Apple Calendar Gains Natural Language Event Creation in iOS 17
Apple's Calendar app, starting with the iOS 17 beta, now supports natural language input for event creation. Users can type event details like 'Meeting at 3 PM' or 'Coffee with Mark at Starbucks,' with the app automatically parsing information like time, attendees, and locations. This feature, previously found in third-party apps like Fantastical, aims to streamline event scheduling.
Key points
- Apple's Calendar app in the iOS 17 beta introduces natural language processing for event creation.
- Users can type event details in plain text, such as 'Meeting at 3 PM' or 'Coffee with Mark at Starbucks'.
- The app automatically identifies and parses key information like dates, times, attendees, and locations.
- Users receive suggestions for adding parsed details as separate event fields or can keep them in the description.
- This functionality mirrors features available in third-party calendar applications like Fantastical.
- The update aims to simplify and speed up the process of adding events to the calendar.
Apple's Calendar application is set to receive a significant usability upgrade with the upcoming iOS 17 release. Beta versions of the operating system reveal a new feature that allows users to create calendar events using natural language input. This means individuals can now describe an event in a single line of text, similar to how they might speak.
For example, typing "Work meeting at 3pm" will prompt the Calendar app to automatically set the event time to 3:00 PM. When details like attendees or locations are mentioned, such as in "Coffee with Mark at Starbucks," the app will offer suggestions to add 'Mark' as an invitee and 'Starbucks' as a location. Users can choose to accept these suggestions, integrating them as distinct event fields, or retain them within the event's descriptive text.
This addition brings Apple's native Calendar app closer to the functionality offered by popular third-party applications like Fantastical, which has long provided robust natural language processing for event scheduling. The move is expected to streamline the process of adding appointments and reminders, making calendar management more intuitive for iOS users.
Sources
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