Why I Built (and Use) What I Genuinely Think Is the Best Calendar App for iOS

The idea crept up on me over time. I was using multiple calendar apps every month and they all fell short in the same way. What I really wanted was simple. A proper full-month widget that linked to Apple Calendar. Nothing fancy. Just something that let me see my month clearly.

Once I started building that, the problem became obvious.

A good month view needs fast, clean, well-structured calendar data. Apple Calendar doesn’t give you much room to explore design or customisation, and every third-party app I tried felt either cluttered, slow, or stuck in the past.

I’d already tried loads of them.

They all had the same issues:

• You can’t clearly see your full month
• Widgets show dots instead of real information
• Interfaces feel cluttered or dated
• Lots of features, very little clarity
• Simple actions take too much effort

The gap was obvious.

There was no clean way to see an entire month at a glance, with real event titles.

So I built it.

That single idea turned into Tapcal.

The One Thing Most Calendar Apps Get Wrong

Most calendar apps keep adding features instead of optimising what’s already there.

Day views. Agenda views. Timelines. Endless lists.

Messy, slow, and overcomplicated.

But for professionals and creators, the most important question is usually:

“What does my month actually look like?”

Not just today.

Not just the next meeting.

The full context.

Apple Calendar still doesn’t handle this well. Tapping a day jumps you between views and breaks your flow. Comparing days or weeks means constantly going back and forth.

Most third-party apps either over-design the month view or avoid it altogether.

Tapcal fixes that problem first.

The Full Month View (Done Properly)

This is the feature Tapcal was built around.

• A real full-month layout
• Event titles visible, not dots
• Colour-coded event pills
• Clear spacing and typography
• One glance tells you what’s coming up

This exists both in the app and as a widget.

It sounds simple, but it was surprisingly difficult to implement smoothly and perform well.

Once you use it, going back to other apps feels slow and outdated.

Built to Be Fast, Clean, and Modern

Tapcal is fully native and built with modern Apple technologies from the start.

That means:

• Smooth scrolling, even with large calendars
• Fast loading across months
• No redundant legacy code
• Interactions feel effortless and predictable

I wanted something that feels like it belongs on modern iOS, not something that’s been dragged forward year by year.

Everything is optimised for clarity and performance.

Designed for Professionals and Creators

Tapcal isn’t trying to be clever. It’s trying to be usable.

Some of the things that matter in daily use:

• Full month views that actually show information
• Month and list widgets depending on how you think
• Natural language event creation when you want speed
• Adjustable fonts and themes if you care about presentation
• Built-in weather context so planning makes sense

These aren’t gimmicks. They’re quality-of-life improvements that add up.

Privacy Is Not an Afterthought

No accounts.

No tracking your events.

No selling data.

Tapcal works directly with your existing calendars like iCloud, Google, and Outlook using system APIs.

Your data stays on your device and under Apple’s security model.

It Started as a Widget, Then Evolved

Tapcal was never meant to be a full calendar app.

I built the widget first, then started adding customisation because it was fun and genuinely useful. At some point, I realised I’d already designed most of what I wanted from a calendar experience.

So I wondered what it would look like if I brought that same level of care into the app itself.

Once I did that, it made sense to keep going.

If the month view was going to be clean, fast, and calm to use, the rest of the experience had to meet the same standard.

That’s when Tapcal stopped being just a widget and became a calendar.

It’s Grown Faster Than I Expected

After launch, the response genuinely surprised me.

More downloads than I expected.

More feedback than I expected.

And messages like this:

“You solved the biggest issue with Apple Calendar, all I needed was a list of things that are coming and you made it perfectly, thank you!”

That’s exactly the problem Tapcal was built to solve.

Constantly Improving, Not Sitting Still

Tapcal isn’t a “ship it and forget it” app.

Recent updates have focused on:

• Smarter default event start times
• Better full-month context across overlapping days
• Large performance improvements for heavy calendars
• More control over fonts, layouts, and calendars
• Polishing the UI to match the latest iOS design language

The goal is simple: keep making it faster, clearer, and more useful.

Who Tapcal Is Actually For

Tapcal is for people who:

• Live out of their calendar
• Care about clarity over clutter
• Want to see the bigger picture
• Appreciate good design and performance

If your calendar is central to how you work and create, Tapcal makes that experience calmer and more efficient.

What Started as a Widget Became the App I Wanted

Tapcal wasn’t built to chase trends.

It was built to fix one obvious problem properly.

Now it’s a full calendar app that I use every day, and one that’s still evolving based on real usage and feedback.

If you’ve ever thought:

“I just want to see my month properly”

That’s why Tapcal exists.

You can find it here:

https://tapcal.app