I have a question about using v3 which I hope doesn’t get lost in the discussion of the change in the business model:
How does one use the new Google Hangout functionality? I can’t find any tutorial for it and there’s no obvious place in the UI for setting up a Hangout.
Who would have thought that a calendar app would create so much heat and passion. 
That was the intent of this thread, but it seems to have derailed a bit. To be honest I don’t understand all the fuzz. If you liked V2 but don’t need the extra features, then don’t subscribe and keep v3 with UI upgrade and the features you like.
Sorry, now I also ranted about the business model. I don’t know about the hangout feature. I Use the meetup calendar feature a lot and to have it come to iOS and iPadOS is great.
Well, calendars are very personal and I suspect this is why. It’s also an app that has been around for a long time and all the fuzz can be explained with the fact that people really love and like this app. And I guess a lot of the fuzz is also directed at the general tendency for well-loved apps to go subscription only.
@andreasl, The new version asks me to create a Flexibit Account and sync to their servers. V2 did not. I cannot have enterprise data on 3dparty web servers. This is a deal breaker. Correct me if I am wrong and if I misunderstood it.
Oh @vco1 … you have been banging this same drum since you said over a year ago that you were unsubscribing from MPU. Yet here you remain.
Jeebus Crispy… how much more clear could David have been? In THAT URL THAT YOU LINKED TO David explicitly said:
When the Fantastical developers were getting ready to release version three of the application, they asked me to prepare an extensive screencast series on how the app works and how I use it
He also did videos for Fantastical version 2. He has also said that he was a user of the app since long before they hired him to work on the videos.
If you think that means that he secretly dislikes the app but won’t say it because they paid him, then I would definitely stop listening to the podcast.
You should be able to re-install from your “Purchased” list.
Calendar Sets can not only be enabled / disabled via keyboard shortcut, but can also be enabled / disabled based on location. It’s very handy. I normally only want to see my own calendars, but I can switch to “my calendars + my family’s calendars” with a keystroke.
It’s one of those things that seems like a little thing, but if you use it a lot, it’s much better.
FYI - Setapp already includes BusyCal.
Yes, that was the case.
We still have upgrades - just not as in-app purchases
In the iOS and Mac App Stores? Where and how? (I’m really not sure what you mean.)
There were upgrades before there were in-app purchases. But there were no upgrades in the app stores.
Apple’s defenders said that “normal people” didn’t understand upgrades, which I never understood and seemed incredibly stupid, but was said over and over. If people can learn how in-app purchases and subscriptions work, they can understand “You paid full price for a previous version so you get a discount on the new version.”
But that’s not what Apple did. Apple effectively killed upgrades (not that upgrades are impossible, just impractical) via their app stores.
tjlouma, 
I don’t blame @MacSparky, if he liked or not liked the app. If he got paid to do, he did a great job at doing the Field Guide. Liking or disliking is his personal thing. If he had sold the Field Guide, I still would have purchased it.
I think they also implemented their own backend as a possible security method to prevent users from downloading pirate version of v3 for the Mac.
I understand that subscriptions aren’t for everyone and that this one is pretty expensive, especially if you don’t use all the platforms.
I also agree that the whole upgrade process and transition to a new business model probably hasn’t been handled or messaged in the best way.
But…
Having used the new apps a bit over the last couple of days, I do think that this is an impressive update with lots of useful new features that puts Fantastical well ahead of any other calendar app I have used (and no I don’t have any connection to the developer).
Things I really like so far include…
I’ve taken advantage of the free 14 day trial subscription to allow me to try the premium features and so far I’m minded to continue this at the point where I have to start paying.
So my advice would be to take a bit of time, have a look at what’s there and then make a decision.
If the update or new business model isn’t for you then that’s fine and there are many very good alternatives.
However, you might also find that the new version offers a level of utility and delight that makes it worth the money !
