OneView is a surprisingly refreshing calendar app

OneView Calendar is a new, surprisingly refreshing take on the digital calendar. The free app is launching for Android and the web today, and coming to iOS next (possibly in October). You can download the Android app now from Google Play and access the web app directly at app.oneviewcalendar.com.

The premise is very straightforward, as the name gives away: OneView Calendar doesn’t have a day view, a week view, a month view, or any other views. It has one view, which lets you zoom in and out to see more details or more of an overview, as you see fit.

OneView Calendar can be used alongside, or instead of, your existing calendar app. The web version currently supports Google accounts, while the Android app supports all calendars on your device.

The great thing is that it works right out of the box: After I installed it on my Android phone and launched the app, all my Google calendars loaded immediately. I didn’t have to set anything up whatsoever.

The app’s creator, Peter Molyneux, is a 38-year-old software developer working for CANEA. He lives in Sweden with his wife and three kids (ages one, five, and seven).

Molyneux tells me he started OneView Calendar as a side project 3.5 years ago. Balancing work and family life meant he didn’t have much time for the project, and was constantly looking for ways to get a couple of hours’ work in each week.

Although OneView is a free app, Molyneux does hope to monetize it in the future with in-app purchase options. He hopes that themes and other additions will be enough to keep development financially viable.

OneView Calendar is an HTML5 web app, meaning it works on most modern computers, tablets, phones, and even smartwatches. The Android app is really just a Cordova wrapper for the HTML5 web app.

“There is an ongoing debate about if it is possible to develop apps with HTML5 instead of just making them native,” Molyneux told VentureBeat. “The question is if they can look good enough and run smooth enough. OneView Calendar proves that it is possible.”

The main advantage of this technique is that the landing page for the website doesn’t just have a screenshot. A live version of the app is available right from the get-go.

Indeed, if you don’t want to commit to OneView right away, the app’s website has a nifty demo that you can try. If you’re on a computer, use your scroll wheel to zoom, and if you’re on a touchscreen device, zoom in and out with your two fingers. You can also zoom in and out by tapping directly on a day, week, month, or year — just like in the actual calendar app itself.