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A calendar app doesn’t have to be special to be useful. But there’s are a few reasons I stick with the built-in Samsung Calendar that comes on Galaxy phones.
The Beauty of a Beautiful Layout
I’ve come to learn just how much good design matters. If parts of an app don’t flow well for me, I just don’t use it—even if I want to.
When I open Samsung Calendar, I can’t help but be impressed by how Samsung presents the monthly, weekly, and daily view in a way that works regardless of what size screen I’m on. As a Z Fold 6 owner, I use the cover display, the internal screen, and an external monitor with Samsung DeX. No matter which display I’m staring at, Samsung Calendar feels like a natural fit.
Like Google Calendar, there’s also a Schedule view that displays your upcoming events in a single list. It’s a quick way to scroll back and see what recently happened and what’s coming in the immediate days ahead.
I love how, when I’m using my phone’s internal screen or DeX, Samsung Calendar opens event details in a pop-up instead of using the full app window. I can then close the event by tapping anywhere outside the pop-up instead of having to hunt down an X icon in the top corner.
Fluidly Switching Between Different Views
I lost interest in Google Calendar years ago. Since then, I’ve primarily turned to Proton Calendar (one ofProton’s privacy-focused alternatives to Google apps). Yet I don’t want to open the Proton Calendar app anymore after experiencing how quickly I can switch between views in Samsung Calendar.
All I need to do is swipe up or down, and I can shift betwen all three major views.
Likewise, I can switch from one day’s events to the next by swiping left or right.
I’m not a hardcore calendar user. I don’t need to sync with a bunch of others and have the option to invite people to appointments. I’m primarily keeping track of my own schedule, my wife’s, and our kids. What matters most to me is the ease with which I can view and navigate what’s going on in our lives.
If you’re more of a calendar power user, you may want to trymanaging your schedule with Notion instead.
Quickly Creating New Events
Samsung Calendar has won me over not only with the ease of viewing events, but how quickly I’m able to make them. There’s a field at the bottom, which looks like a search window, where you may type in events to get started. You can type a name that includes the time, and the app will take care of the rest.
For example, if I enter “Parent Teacher Conference @4PM” as I’m getting into bed, the app will enter an event for 4PM the next day. The name will awkwardly still include “@4PM” as well, but that’s a minor annoyance that I can tidy up later if I want.
If I know what time the event will end, I can even enter the time “@4PM until 5:30PM.” The @ symbol isn’t important here. I can spell out “at” or use “from” instead and get the same result.
In both Proton Calendar and Google Calendar, I would need to create the event and manually enter the details one field at a time. I have this option in Samsung Calendar, too, but I don’t need to use it nearly as much.
Integration With Other Apps
I use Samsung Reminder as my to-do list app of choice, primarily because it integrates with both my Z Fold 6 and my Galaxy Watch. The integration with Samsung Calendar is also top-notch.
Tasks appear on my calendar at the time they are due. So when I check the day’s events, I also see the tasks I have due that day.
I wouldn’t blame you for getting the impression that I stick to all of Samsung’s default apps, but that isn’t the case. I’ve actually swapped out the default One UI launcher for Niagara Launcher—one of thebest minimalist Android launchers.
It was this switch that tempted me to try Samsung Calendar in the first place. Niagara Launcher shows upcoming events directly on the home screen, but it can’t access the events saved to my Proton Calendar.
My relationship with Samsung Calendar is similar to how I feel about Samsung Gallery and the Samsung My Files file manager.
These aren’t just obligatory phone apps shipped to provide essential functionality. They’re actually really strong pieces of software that I prefer over most alternatives. People buy Samsung phones for a lot of different reasons. For me, it’s increasingly because of the software Samsung ships.
