Tellendar vs Apple Calendar: which one on iPhone?

Updated October 8, 2026

Apple Calendar is free, already on your iPhone, and synced with your other Apple devices. Its alerts are notifications: in silent mode, the iPhone vibrates without ringing. Tellendar is a paid iPhone calendar app whose alarms ring like an alarm clock, even in silent mode. For a full calendar that you share or use on several devices, keep Apple Calendar. For appointments that have to ring, choose Tellendar.

What Apple Calendar does well

Calendar is Apple's calendar app. It is free and installed on every iPhone.

• Several accounts. Calendar shows calendars from iCloud, Google, Exchange and other accounts side by side. You add them in Settings, then Apps, then Calendar, then "Calendar Accounts".
• All your Apple devices. An iCloud calendar is the same on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch.
• A full event form. An event can have a location or a video call, travel time, notes, attachments and a web address.
• Invitations and sharing. According to Apple, you can invite people to an event and share an iCloud calendar, read-only or with permission to edit.
• Repeats. The "Repeat" menu includes every two weeks, and the "Custom" option sets a date such as the first Monday of the month.
• Several alerts. Each alert you set makes a new "Alert" row appear on the event. Lead times go from "At time of event" to "1 week before".
• Reminders in the calendar. The add button creates an event or a reminder, and dated reminders show up in the day.
• Siri. "Schedule a meeting with Sam at 9" creates the event in Calendar.

The limit of Apple Calendar for an appointment

A Calendar alert is a notification. The iPhone plays a sound once, shows a banner, then moves the alert to Notification Center. In silent mode, it vibrates without ringing. An active Focus can also hold it back if Calendar is not allowed in that Focus. The alert does not come back on its own: to be warned again, you need to set another alert.

The guide Why you miss calendar alerts on iPhone covers these causes and the settings to check. The guide How to make your iPhone ring for an appointment, even in silent mode describes the options without Tellendar, using the Clock or Reminders app.

What Tellendar does differently

Tellendar is a calendar app where every appointment has its own alarms. You create it from one sentence, typed or spoken: "Dentist Thursday at 3 pm, alarm the day before at 8 pm and 1 hour before".

• Real alarms. They are iOS alarms, like the ones in Clock. They ring in silent mode and with a Focus on, on the Lock Screen. A "Snooze 10 min" button puts them off.
• Several alarms per appointment. A week before, the day before, one hour before: each one rings.
• Calendar-style repeats. "Physio every other Thursday at 6 pm" or "meeting on the first Monday of the month" fits in one sentence.
• Dictation from the Lock Screen. The "Dictate an alarm" widget opens the microphone without going through the app.
• Google Calendar. Your Google events show up in Tellendar and you can add alarms to them.
• No account. Your events stay on your iPhone, with a backup in iCloud.
• On any iPhone running iOS 26. If your iPhone has Apple Intelligence, your sentences are understood on the iPhone. Otherwise, and only if you agree, they are understood by Mistral AI, a French AI company.

What Tellendar does not do

• Tellendar does not read Apple Calendar or iCloud calendars. Only Google Calendar events can get an alarm, in addition to the ones you create in Tellendar.
• Tellendar events don't show up in Apple Calendar. They go to Google Calendar if you have connected it.
• No location, notes, attachments or invitees on an event.
• No Siri.
• Tellendar is an iPhone app, on one iPhone at a time. It is not available on iPad, Mac or Apple Watch.
• Tellendar is a subscription. The price is shown in the app.

Summary

Which one to choose

If you share your calendar, receive invitations, or check your appointments on iPad and Mac, keep Apple Calendar. If the iPhone ringer stays on, its alerts play a sound.

If you have missed an appointment because your iPhone was in silent mode, and you want an alarm that rings no matter what, choose Tellendar.

You can use both. Apple Calendar stays your calendar, and you add the appointments that have to ring to Tellendar. If your main calendar is Google Calendar, Tellendar can add alarms to its events: the guide A real alarm for your Google Calendar events on iPhone explains how.

Frequently asked questions