Mynd Calendar for iOS adds a simple solution for juggling schedules

Alminder’s Mynd Calendar app for iOS is designed to serve as a sort of hub for your day, listing just about everything you could possibly need to get things done in concise, easy-to-read boxes. In a new update now available on the iOS app store, the calendar learns a fairly clever way of tackling an old, fairly common task: scheduling appointments.

Any calendar app worth its salt can handle something as simple as creating events and sharing said event’s details with attendees. The new Mynd Scheduler attempts to streamline the process. It’s a fairly simple update but offers that quintessential “well, duh” moment of clarity that makes me a bit annoyed that the rest of the calendars I’ve dabbled with over the years haven’t quite figured this all out.

Above: Mynd blocks out proposed event times in your calendar — no more overbooking!

The Mynd Scheduler is incredibly easy to use: Create a title for your event, pick some times, and set a duration, then invite some contacts. Every time slot you select will be blocked out as a proposed event on your calendar, so you’ll have a visual cue of your potential schedule. The app then automatically generates an email with all of the proposed meetings times in a neat, bulleted list, and sends it along to attendees. When you’re ready to set a time, just pick one in the app and the dummy events will be cleared.

This is a bit of a double-edged sword. If you’ve used Google or Microsoft’s Outlook to schedule events, you’re probably used to getting those emails with handy “Yes, No, Maybe” links that’ll automatically add events to your calendar. The email that Mynd sends, by contrast, isn’t “interactive” in the same way; attendees will need to read the (brief) message and reply, an extra layer of complexity that likely saves much confusion in the long run, but nevertheless goes against the grain.

On the other hand, setting the meeting planner as the final arbiter of meeting times keeps inboxes nice and tidy: tally the responses, pick a time that’s left and presto, your meeting is set. If you’ve ever accidently booked several meetings in the same time slot — I’m looking at you, CES — this new update easily prove rather attractive.

There’s far more to Mynd than this retooled scheduler, and if you aren’t satisfied with the default iOS calendar, then it’s worth checking out. Access to your calendars is required, but things really start to shine when you give the app permission to link with a myriad of other services, including iOS’ Reminders, Evernote, and LinkedIn. The app can also offer up commute times to and from events when given enough information, which all adds up to a rather useful package.

Better still, Mynd is free — if you own an iPhone and do things over the course of the day, there’s no real harm in checking it out.