As much as the digital age of technology is supposed to make it easier for us and bring us closer, somehow it seems to have gotten away from that. With “an app for everything,” we have several for different functions of both calendars and reminders. We’re so busy planning on our devices that it’s driving us apart. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Calio solves those problems for us. The more and more you discover all that Calio can do, the more apps you can eliminate from your arsenal. It streamlines your busy life for you. It can help you plan events, send reminders, and keep track of it all in an easy-to-use interface: by yourself or with your friends, family, and coworkers. Calio will work for you the way you want and need it to, unlike the other calendar and reminder apps out there, and will eliminate the “social problem” by allowing you to work together instead of separately.
Introduction to Calio
Calio is available for both iOS and Android as a quick download from their home page. Their goal at the company is to bring people together through their app. They developed it because of what they call the “Social Problem: The technology built to bring us closer is taking us further away.” People will go out to dinner, and everyone is sitting there on their phones instead of communicating with each other.
So with Calio, you can plan your meetings and events and send reminders to yourself and others of things that need your attention, all on your device – but it’s not taking you away from communicating with people. You still are. But you certainly don’t have to communicate with others using the app. It works just as fine as a tool for planning all your dates, meetings, and appointments, and reminders, whether you need to connect with others or not.
Launching Calio
When you first launch Calio, it asks you to sign up, and after doing so it guides you to the upper-left corner of the home screen. Clicking on this icon guides you through the setup process, allowing you to set the following items:
Importing your important dates from Facebook and existing calendars Exporting your Calio events to your existing calendars Time frame of the default calendar view Time frame of your reminders
This brings up all of your events and reminders in one easy-to-navigate calendar.
Scheduling a Time
It’s incredibly easy to start a discussion over what time to meet at an event. Clicking the large plus (+) sign in the lower-right corner in the home screen (the middle icon on the bottom) takes you to the screen to add events/schedule a time.
If you want to discuss a time, you need to do that before starting your event. Click the green bar that says, “Suggest multiple times instead?” It allows you to suggest two or more separate times. You can add an event name as well. When you’re through, click “Send.” This brings up a screen asking if you want to share these time choices. It will show you the friends you are already connected with and will also give you options if your friends are not on Calio. You can either send them an email or get a link to send them through social media or in a text.
If your friend is on Calio, they’ll get the notification of the event asking for a time and can vote on their choice in the app. If they are not on the app, they can still vote on a time through the Web by clicking on the link. Once you have your votes tallied, you can go back into the invite, choose the appropriate time, and this will send it to a full event where you can fill out the rest of the information to invite your friends.
Creating an Event or Reminder
To create an event or reminder, you will either get there by deciding on a definite time from your invite or by creating an all-new event by clicking the plus icon. Setting a reminder is the same as setting an event. It’s set up the same way and appears in your calendar the same as well. Instead of clicking the green bar this time, you’ll either already have the time and event name filled in from the time invite or will add new data.
The next step is to choose an event place if one is necessary. It will auto-fill in for you after you type the first few letters. You then just need to click on the appropriate green bar that reads, “Use this Event Place.” If you’re unsure of the venue, you can click on “Add another venue?” and add more options, allowing your friends to vote on it in the same manner as times are voted on. In the following steps you can upload a photo if you choose to to help you identify the event, as well as a description. Finally, you can click on the green bar that says “Private” and toggle your event to “Public” if you choose to let all of your friends on Calio know about the event. When you’re through, click “Create.”
This brings up a window asking you to confirm. It shows you all the details of your event or reminder and allows you to invite your friends. Just like with the time invite, you can invite friends on the app, send an email invite, or copy the link.
Chat with Friends
Here’s where it all gets even better! After your friends get the invite, it brings them an invite asking them to confirm whether they are in or out. It can’t get much simpler. And remember, this is whether they are on the app or not, as they can confirm through the Web.
Now that your friends have confirmed, they are officially “in” your event. After you go back to the home page again, find the event in your calendar and click on it to enter the event. At the top of the screen you’ll see “Details” for a review of what the event is, “Who’s in?” to show you who has confirmed they will be there, and “Chat.” This last one will allow you to message back and forth with others who are “in” to set further details.
Where Calio Is Headed
I’ll preface this by saying I’m one who loves a good calendar or productivity app anyway, but this is one I thoroughly enjoyed and am finding very useful. I tested it on iOS and have already given up on the native Calendar app as well as Wunderlist to send reminders of tasks, preferring Calio. I can see so many benefits with it. In the same way that Evernote is so much more than just a note-taking app, Calio is so much more than just a calendar app. And the team behind Calio is not done yet. They have more exciting changes in store for the app in the future. For the iOS version they plan to work more on an iPad integration which will include landscape orientation so that you don’t have to use the app at 2X and stare sideways at it if you’re using a keyboard. Additionally, they plan to incorporate a Siri integration with it which will open it up even more as far as the ease of use and will also allow you to incorporate it into HomePod use. They are also working on “Brands,” meaning you’ll be able to connect with your favorite brands in the app and will also be able to buy tickets. It leaves me not only thrilled to have found a great new app but also excited to see where it will go next! Calio
