Calendars are the most under-rated apps on our smartphones. They are there alright, but remain unnoticed. Apart from a few modifications here and there, most stock calendars have similar design language. They are flat and uninteresting.
In comes the Vantage Calendar. Now, I am no calendar person, but I was blown away by this calendar app. Sadly, this app is only available for iOS and iPadOS users and it is unknown if it will come to the PlayStore soon. Although the app is free to download, there is an in-app purchase to unlock its full potential.
So, I installed it on my iPhone X to test it out and I have some things to say about this one.
First up, the design. Drifting away from the same old flat design language that most of the calendar and to-do apps feature, the Vantage has a skeuomorphic design. Now, I personally love the skeuomorphic design language as it brings real-world objects to digital platforms and provides depths and shadows to the elements of the app. For instance, in the To-Dos section of this app, you can find leather diaries categorising your reminders and notes. The leather diaries represent real-world objects that you normally use to take down your notes. This design reminds me of the pre-iOS 7 interfaces when Apple used skeuomorphism in their OS to make it personal.
Apart from this, in the main calendar section, instead of a flat UI showing the dates, I really like how this app shows the dates in a 3D-type list view. I can scroll up or down to brush through the dates. Now, the particular dates are laid-out in a stack-view. This stack-view is definitely useful as it shows how many events or reminders I have stacked up on that particular date. I can tap the date to expand the stack or tap and hold to add a new event on that date.
Coming to the features it offers, there are a lot. First, the accessibility of all the elements is well thought-out by the developers. I like it when I can access the detailed month review section, the to-dos section and search for events or reminders with simple swipes from the right, left and above the UI. Tapping the two lines at the top left corner of the UI opens up a list of options. From here I can go to settings to add new calendars, choose the default font of the app, turn on “Badge Date” that will show the current date as a badge on the app icon and so much more.
Now, I absolutely love how this app is highly customisable. From changing the colour scheme of the whole app to adding stickers to events, I can customise just about everything. I can change the whole colour scheme of the app by going to the “color packs” options in the Settings. Want to make it look classy? Choose the “Black Gold” option. Want to make it look cute? Choose the “Pink” one. Apart from changing the colour of the UI, I can add small changes like changing the cover of the “leather diaries” in the “To-Dos” section. If you want to-do this (pun intended), just go to the “To-Dos” section. On each of those diaries, you can see a cogwheel at the bottom left corner.
Tap this wheel to open up the menu. On this screen, you can find some default covers that you can set for the diaries, but at the top, you will find “select from photos”. Tap this option to select a picture from your gallery as the cover of your reminders book.
Now, apart from these features, there are lots that the app offers. I can add colour tags for events, add stickers for different reminders, set different fonts for different sections and a whole lot more.
So, if you are looking for a calendar app, I would recommend you to give this a try. I am sure you will love it and use the calendar more often than not. Click/tap here to download for your iOS or iPadOS devices.
