Sunrise Calendar App introduces the Meet Keyboard.

“When are you available for lunch next week?” … Have you ever spent more time scheduling a meeting over email than actually talking over coffee? … If this question makes you cringe just at the idea of the never-ending email thread that it’s about to start, you’re in for a treat.”

These are some of the thoughts that Sunrise’s e-mail, as well as their blog post, posed me with this morning. I found myself screaming “Yes! ABSOLUTELY!” with big wide eyes at my screen. Their new creation aims to get around all of that, and I wanted to be one of the first to share it with you today.

Before I share “Meet” with you, I’m going to go out on a limb here: Sunrise is officially the best iPhone app (particularly, for calendars) that I have ever used. And I don’t say that lightly. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever said that about any calendar app ever.

I discovered Sunrise thanks to this CNET article about 1 year ago. I had been on the lookout for an app that could replace the built-in iOS calendar. I think that the iOS calendar is fantastic in and of itself, I really do. But, in iOS 8, one thing that it didn’t handle well out the gate was notifications for multiple calendars.

Sidebar. For example: I’m subscribed to various calendars that I expect to sort of run in the background but are handy when I need them. One example is a calendar updated by the 9:30 Club of all of their upcoming shows here in D.C. But, if I’m not looking for a show to attend, I don’t need you to tell me that I’m missing out 15 minutes before showtime. With the iOS calendar, there was no way to tell my iOS device to ONLY show me reminders and notifications for my personal calendar – it had to give me all of them. And all of them was just too much.

Once I downloaded Sunrise, I never looked back. Since then, I have become extremely reliant on it to help me manage my hectic schedule on a day-to-day basis.

The introductory screen once you update your iPhone to the newest version of Sunrise. This video explains the new Meet Keyboard very well.

I use an iPhone 6+, and am primarily a Google Apps user. On my desktop, I use a separate Mac-Only app called BusyCal (which is the most powerful desktop calendar application I have used, EVER. So powerful I pay my money for it!), and the interface between the two are seamless, thanks to Google. If I ever lost my Google Calendar I have no idea what I would do. In short, I would be a very, very upset and lost puppy.

You probs already know by now that I have a goal of meeting 1 new person every single day. And I’m not just about topical meet and greets, I’m all about getting to know someone, over coffee, lunch, in the sun, whatever. Scheduling time for that though, isn’t always the easiest.

Some of my closest friends, especially those who don’t live near me, know how hard it can be to try and make time in a busy schedule – between HESONWHEELS, my dog, working my day job, traveling, volunteering and practicing service here and at home, and keeping a social life, it can be hard to truly and meaningfully connect with those who aren’t in front of you on a routine basis. That doesn’t mean that they matter any less though; it just means that it takes more effort to continue and maintain those connections.

This is a mock invite that I sent myself to see how it works. Right in your keyboard, you pick the times on your calendar in whatever app you are using and it sends the recipient a link. Once they click on the link, the are sent to this screen – where the time options are available and can even be updated in real-time. WILD!

So, all of that is why I’m so excited about Meet. It takes all of that time spent and reduces it, automates it, and sets it. So that I can focus on connecting, and not on scheduling. Check out the video below to learn more.

If there was one thing that I beg of you, as a team, Sunrise is to please not allow your acquirement by Microsoft to interfere with how well you connect to Google. Both you and Google are my EVERYTHING. I use Microsoft products all of the time – in fact I type this on a machine running Windows, right now! But, more than anything, I was nervous that the Microsoft acquirement would have the same fate as many LinkedIn acquirement’s of my former favorites apps like Refresh and CardMunch.

And finally, I hope that this goes well and you do decide to release a next version of the Meet Keyboard that allow scheduling between groups. You all did a fantastic job in allowing this to be available even to those who do not use Sunrise or any of the connectable calendar options – this is a God-send and I am so grateful to you all for creating this!

Go Sunrise!