Menu bar calendar

Your whole schedule, one keystroke away.

Opening a calendar app to answer a ten-second question is the wrong amount of ceremony. InstaCal lives in the menu bar: press the hotkey, see the month, the agenda, your reminders and anything waiting on a reply — then it's gone before the rest of your Mac notices.

Download on theMac App Store

$9.99 once on the Mac App Store. No subscription, no account, no ads.

3Account types: Apple, Google, Microsoft
1Keystroke to the whole schedule
$9.99Once — not a subscription
0Analytics or trackers

InstaCal in short

What it is
A calendar that lives in the macOS menu bar. Click the date or press a global hotkey and the month, your agenda, reminders and invitations appear in one panel.
Calendars
Works across Apple (iCloud and any calendar in the Calendar app), Google, and Microsoft 365.
Adding events
Type in plain English — "Lunch with Sam Friday 1pm" — and press Return. A live preview shows what will be created before you commit.
Meetings
The next event and a live countdown can sit in the menu bar, with a Join button that appears before the call starts.
Price
$9.99 once on the Mac App Store — a one-time purchase, not a subscription.
Requirements
macOS 14 Sonoma or later, on Apple silicon or Intel.
Privacy
No analytics, no tracking, no server of ours. Tokens stay in your Keychain.
What's in the panel

Everything you actually open a calendar for.

One panel, arranged so the common questions answer themselves.

A month you can scan

The month grid sits at the top with today marked, week numbers optional, and arrow keys to move a day or a week at a time.

An agenda without an end

Scroll as far into the future as you like, or pull past the top for earlier days. It never runs out and never asks you to load more.

Reminders in the day they're due

Due reminders sit in the flow of the day with their priority marks. Click the circle to complete one without leaving the panel.

Invitations you can answer here

Accept, decline, or reply tentative — with a comment or silently. InstaCal flags conflicts with your existing events before you reply.

Weather in the day header

Conditions, high and low sit in each day's header, from Apple Weather or The Weather Channel — or switch it off entirely.

Calendar Sets

Name a group of calendars and switch the whole panel in one click. "Work" hides the family noise; "Personal" hides the standups.

In the menu bar

One panel, the whole day.

The InstaCal panel open in the macOS menu bar: a July month grid above an agenda showing today's events with a live countdown, a Zoom link, due reminders, and weather in each day header
The panel

Month, agenda, reminders and weather in one glance.

Everything you open a calendar to check, in the order you check it. The month grid for orientation, then a day at a time with the times, the meeting links, the reminders that are due, and the forecast for the day you're looking at.

  • A live countdown on the next event — “in 33m”, not mental arithmetic
  • Meeting links surfaced from wherever the organiser hid them
  • Due reminders in the flow of the day, completed with a click
  • Conditions, high and low in each day header
The InstaCal panel showing the reminders list with due dates, priority marks and completion circles
Reminders

Your reminders, in the same keystroke.

Switch the panel to reminders and they're all there with their due dates, priority marks and lists. Click a circle to complete one; it syncs straight back to Apple Reminders.

  • Due dates and times, with priority marks
  • Complete without leaving the panel
  • Separate lists, each with its own colour
  • Location-based geofence alerts in the editor
InstaCal's full calendar window in dark mode: the agenda sidebar, a month grid with Day, Week, Month, Year and List view options, and an event's details open in the right-hand inspector
And a full window

When you need a proper month, it's a keystroke away.

The menu bar is for the ten-second question. For planning, InstaCal opens a real calendar window with Day, Week, Month, Year and List views, search, and an inspector that edits an event in place.

  • Five views, switched from the toolbar
  • The agenda stays alongside the grid
  • Edit times, alerts, repeat and availability in the inspector
  • Search across every connected account
Getting started

Three minutes from install to useful.

  1. Install and grant calendar accessInstaCal reads the calendars already in your Mac's Calendar app, so if your accounts are set up in macOS there is nothing else to connect.
  2. Add Google or Microsoft directly, if you preferSign in through your browser. Tokens go straight into your Keychain, and incremental sync moves only what changed.
  3. Pick your hotkeySet a global shortcut to open the panel. When it closes, focus returns exactly where it was.
  4. Decide what the menu bar showsTen date styles or a custom pattern, plus the optional next event and countdown.

What InstaCal does with your data

Analytics
None. InstaCal contains no analytics SDK and no tracking of any kind.
Your accounts
Google and Microsoft tokens are stored in your macOS Keychain.
Where events go
Directly between your Mac and your calendar provider. There is no server of ours in between.
Sandboxing
InstaCal is sandboxed, as required by the Mac App Store.
FAQ

Questions about InstaCal

What is a menu bar calendar?
It's a calendar that lives in the macOS menu bar instead of in a window. Clicking the date — or pressing a global hotkey — drops down a panel with your month, agenda and reminders, and dismissing it returns you to whatever you were doing. It suits the way most calendar questions are asked: quickly, in the middle of something else.
Which calendars does InstaCal work with?
Apple (iCloud and any calendar in the Calendar app), Google, and Microsoft 365. Apple accounts come through the calendars already configured in macOS, so iCloud, and any CalDAV or Exchange account your Mac already knows about, appear automatically.
Does InstaCal replace Apple's Calendar app?
For most day-to-day use, yes — InstaCal has a full event editor, a reminder editor, and a separate window with Day, Week, Month and List views. It reads the same accounts, so nothing stops you from using both.
Can I still see a full calendar window?
Yes. Alongside the menu bar panel there's a full calendar window with Day, Week, Month and List views, search, and week numbers.
What does InstaCal require?
macOS 14 Sonoma 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.
Does InstaCal collect any data?
No. InstaCal contains no analytics and no tracking. Your Google and Microsoft tokens live in your Mac's Keychain, and your events sync directly between your Mac and your calendar provider — there is no server of ours for your data to visit.
How much does InstaCal cost?
InstaCal is $9.99 once on the Mac App Store. It is not a subscription — there is no monthly or yearly fee, no account to create, and no in-app purchase. Updates, including new features, are included.
InstaCal app icon

Put your calendar where you already look.

One keystroke to the whole schedule, then out of your way.

Download on theMac App Store

$9.99 once on the Mac App Store. No subscription, no account, no ads.

Keep exploring

More from InstaCal

Plain-English event entry

Type "Lunch with Sam Friday 1pm" and press Return. A live preview shows what you'll get.

Next meeting in the menu bar

Your next event and a live countdown where you already look, with a one-click Join.

A Fantastical alternative

The menu bar panel, plain-English entry and Calendar Sets — for one payment instead of a subscription.

See everything InstaCal does →