This iOS calendar app is side-stepping Android to embrace Googlebooks

In a perfect world, the software we want to use would be available across all major platforms — but that’s just not the reality we live in. For multiple reasons, access is still a problem, and we’re always happy to see when a developer opens its doors to a new platform. Most of the time, that’s an iOS-only app finally becoming available for Android phones. Today, however, we might be looking at the first time ever an app skipped Android proper in order to launch a Googlebook edition.

Fantastical is a powerful scheduling solution that got its start on Apple’s platforms, before eventually expanding to Windows. But in the 15 years it’s been around, the calendar app hasn’t been available for Google’s ecosystem. While it’s still not making the leap to Android phones and tablets — at least not yet — Fantastical is finally dipping a toe in the Google pool as developer Flexibits announces plans for a native Googlebook release.

The timing makes a lot of sense. One of the reasons we often hear about devs being a little hesitant to make the transition over to Android is the headache involved in properly supporting so many different device types. By focusing on Googlebook models, that serious reduces the complexity involved. And for Fantastical in specific, the positioning of these devices as serious productivity machines makes them a sensible fit for software designed to help manage busy schedules.

Pricing for Fantastical on Googlebooks is going to be the same as it exists now: there’s a free tier with basic functionality, and users who want more from the service can upgrade to paid individual, family, or team plans, starting as low as $4.75 a month. The paid tiers add features like the ability to add events from emails to your calendar just by forwarding the message to Fantastical, or expanding the app’s weather forecast from 3 days out to 10. And with all of these, you can use Fantastical across all supported device types, so you’re not limited to just your Googlebook.

In addition to Fantastical for your schedule, users also get access to Cardhop for managing contacts across devices.

With the launch of Googlebooks just getting started, we’ll be curious to see how many other developers are tempted to take advantage of the platform to finally get a foothold on Google’s mobile ecosystem.