Originally released in early 2013, Horizon was a calendar app developed by Kyle Rosenbluth that integrated local weather forecasts with your calendar, giving you a more contextual representation of events that contained location information. Today, Horizon 3 has been released on the App Store with a brand new design, support for natural language searches, and a timeline view that still displays your upcoming events alongside weather conditions and locations.
I’ve been testing Horizon 3, and, if you’re looking for a calendar client for iPhone focused on search and weather, it’s an interesting new take on the genre. When you create a new event (using natural language, which was added in version 2.0), map and weather data are embedded in the creation screen, offering a preview of an event’s location and weather forecast. The app is a free download, but by unlocking a $4.99 In-App Purchase you’ll also get access to weather change notifications and driving time – two handy additions that aren’t supported in Apple’s Calendar or Sunrise.
My favorite feature in Horizon 3 is smart search, which combines natural language with the ability to look into your schedule to return available times and details about events. For instance, I can type “Next free Monday at 11 am” and I’ll get a list of Mondays when I’ll be available at 11 AM; it also works in reverse, so I can enter “last therapy” and I’ll get a result for the last time I went to a physical therapy session, as seen in my calendar. It’s not a revolutionary idea, but it’s an obvious next step for natural language on iOS, which sets Horizon 3 apart from the competition.
