Is organizing your schedule a complicated chore? Juggling meeting times with coworkers across your work calendar, while trying to keep up with all of your personal events – you need a reliable tool to share calendars across work and life so you can get your time management under control.
There are many different scenarios where you might want to share calendars, here are a few of the most common calendar shares:
- Personal calendar shared to work calendar
- Personal calendar shared to family calendar
- Work calendar shared to personal calendar
- Work calendar shared to another work calendar
- Personal calendar and family calendar shared to work calendar
Let's take a look at the 10 best shared calendar apps in 2024 so you can better track your time across all of your schedules.
What's a shared calendar app?
A shared calendar app is an online calendar that allows you to create, manage, share, and coordinate schedules with others.
So instead of having to look across two or more of your own schedules (that only you can see), you can share one calendar with another to look at your complete scheduled plan in one place. This allows you to easily book meetings without conflict, defend time for heads-down work, and protect time for your friends and family without it getting overscheduled by work.
Here are some of the top reasons why you need a shared calendar app:
- The average pro juggles 25.6 meetings/week
- 42.4% of 1:1 meetings are rescheduled
- The average pro works 45.8 hours/week
- 78.7% of people stress over getting enough stuff done
- 39.4% of employees are burned out from long workdays
- 52.2% of employees are burned out from work-life balance issues
So as you can see, there's a lot going on with our calendars. Instead of taking a painful hit every time a scheduling conflict comes up, resulting in forced overtime and personal sacrifices, let's look into the best solutions out there to get your calendars under control.
10 best calendar sharing apps in 2024
- Reclaim.ai - for work calendar sharing
- TimeTree - for group activities
- Cozi - for family sharing
- Cupla - for couples
- Asana - for project scheduling
- Fantastical - for natural language input
- Taskworld - for task management
- Microsoft Outlook - for Microsoft users
- Apple Calendar - for Apple users
- Google Calendar - for view only (not merging) for Google users
1. Reclaim.ai - best for work calendar sharing
Reclaim is number one among shared calendar apps because it doesn’t just allow you to share all your calendars – it also blocks your availability across calendars to prevent double-bookings. This is a huge limitation of most existing calendars which only allow you to see the calendars you share, but with Reclaim, your coworkers can actually see when you’re busy so they don’t schedule over an important personal event.
This AI calendar app allows you to share an unlimited number of work, personal, family calendars, and any other type of calendar you’re juggling, and sync bi-directionally to block sharing and allows you to sync an unlimited number of calendars bi-directionally.
The best part of Reclaim calendar sharing? It also has smart privacy controls so you can set how your shared events look to coworkers viewing your calendar. You can sync your events with full event details, show them as anonymous “Busy” events, or sync as “Personal Commitment” events to let people know this is an event outside of work that you shouldn’t be interrupted in.
Reclaim is the perfect tool for companies who want to improve work-life balance for employees, freelancers and consultants juggling multiple calendars, or families looking to better coordinate their schedules.
And Reclaim is much more than a calendar sharing app. This AI tool helps you automatically find the best time for your meetings, tasks, habits, and breaks across your existing schedule, and track where you spend your time every week.
Key features
- Calendar Sync: Auto-sync unlimited calendars (and your availability) to prevent scheduling conflicts.
- Connected Calendars: Schedule your smart calendar events (Habits, Tasks, Smart Meetings, and Scheduling Links) around your availability of a Connected Calendar – without syncing events to your work calendar.
- Automatic color-coding: Automatically color-code and categorizes events so you can visually track how you'll be spending time across meeting types, focus work, travel, and personal commitments.
- Tasks: Auto-schedule your tasks in Google Calendar, by priority, before your due dates (while keeping your schedule flexible for changes).
- Habits: Auto-schedule your recurring routines at the best time (within a preferred window) around your existing events (hundreds of templates available).
- Smart Meetings: Find the best time for your recurring meetings across both attendees' calendars.
- Scheduling Links: Share your availability for meetings with high-priority and flexible duration settings.
- Buffer Time: Auto-schedule breaks and travel time around your calendar events.
- Slack Status Sync: Auto-sync your Slack status to your calendar to prevent interruptions and context switching.
- No-Meeting Days: Defend time for your team to get stuff done every week.
- Stats: Analyze how much time you spend in meetings vs. tasks vs. habits vs. free time.
- Integrations: ClickUp, Asana, Jira, Todoist, Linear, Google Tasks, Zoom, and Slack
Limitations
- Currently only supports Google Calendar (Outlook coming soon).
