Your days are probably packed with things to do and places to go. You may have a work calendar, but what happens to all the appointments, grocery schedule and essential to-dos for your family and home life? Using your work calendar may not always be the most efficient way to track all of your personal appointments and the family's schedule. You may have started missing some pretty important deadlines for your kids, so your current post-it notes system is not working out. Is there anything you can do short of toting around an additional paper planner?

planner and pen on the table

If you are paperless and work better with a digital medium, then you are probably in the market for something that can continue with that trend. One of the options available to you is the Planner Pro app. With the help of this app, you and your family may run more efficiently. Let's take a closer look at the specs and features that may make this planner app a viable option for all your organizational needs.

Is A Planner Helpful?

calendar planner

Appointments have become a way of life for many people. Whether you are a single professional or the head of a family of five, you likely have to keep track of the comings and goings of your work and/or home life. It can get tricky keeping all those ducks in a row and making sure you and everyone else are in the right place at the right time (with the right stuff).

Planners have long been a way for people to keep track of appointments and deadlines. For professionals, they have become a way to track projects and meetings. For moms and dads, tracking all the demands of your child's school and activity schedule is something that has been aided by the use of a planner. Using a calendar to track appointments, schedules, deadlines, and due dates can alleviate misunderstandings and missteps. Sometimes families create whiteboard calendars that are color-coded to keep track of where everyone needs to be. These calendars are great -- if you're all home at the same time looking at it. This may not be an efficient system for everyone to use. So what's a busy family to do?

What, too, if you are looking for more than just a calendar? Planners can also serve as a way to track tasks and to-do lists. Paper planners have entire sections and add-on features that provide users checklists and whole sections to outline deadlines and goals. Some people enjoy carrying around planners that are busting at the seams with various parts where they can create a system of organization that extends through work and home. In this way, a planner can serve as a total system for people who function better with everything laid out. This system works -- for the one person who has it. Again, what is someone who needs to share to do?

Electronic planners have become more and more popular as people are finding they need access to their personal and work schedules more and more. Families are utilizing shared calendars to keep everyone on the same virtual page with who needs to be where. However, there are certain things these digital calendars can't usually do:

  1. You can't create notes or tasks.
  2. To-do lists can't be easily created or shared.
  3. Reminders to finish tasks that you've set have to be stored as calendar appointments, which may cause issues with others on the same calendar.

People who want to be organized digitally have a few options to consider. Technology is catching up to the needs of families and professionals, and organizational apps are making a big splash across platforms. One such app to consider is Planner Pro. Available for use across iOS, Android and Windows, it allows users the freedom to carry a constant planner to keep up with work, home, goals, notes and each other. Let's take a closer look at what the app is capable of.

What Is Planner Pro?

Planner Pro takes the issues out of juggling multiple calendars and allows you to see everything you need in one spot. Not only does it sync with your work and home schedule, it allows you to pen notes and create to-do lists that will remind you with pop-up notifications of when a due date and time is approaching. Let's take a closer look at the features of Planner Pro.

Planner Pro - Daily Calendar


Planner Pro gives you a multi-view way to keep track of appointments. The calendar view offered in the program allows you to view your day, week (only in paid version) and month, all at a glance. Your daily breakdown screen looks a lot like a paper planner, broken down into hours and half hours for plugging in appointments at all hours of the day and night. If you open your calendar at noon, there is a red line that appears indicating the current time and everything coming up. The left side of your screen is reserved for notes and upcoming items due. The upper left corner gives you the current date, what day of the year it is (220th for example), how many days are left in the year and it even tells you which week you're in out of the 52 in the year. It's a great way to see, at a glance, your day broken up by appointments, your items due and what may lie ahead.

More About The App

The weekly view is something only available to people who pay for the app. It lets you look at your week from Monday through Sunday. Here, you can see everything you have coming up in that week. All appointments and items due for that 7-day period will appear here.

Finally, the monthly calendar view looks just like a regular wall calendar with boxes. It's good to quickly see if you have any open days or exceptionally busy days.

In the paid version of the app, you can set reminders at time intervals to alert you as to approaching deadlines, meetings or special events. You can also search for a specific appointment or deadline by name or subject, and it will show you a list of every instance it appears.


