Introducing Outlook’s new and improved calendar on iOS and Android

Whether you’re planning your next dinner date or an upcoming meeting with teammates, the Outlook team’s mission is to provide you with the best calendar app out there. Today, we’re happy to share that it’s about to get even better on iOS and Android—with new features and a better overall experience to help you manage and make the most of your day.

Here’s a look at what’s new:

Stay connected with Interesting Calendars

A few months ago, we introduced Calendar Apps to let you connect your favorite apps—Wunderlist, Facebook and Evernote—to your calendar. Our goal? To give you a complete and clear view of your day with your events, tasks and notes in one place.

Today, we’re taking this idea one step further by adding Interesting Calendars, which allows you to subscribe to your hometown sports team’s calendar and see the events automatically pop up in your calendar. TV shows and more will be following soon.

Interesting Calendars is available today to Outlook for iOS users with an Office 365 email address (coming soon to Android). Users with an Outlook.com email address will be able to subscribe later this year, with Gmail and other accounts to follow.

Add some personality to your agenda with event icons

Try typing “coffee” or “lunch” next time you create an event and see what happens in your agenda view—the keywords automatically trigger an icon that matches your event title. Icons come in handy when you want to scan your day quickly and see what’s coming up. Also, they’re fun.

For Sunrise users, we even added new icons on top of our regular list. Let us know once you’ve found them all.

Know where you need to go with maps in event details

Don’t want to get lost on your way to your next appointment? Just start typing a location next time you create an event, choose one of the handy suggestions (powered by Bing) and Outlook will include a map with your event details.

Now, before your next event, you can simply tap on the map in the event details and get directions from your favorite maps app.

Schedule in a snap with improved date and time pickers

As we continue to bring more of the Sunrise design expertise to Outlook, we updated our date and time pickers so that scheduling is easier than ever. Our new design provides a simpler, more intuitive way to choose the date and time when creating a meeting—matching how Outlook works on the web or desktop. You can try this out today in Outlook for iOS, and it is coming soon on Android.

Update meetings on the fly with recurrence editing

Recurring meetings can be edited from your mobile device. Now you can adjust the time, location, attendees or even delete the event if necessary while on the go. Outlook confirms if you’d like your changes to apply to the individual instance or all the meetings in the series. We will be adding the ability to create recurring events in an upcoming update.

Make meetings on the go easier with Skype for Business

Following our Skype integration, you can now create Skype for Business meetings directly from your phone. When creating a new event on your Office 365 calendar, the option to add a Skype meeting is now included. Simply tap the Skype Meeting toggle and Outlook includes your company’s Skype information in the description of the event. When the meeting arrives, you’ll also be able to join the call with just a tap.

And there’s even more to come!

Let us know what you think of our new calendar features! We’re not stopping here in our quest to provide you with the best calendar experience on iOS and Android. If you have other ideas for what would make the calendar experience even better for you, let us know right from Outlook by going to Settings > Suggest a Feature.

—Javier Soltero

Frequently asked questions

Q. When will I see the Skype for Business toggle in my calendar?

A. The ability to add Skype for Business details to your meetings invitations is rolled out to about 75 percent of users. All users should see it soon. The Skype for Business option will only appear for those with an Office 365 email address.

Q. Is the Interesting Calendars feature for Outlook for iOS and Android different from what was released for Office 365 and Outlook.com accounts last month?

A. No, this is the same feature. The ability to subscribe to Interesting Calendars was released for Outlook on the web earlier this month for Office 365 and new Outlook.com accounts. Today’s update allows users to subscribe to new interesting calendars from iOS and Android. Regardless of where you subscribe, the calendars will show up in any version of Outlook.