're using the latest version of macOS, iOS, or iPadOS, you're offered the option to enter your Apple ID to enable Screen Time passcode recovery, in case you forget your Screen Time passcode.

If you're setting a passcode while logged in to your administrator account, an alert explains that you should do this from a standard account. If you haven't set up a standard account for your child, you can either do that and log into their account, or choose from these options:

  • Allow this user to administer this computer. If you choose this option, the passcode affects the current user, even though they're also an administrator of this Mac. This isn't recommended, because administrators have macOS privileges that could allow them to work around passcode restrictions.
  • Don't allow this user to administer this computer. If you choose this option, you're prompted to enter your account password in order to modify your configuration. You're then guided through the steps to create a new administrator account—for use by the parent. The administrator account you're currently logged in to is converted to a standard account—for use by the child.

Learn what to do if you forgot your Screen Time passcode.

Track usage

Use the App Usage, Notifications, and Pickups features in the Screen Time sidebar to see how much time you spent using apps and websites.

Each feature offers several views:

  • To see usage for only one of your devices, choose a device from the menu at the bottom of the window.
  • To switch between days, click within the weekly chart, or use the arrow buttons above the chart. To see total usage by week, including how much more or less time you spent compared to last week, choose This Week from the date menu at the top of the window.
  • To see usage for a child account, choose the child's name from the menu in the upper-left corner.

App Usage
See how much time you spent using each app. Click Categories to view usage by categories such as social networking, productivity, or entertainment. To see an app's category, click the information icon that appears when your pointer is over an app in the list. Or click the app limit icon to quickly create a new app limit for that app or category.

Notifications
See how many notifications you received from each app. Remember, you can use the devices menu at the bottom of the window to separate the notifications received on your Mac from the notifications received on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

Pickups
See how many times you picked up your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, and which app you checked first after picking up the device.

Limit usage

Use the Downtime, App Limits, Communication Limits, Always Allowed, and Content & Privacy features in the Screen Time sidebar to schedule downtime and set limits on apps and websites. Limits apply to this Mac and all of your other devices that are using Screen Time and have ”Share across devices” turned on.

To set limits for a child account, choose the child's name from the menu in the upper-left corner, then set up each feature. Or do it from each of your child's devices.

Downtime
Schedule periods during which you can use only the apps that you've allowed. A downtime notification appears 5 minutes before downtime starts. After downtime starts, the app shows a message saying that you've reached your limit on the app.

  • Click OK to close the app and honor the limit you've set. Or click Ignore Limit, then choose One More Minute, Remind Me in 15 Minutes, or Ignore Limit For Today.
  • If you've set a Screen Time passcode, Downtime includes an additional setting: Block At Downtime. When this setting selected and you click Ask For More Time when downtime starts, entering the passcode allows you to approve the app for 15 minutes, an hour, or all day. Child accounts can click One More Minute once, or click Ask For More Time to send their request to the parent account for approval.

App Limits
Set the amount of time you want to be able use apps. You can set limits on specific apps, or entire categories of apps.

An app-limit notification appears 5 minutes before a limit is reached (expires). After the limit is reached, the app shows a window saying that you've reached your limit.

  • Click OK to close the app and honor the limit you've set. Or click Ignore Limit, then choose One More Minute, Remind Me in 15 Minutes, or Ignore Limit For Today.
  • If you've set a Screen Time passcode, App Limits includes an additional setting: ”Block at end of limit.” When this setting is selected and you click Ask For More Time when a limit is reached, entering the passcode allows you to approve the app for 15 minutes, an hour, or all day. Child accounts can click One More Minute once, or click Ask For More Time to send their request to the parent account for approval.

Communication Limits
Control who your children can communicate with throughout the day and during downtime. These limits apply to Phone, FaceTime, Messages, and iCloud contacts. Communication to known emergency numbers identified by your wireless carrier is always allowed. To use this feature, you must have Contacts turned on in iCloud preferences.

Always Allowed
Allow use of certain apps even during downtime or when an app limit has been set for ”All Apps & Categories.” Phone, Messages, FaceTime, and Maps are always allowed by default, but you can change that here.

Content & Privacy
Restrict content, purchases, and downloads, or configure privacy settings. If you attempt to use one of the restricted items, you see a message explaining why you can't do it. For example, if you visit a blocked website, the message says that the website was blocked by a content filter. If you're using a Screen Time passcode, the message includes the option to click Add Website. You can then enter the passcode to allow the website. Child accounts can send a request for approval to the parent account.

Approve Screen Time requests

The Screen Time sidebar shows Requests when you have unanswered requests from a child account. From here you can manage all requests from your child. Approve the request for 15 minutes, an hour, or a day. Or click Don't Approve.

Requests for approval also arrive as notifications, and you can approve directly from the notification:

Learn more

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