If you are a notetaker, Planner Pro has you covered. There is a section within the app that lets you type or write notes. These notes can then be categorized and broken down, if need be, into tasks and assigned due dates and times within the calendar. While there have been apps before that can keep track of assignments, never has there been one that can do it all within a calendar and schedule. Bullet journaling can be done seamlessly through Planner Pro. Just set up a blank note under the current day, and get to bulleting! You can then integrate those notes with your daily to-dos as stated above.


If your spouse needs to complete a task, and you hate having to keep reminding them, let Planner Pro do it. In the paid version, you can set reminders for tasks and assign them to other people in your shared calendar. On the other hand, if you have a particularly sensitive task (like planning a surprise party) that you don't want anyone else to see, Planner Pro lets you keep it just in your account view.


Finally, there is a saying that "sharing is caring," and Planner Pro makes sure your family knows how much you care. Up to six accounts can share one organizer. In this way, you can be sure your family is where they need to be when they need to be there whether you are all together or separate. Your kids can have it on their phone, and you can assign them appointments and tasks (laundry, anyone?). Once they complete the tasks, they can check them off, and you'll know they've done what was needed.

Planner Pro Specifications

habit tracker, planner pro app

Image Source: appadvice


October 2012

Last update: 

June 2018 (version 4.0.3)


iOS operating system and Android


37 MB


Across all iOS platforms and Android, but they won't sync across platforms


Day, week and month views (no weekly view in free version)


The app supports sharing between six devices


Yes, reminders for tasks and upcoming appointments (only in paid version)

Ease of Use:


Planner Pro is available through the Apple app store and Google Play store for free. There are ads in the free version, which can take up a little space on your screen, and there are certain features that are not available in the free version, such as reminders and the weekly view. If you want to unlock all the features and get rid of those pesky ads, the cost is four and ninety nine dollars per year.

How It Compares

In order to decide on whether Planner Pro is going to work for you, take a look at the following fact sheet for two similar planner apps.



September 2017 (version 2.8.6)

March 2014 (version 1.1.0)


iOS operating system only

iOS and Android


21.6 MB

12.36 MB


Across most iOS platforms (there are a very few exceptions)

Across iOS and Google platforms


Day, week and month views

Day, week and month views


Yes, between devices set up under family share



Yes, reminders for tasks and appointments

Yes, reminders for tasks and appointments





Fantastical 2 is easy to use and allows users to set up tasks and appointments by touch or voice easily. The main screen can also show you all your upcoming tasks and appointments in one place. Notifications can be set for reminders of upcoming deadlines and appointments.

ZenDay is a great stand-alone digital calendar for your phone, PC or tablet. It allows users to set reminders for appointments, deadlines and tasks. It also gives you a snapshot of how well you've kept up with your planning at the end of each week by alerting you to missed deadlines for tasks not checked off as completed.


No note or search feature.

No note, search or family share feature.

Ease of Use:

Pros And Cons

Planner Pro has all the features you could want in a family organizational app. It allows notetaking and a search feature that allows you to quickly find either a note, task or appointment by name. It also allows you to share the app between the family. Fantastical 2 allows the family share, but it doesn't have the notetaking or search feature. ZenDay doesn't allow family sharing, notes or searching. If you want a total solution, Planner Pro is the app for you. Planner Pro isn't perfect, and being able to personalize your calendar and weekly view would be some nice features it currently lacks. Below are some quick pros and cons about Planner Pro.


  • Free download
  • Offers an Apple Watch interface, which allows reminders to be pushed to the watch
  • Storage on the cloud, not your device for availability across all the same operating system devices


  • Won't sync across Google and iOS, though none of the planner apps we looked at have
  • Ads in the free version; $4.99 to upgrade and shut down ads
  • Specific features, like the weekly view, aren't available in the free version


If you are in desperate need of some organization, Planner Pro may provide the perfect blend of elements to fit your lifestyle. Being available across all operating systems means it may be possible to sync work calendars and personal calendars that are already stored on your phone, computer, laptop or tablet. The simple interface makes using the app a snap. It isn't likely that you will forget too much if you have this helpful ally with you at all times.

Therefore, we conclude that the Planner Pro app is worth trying out, whether you are in need of work/home/kid/school organization or all of the above. The easy interface, ability to store notes, create tasks and keep schedules, and the syncing between your devices (of the same operating system) makes it easy for us to recommend.