Sunrise for iOS and Android is the ultimate Google Calendar companion by Leah Yamshon

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Until recently, we didn’t have very many solid third-party calendar apps for Android. Not that there’s anything wrong with the calendar that’s already on your phone, but it’s nice to have options, especially considering how many beautiful calendars there are for iOS. But, we’re in luck: One such iOS option recently made its Android debut. If you’re a Google Apps user who wants to try something new, look no further than Sunrise.
Sunrise is praised for its seamless integration with all things Google. It supports multiple Google Calendars, uses Google Maps data to direct you to events, and supports a handy “quick add” feature. If you don’t typically use Google Calendar, Sunrise has full support for Apple’s Calendar as well. iOS users can also sync Sunrise with a Microsoft Exchange account, but Android doesn’t have that functionality just yet.

sunrisecal — Sunrise works across devices, and even has a read-only Web client.

Getting started with Sunrise is just a matter of connecting to your existing calendar, where you’ll see a month or weekly overview of your schedule. The top half of the screen displays a quick calendar glance, and the bottom half shows off your appointments for the current day. Just slide the overview box to expand it to monthly view, or collapse it back to weekly view. Tap on any day to see what’s on deck. For a more detailed look at your appointments, you can switch over to agenda view.

sunrisewidgetandroid — Android users can take advantage of Sunrise's homescreen widget.

When looking at the current day’s overview, Sunrise handily provides you with a weather summary, and gives a breakdown of how the weather will change throughout the day—perfect for helping you decide what to wear. To add a new event, tap the plus sign on the main page. From there, you can invite other people, set up a reminder, and jot down an address to get directions later.
I know, I know. This sounds just like any other calendar app. But really, it’s not. Its unique layout and other features make Sunrise a step ahead of many others. You can connect Sunrise with your social media accounts to pull in other scheduled events to keep everything in one spot. Sunrise also has a set of interesting calendars you can add, to stay in the loop about national holidays and the schedules of your favorite sports teams.
I love that Sunrise has a web client as well, but I’m waiting for it to get better. Right now, the web version doesn’t have support for Exchange, which is what I use for work. Unfortunately, that means I can only view my personal Google Calendar. You also can’t add or edit an event from the web version: It’s simply for viewing. I’d eventually like to use Sunrise as my go-to calendar, but I can’t do that until the web client gets a feature boost that matches its iOS offering. The iOS app is awesome, but I like using my Mac to manage my crazy work calendar.
Still, Sunrise looks lovely, works great on mobile devices, and is much less headache-inducing than other calendars out there. It's free in the iOS App Store and Google Play Store now.

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