Reclaim.ai pricing
- Free (includes 1 shared calendar)
- Paid plans start at $8/month (unlimited shared calendars)
2. TimeTree - best for scheduling group activities
TimeTree is a collaborative calendar app that simplifies scheduling and communication among different groups in your life. With TimeTree, you can create multiple, shared calendars to keep track of work deadlines with colleagues, plan family events with loved ones, or organize social activities with friends. The app's built-in features like in-app chat, reminders, and note-taking make it easier than ever to keep everyone on the same page.
For instance, you can create a calendar for a family vacation, complete with reminders to book flights and accommodation, a shared packing list, and a chat thread to discuss itinerary ideas.
Key features
- Shared calendar for groups: Collaborate with family, friends, or colleagues in real-time, creating a centralized hub for all group activities and events.
- Event reminders: All members receive reminders for upcoming events, so no one forgets important gatherings or appointments.
- Discussion & chat features: Each calendar includes a chat room where users discuss event details and make decisions on potential dates or activities.
- Integration with external calendars: Syncs with existing calendar apps like Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, and Outlook.
- Supports multiple calendars: Users can set up several calendars on TimeTree for different groups or personal use.
Limitations
- Primarily designed for mobile: TimeTree's web version is rather difficult to use compared to the mobile version, with some features only usable on mobile.
- Learning curve: New users may need time to get accustomed to the app's full range of features and collaboration options.
TimeTree pricing
- Free (includes 20 shared calendars)
- Paid plans start at $4.49/month (includes 20 shared calendars – ad-free)
3. Cozi - best for family sharing
Cozi is a shared family calendar app designed to bring order to the everyday chaos of busy households. The heart of the app is a shared calendar which helps you coordinate schedules, appointments, and activities across all members of the family. This calendar can be color-coded to easily distinguish between individual family members' commitments.
And Cozi goes beyond just scheduling, providing tools for managing grocery lists, to-do lists, and even a family journal. With a shared grocery list, everyone can contribute their needs, reducing the risk of forgotten items at the store. The to-do list feature also allows you to create and assign chores or errands, promoting responsibility and keeping everyone accountable. The family journal feature is a great space to capture memories, add photos, and record important events or milestones.
Key features
- Family-centered design: Interface is designed with families in mind, making it easy to organize and share schedules seamlessly.
- Shared to-do lists: Collaborate on household tasks and responsibilities with a shared to-do list.
- Shopping lists: Keep track of grocery needs and other shopping items with a shared shopping list accessible to all family members.
- Recipe box: Store and share favorite family recipes within the app, making it a digital cookbook for the entire household.
- Notifications & reminders: Set reminders for important events, appointments, or tasks.
- Birthday tracker: Automatically imports birthdays from your contacts and displays them on the calendar, helping you plan ahead for special occasions.
Limitations
- Lacking features common in similar apps: No in-app messaging, expense tracking, or other features usually found with co-parenting apps.
- Ads in the free version: Includes in-app ads unless you pay for a premium account.
Cozi pricing
- Free (unlimited shared calendars)
- Paid plans start at $39.99/year (unlimited shared calendars – ad-free)
4. Cupla - best for couples
Cupla is a shared calendar app specifically designed for couples. It helps couples improve coordination, carve out quality time for each other, and even add a spark to their relationship. Beyond just calendar sharing, Cupla offers features like a date night planner with curated ideas, shared to-do lists to manage household tasks, in-app chat for easy communication, and even a "hint" system to help with gift ideas and planning dates that your partner will love.
Key features
- Calendar sync: Fully compatible with all of your work and personal calendars, including Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, and Outlook.
- To-do lists: Link your to-do lists with your calendar to keep track of tasks such as groceries, chores, and travel plans.
- Hidden/visible setting: Choose what you do and don't want to share on your calendar.
- Reminders: Set up reminders for meaningful dates like birthdays and anniversaries.
- Helpful hints: Get hints and nudges for upcoming dates like birthdays and anniversaries.
- Private chat: Send messages, photos, videos, and discuss upcoming events and to-dos in a private chat with your partner.
Limitations
- No free iOS version: Users on Android can use Cupla for free, but iPhone users need to buy a paid plan following their two-week free trial.
Cupla pricing
- Free on Android
- Free Trial – for 2 weeks on iOS
- Paid plans start at $2.50/person/month
5. Asana - best for project visualization scheduling
Asana is a well-known project management app, but it’s also worth noting in among shared calendar apps for its powerful calendar-sharing functionality alongside task tracking and event organization for teams.
Asana allows teams to visualize projects and tasks across a shared calendar, which is vital for deadline-driven work. Individuals can see how their tasks fit into the bigger picture and prioritize their work around the collective timeline for the team. For teams needing coordination beyond just appointments, Asana offers a powerful platform for task management, collaboration, and progress tracking, with the calendar view being one helpful tool within its arsenal.