I am convinced this was one of the main reasons Adobe moved to subscriptions way before they existed in the Apple store. Sharing Adobe CDs/DVDs with a serial number was common and the need for constant re-activation through Adobe’s servers made it more difficult. And then they did a very smart move: the “photography bundle”, one of the biggest bargains ever, costing less (average yearly cost) than buying releases+updates.
The Adobe Photography Plan, Office 365 Home and Setapp are, IMO, the best value subscriptions I have. I will be looking at all the other subscriptions I have and evaluating whether or not I really need them. The Fantastical situation over the last couple of days certainly puts into perspective what you are getting for your monthly subs.
You are 100% correct. I don’t understand why that isn’t a bigger deal. Why do I have to give you my data AND pay a significant premium to use your calendar app?
Entirely off topic (do not read if you are only looking for Fantastical content):
Yes, the question is how this will serve them in the long run.
I listened to a podcast with one of their higher level managers a few years ago and she basically acknowledged that this practice was largely tolerated for private use. They easily could have turned up the security a notch, but they intentionally didn’t. This user base that grew up with those tools from a teen’s age that then transitioned into fields that require knowledge of such graphic tools would always gravitate to Adobe’s software, because they simply were so used to it. This was their most effective driver for growth.
Now you see a different landscape. They introduced the CC in 2013 and users were very reluctant to switch. Over the last 4-5 years their revenue skyrocketed, but nowhere close to exponential growth. It’s pretty linear, due to more and more professionals transitioning from their old CS bundle to CC. But you can see the curve is already starting to flatten since early 2019 up until now. The CC has already reached a certain level of market saturation. The drivers that made people switch were twofold: Mainly platforms that no longer are supporting 32bit apps (and plugins etc.) and the transition to HiDPI screens across all industries. Even the smallest agency that was reluctant until this day will slowly consider the switch.
Unarguably the vlogging/YouTube boom of 2014+ was also a growth driver, because more and more content creators bought into using Premiere Pro.
The issue that Adobe is facing nowadays is that talented youngsters now have a wide selection of tools at their hands. Undoubtedly ProCreate on the iPad Pro is exploded and has integrated more and more features of Photoshop (blend modes etc.). Figma is free for students to use and a powerful mix of Adobe XD, Illustrator and Sketch. Even the non-Adobe Sketch seems to lose its edge already. For video there now is the free and powerful Davinci Resolve or LumaFusion on the iPad.
There also are a lot of “content creators”, especially in the world of Instagram influencers, that entirely do their work on mobiles apps, as high-res quality (for example for print production) is less of a worry these days. The key is to produce content quickly on the go.
Adobe is now in the dilemma of having largely killed their mechanism to get users hooked for life. We’ll see how this plays out.
Indeed. My comment, though, really was just in good humor. I certainly understand the frustration. I like Fantastical but I’ve defaulted to the stock app and it is fine for my purposes. I’m blessed to have an executive admin., so I don’t have to manage much of my calendar—I just have do what she tells me and go where she tells me.
I’m very restrictive about subscriptions so I don’t have a lot but this has caused me to now question my Ulysses subscription. I like it a lot and I use it a lot for short and long form writing. That said, I’d be willing to bet that I can get by just fine with the non-subscription version of Drafts and Apple Pages (which can be exported as plain or rich text as well as PDF for legacy purposes). As I write this I realize this may save me a step. Nine times out of 10, when I’m done drafting in Ulysses I export to Pages to finish it. Perhaps I should just start with Pages and be done with it. Plus, I can annotate in Pages with my Apple Pencil. Dropping the Ulysses subscription will save me a few more bucks a month.
I wanted Ulysses so bad two years ago or so. But I just couldn’t justify it at all in my budget at the time. Then I found them on SetApp. It was only a couple more dollars to get the sub, including Ulysses. Sold!
Now, I no longer use Ulysses at all - moved on to other markdown utilities. But what I found on SetApp was so useful. I use at least 12-15 apps weekly and it has helped my productivity immensely. SetApp subscription has far more value (and you can get BusyCal if you want too). They even have an educator discount for 50% off. Wonderful.