A Mac Calendar With Tasks Built In

Tasks in InstaCal, in short

Where it lives: A Tasks button in the menu bar panel, and a resizable window of its own. On iPhone and iPad it is a button on the bar you can move wherever you like.
Two different dates: Plan a Date is when you intend to work on it. Finish By is when it must be done. Moving one does not move the other, and a task planned after its own deadline says so.
Plain language: Type “draft the budget Friday 9am for 45 minutes #work p1” and InstaCal reads the date, the length, the tag and the priority — and shows you what it read before saving. It runs on the device; nothing is sent anywhere.
Free-time scheduling: Give a task a duration and InstaCal finds a gap between your busy events, inside working hours you set. One task, or every undated task at once.
On the calendar: Dated tasks appear in the agenda, month cells, widgets and on Apple Watch; timed ones draw as blocks you can drag onto the grid.
Separate from Reminders: Apple Reminders stay exactly as they are. Tasks is InstaCal's own, with the structure Reminders does not have.
Connected services: Google Tasks, Microsoft To Do and Todoist lists appear beside your own, synced with the service rather than copied out of it.
Where your own tasks are kept: On the device. iCloud sync for the personal library is built but not switched on in the current release, so use a connected service's list for anything you need on two machines today.
Price: $19.99 once on the App Store, down from $29.99. One purchase includes InstaCal for Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch; it is not a subscription.
Requirements: macOS 15 Sequoia or later, on Apple silicon or Intel.

Why it is in the calendar

A deadline is not a plan.

Every task app lets you say when something is due. Almost none let you say when you will do it.

Two dates, on purpose

The report is due Friday. You are going to write it Wednesday morning. Those are different facts, and an app with one date field makes you choose which one to lie about. InstaCal keeps both, and warns you when the plan lands after the deadline.

A length, so it can find room

Tell a task it takes forty-five minutes and Schedule in Free Time looks for forty-five minutes you actually have, between your real events, inside the hours you actually work.

It shows up where you look

A dated task is in the agenda beside the meetings, in the month cell, in the widget and on the watch — not behind a tab in another app you have to remember to open.

Your Reminders are untouched

This is not a migration. Apple Reminders keep syncing exactly as they did, and Tasks sits alongside them for the things a reminder is too thin to hold.

Getting started

About a minute.

Open TasksClick the Tasks button in the panel's footer. Right-click it for a resizable window that stays open while you work.
Type a taskPlain language. A date, a duration, #tags and p1 / p2 / p3 for priority are all understood, and what InstaCal read is shown before you save.
Give it a deadline, or a plan, or bothPlan a Date for when you will work on it, Finish By for when it is due. Add a duration if you want InstaCal to find the slot.
Put it on the calendarTurn on Show Tasks on Calendar and dated tasks join the agenda, the month and your widgets. Drag one onto the time grid to schedule it.
Bring your existing listsConnect Google, Microsoft or Todoist in Settings › Accounts and those lists appear beside your own.

The shape of it

Enough structure, and no more.

No projects, no sprints, no streaks, no second subscription.

Lists and sections

Name them, colour them, give them icons and sections, drag them into order. Archive one you are done with instead of deleting it.

Tags, priorities and checklists

Any number of tags, four priorities, and subtasks you can reorder. Sort by date, priority, title or your own hand; group by list, section or day.

Repeating tasks that behave

Daily, weekdays, weekly, monthly or yearly, repeating from the scheduled date or from the day you actually finished. Completing one starts the next with a fresh checklist.

Deleted is not gone

A deleted task waits thirty days in Recently Deleted before it is really removed.

Siri, Shortcuts and Spotlight

Add a Task, Complete a Task, Open Task and Open Task List are Shortcuts actions, so they work on InstaCal's ordinary requirements — put one on the Action button, in a Shortcuts automation, or on a Home Screen.

Your tasks, task lists and reminders are indexed for Spotlight, so searching your Mac or phone finds them by name and opens them in InstaCal. Talking to Siri about them in conversation is newer and needs macOS 27 or iOS 27; everything above works today.

FAQ

Questions about tasks

Is this instead of Apple Reminders?

No. Reminders keep working exactly as they always did — InstaCal reads and writes them, and ticking one off here ticks it off everywhere. Tasks is a second, richer list for the things a reminder cannot hold: a checklist, a tag, a duration, or a deadline that is separate from when you plan to work.

What is the difference between a planned date and a deadline?

The deadline is when the task must be finished. The planned date is when you intend to work on it. Most apps give you one field and make you pick; InstaCal keeps both, so you can move the work around the week without pretending the due date moved with it. A task planned after its own deadline is flagged.

Can I use my Google Tasks or Microsoft To Do lists?

Yes. Connect the account and its task lists appear in InstaCal beside your own, under the service's name. They stay that service's tasks rather than copies, so a change made in either place reaches the other. Todoist connects the same way and its tasks sit alongside your reminders.

Do my tasks sync between my Mac and my iPhone?

Tasks in your own InstaCal library are kept on the device in the current release — iCloud sync for them is built but not yet switched on. A list from a connected Google, Microsoft or Todoist account is on every device you connect it to, so that is the way to have one list in two places today.

Does a task show up on the calendar itself?

If you want it to. Turn on Show Tasks on Calendar and dated tasks appear in the agenda, in month cells, in widgets and on Apple Watch, and tasks with a time draw as blocks in Day and Week that you can drag to reschedule. A second switch keeps tasks that are due on a day but at no particular hour out of the all-day band.

Is Tasks a separate purchase or a Pro feature?

Neither. There is no Pro tier and no in-app purchase. Every feature in the current release is included in the same purchase.

What does InstaCal require?

macOS 15 Sequoia or later, on Apple silicon or Intel. InstaCal is a native Swift app — not a web wrapper — so the panel opens instantly and uses very little power.

How much does InstaCal cost?

InstaCal is $19.99 once, down from $29.99. One App Store purchase includes the Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch apps. There is no subscription, separate mobile purchase, Pro tier, InstaCal account or in-app purchase.

Stop keeping the list somewhere the calendar cannot see it.

Tasks, deadlines and your actual free time, in one panel.

Download on theMac App Store

~~$29.99~~ $19.99 once. One purchase includes InstaCal for Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. No subscription, InstaCal account or ads.

Keep exploring

The list and the calendar in the same place.