Key features
- Shared calendars: View your team's work in one online calendar to plan, manage, and visualize upcoming work.
- Scheduling rules: Automatically add events to the team calendar and create Google Calendar meetings when tasks reach a specific stage.
- Task management: Create and manage all of your tasks, and organize them in projects to easily collaborate with your team.
- Visual project timeline: The calendar view provides a bird's-eye view of project schedules and helps understand task dependencies and critical deadlines.
- Portfolios: Manage larger strategic initiatives and monitor important projects as a list or on a timeline in a single place.
- Collaborative teamwork: Facilitates team collaboration, allowing members to discuss tasks, share files, and track project progress together.
- Notifications & reminders: Users receive notifications and reminders for upcoming tasks and deadlines.
- Cross-platform compatibility: Accessible via desktop, mobile, and tablet devices.
Limitations
- One calendar/project: Asana's shared calendar only allows you to set up one calendar per project, so you end up having to manage multiple calendars across all the projects you're working on.
- Geared towards work & project management: Asana is primarily designed for work-life and team projects. So, its calendar-sharing features aren't well suited for personal life events.
Asana pricing
- Free (includes unlimited projects/calendars)
- Paid plans start at $10.99/month (includes unlimited projects/calendars, rules, & timeline)
6. Fantastical - best for natural language input (Apple users)
Fantastical is a premium calendar app known for its beautiful design and exceptionally user-friendly interface. It excels in natural language event creation; simply type "team meeting next Tuesday at 2pm" and Fantastical does the rest.
The app boasts clean day, week, month, and year views alongside integrated task management. Additional features like weather forecasts, templates, and meeting proposals make Fantastical a powerful tool for staying organized and on top of your schedule across Apple devices.
Key features
- Shared calendars: Share calendars with yourself or across a group to see all the events for each person on one screen.
- Natural language event entry: Transform plain language into scheduled events to simplify event creation.
- Intuitive user interface: The visually appealing design and multiple calendar views offer a smooth and customizable scheduling experience.
- Event invitations: Invite others to events directly from the app.
Limitations
- Premium necessary for most features: To access certain features available for free on other apps, a premium subscription is required.
- Desktop version is limited: Fantastical only includes a desktop version for MacOS.
Fantastical pricing
- Free (includes 1 calendar set)
- Paid plans start at $4.75/month (unlimited calendar sets)
7. Taskworld - best for task management & calendar sharing
Taskworld is a calendar-sharing app that combines task management, project tracking, and calendar integration into one platform. With Taskworld, you and your team can easily collaborate, set timelines, share files, gain visual insights, and work on tasks across different departments at the same time. The calendar view gives users a clear and organized overview of their tasks, deadlines, and project milestones and allows users to create events directly from tasks.
However, while Taskworld’s calendar sharing features may make it easy to plan your projects, it doesn’t have any automatic rescheduling features. So, if things come up, you’d need to reschedule your team’s tasks manually.
Key features
- Shared calendars: View the whole team's tasks in a single shared calendar.
- Unified task & calendar management: Combining task management and calendar integration creates a holistic platform for organizing projects and events.
- Collaborative workspace: Collaborative features, including task assignments, comments, chat features, and file sharing, are helpful for teams and collaborative work.
- Multiple views: Includes various views, such as Calendar, Kanban, and Gnatt timelines, to better sort and understand your progress.
- Integrated chat: Easily connect with colleagues, your team, or the entire organization, and share files instantly or create video meetings with a simple click.
Limitations
- No automatic rescheduling: Taskworld does not have any smart scheduling or automatic rescheduling features. While it does automatically change the due dates of dependencies, you still need to manually reschedule tasks if need be.
- Relatively expensive: While Taskworld offers a free version with basic capabilities, you may need a subscription to access advanced project management features.
Taskworld pricing
- Free (unlimited projects/calendars)
- Paid plans start at $8/month (unlimited projects/calendars)
8. Outlook - best for Microsoft users (non-work)
Microsoft Outlook is a staple in the business world, and its shared calendar makes it a top contender among the best calendar apps. The calendar syncs with your email, contacts, and other Microsoft services, creating a unified platform to manage your time and communication. One of the standout features of Outlook is the ability to create appointments and events directly from emails with a simple click.
But Microsoft Outlook suffers from some serious limitations when it comes to calendar sharing, similar to the other big traditional calendar platforms. Sharing your personal calendar with your work calendar, by default, doesn't allow your coworkers to see when you're busy with a personal event. However, making all events visible (which would show you're busy) will let your coworkers see all private details like doctor's appointments or job interviews.
Key features
- Calendar sharing: Add other users to your viewing permissions to share details of your calendar or create specific calendars to share with your team.
- Email integration: Calendar integrates smoothly with your email, contacts, and other Microsoft services.
- Quick event creation: Turn emails into appointments with a single click.
- Multiple calendar views: Users can choose from various calendar views, tailoring the display to their preference and making it easy to manage schedules.
- View group schedules: Users can create calendars for groups or specific resources, such as departments or conference rooms.
- Automatic calendar updates: Add events such as flight, hotel, and car rental reservations to the calendar automatically.
Limitations
- Doesn't actually block your availability: Outlook, by default, doesn't allow your coworkers to see when you're busy with a personal event through their shared calendars.
- Privacy issues: However, you can make all shared events between your personal and work calendars visible to your coworkers, but then they'll be able to see the private details of your personal events.
- Lack of customization: Outlook lets you customize some elements by syncing with other Microsoft services, but not so much for other third-party apps, and it lacks the overall customization options found in other platforms.
Outlook pricing
- Free (unlimited shared calendars)
- Paid plans start at $6.99/month (unlimited shared calendars)
9. Apple Calendar - best for Apple users
Apple Calendar, formerly known as iCal, is the calendar app specifically designed for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and watchOS devices. If you're a heavy user of Apple products and need your calendar to sync across each very easily, then Apple Calendar may be the best choice for you.
Still, Apple Calendar suffers from the same limitations as Outlook and Google Calendar. That is, your coworkers can't see when you're busy with a personal event by default, and sharing those personal events will make the private details available for all to see. However, this is less severe of a limitation for Apple Calendar as companies don't use Apple Calendar as a company service. So the issue of colleagues not seeing times when you're busy with other events is less of a problem than with other shared calendars like Google Calendar or Outlook.
Key features
- Shared calendars: Collaborate with other iCloud users by sharing specific calendars for group events, team projects, or family gatherings.
- Integrates across Apple ecosystem: Apple Calendar syncs effortlessly across all Apple devices.
- Event invitations via email: Invite non-iCloud users to your events with email invitations, enhancing inclusivity and accessibility.
- Read-only calendars: Share a calendar without allowing viewers to change anything on it.
- Create events with Siri: Create and modify events and appointments using Apple's virtual assistant Siri.
Limitations
- Limited integration with non-Apple devices: While Apple Calendar excels within the Apple ecosystem, its synchronization with non-Apple devices may require additional steps and third-party apps.
- Difficulty showing your availability: Apple Calendar, by default, doesn't allow your coworkers to see when you're busy with a shared personal event.
- Privacy issues: When you share events from your personal and work calendars, your coworkers can see all your private event details.
Apple Calendar pricing
- Free with iCloud account (unlimited shared calendars)
10. Google Calendar - best for Google users (non-work)
Google Calendar, a household name, and one of the best known shared calendar apps, actually ranks pretty low on our list. While Google Calendar allows you to share calendars through its basic feature, it has some pretty big limitations. Sharing a Google Calendar makes it difficult to maintain your privacy between your work and personal calendars. This is because your personal events will be visible to everyone if you share them with your work calendar. That, and you can only share with yourself so coworkers can't see shared calendar events.
Key features
- Shared calendars: Share calendars across teams, work, and personal to coordinate your individual scheduling.
- Cross-platform syncing: Syncs across various platforms, including desktop, mobile, and tablet, ensuring you stay updated on the go.
- Event reminders: Set customizable reminders that can be sent via email or as push notifications so you don't miss an event.
- Automatic calendar updates: Add events such as flight, hotel, and car rental reservations to the calendar automatically.
- Gmail integration: Add events from Gmail to easily automatically populate your calendar.
- Time zone support: Adjusts event timings according to different time zones for frequent travelers or remote teams, reducing scheduling headaches.
Limitations
- Privacy issues: When you share events from your personal and professional calendars, all events from your personal calendar will be visible to others on your professional calendar.
- Doesn't prevent overbooking: Personal events won't show when using Google's Find a Time feature, so you're still at risk of overscheduling.
Google Calendar pricing
- Free (with a Google account)
- Paid plans start at $6/month
Take control of your team's unwieldy calendar 📅
Calendar sharing has become indispensable for modern-day scheduling and organization. From coordinating family events to managing work projects and personal commitments, it's not unusual for our calendars to become unwieldy, especially when trying to fit other people into the mix. But with features like collaborative sharing, intelligent event suggestions, and seamless synchronization, these calendar-sharing apps can help us stay organized and prevent anything important from slipping through the cracks.
Did we miss anything? What calendar-sharing apps do you use? Tweet us @reclaimai to let us know!
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