Road to Launch: Where hora Calendar Stands Today
It's been five days since I started building hora, and the app has gone from prototype to something I genuinely use every day. Here's an honest update on where things stand.
The App Is Real
hora Calendar is now a fully functional native macOS Google Calendar client. Not a demo, not a mockup — a real app that I've been using as my daily driver for the past week. Multiple Google accounts, week/month/day views, menu bar widget, Pomodoro timer, keyboard shortcuts, drag & drop, the works.
This week was all about hardening. The kind of work that's invisible to users but makes the difference between "cool side project" and "app I'd trust with my schedule":
- Security audit — PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy manifest, proper entitlements, PKCE OAuth flow review
- Retry logic — exponential backoff on Google API rate limits and network failures (no more silent sync drops)
- Pagination — proper handling of large calendars with 2500+ events
- Undo/redo — Cmd+Z works for creating, editing, and deleting events
- StoreKit 2 — subscription flow with grace period detection, TestFlight bypass
- Concurrent sync — calendars now sync in parallel, not one by one
Waiting on Google
Here's the honest part: we're currently waiting on Google Cloud OAuth verification. This is the process where Google reviews your app before allowing unrestricted access to their APIs. Until it's approved, new users see a scary "This app isn't verified" warning when signing in.
You can still sign in — click "Advanced" then "Go to hora Calendar (unsafe)" — but it's not the experience I want for launch. Google's review typically takes 2-4 weeks, so we're in a holding pattern.
TestFlight Is Live
The app is on TestFlight. Internal testing is running, and I'm preparing to open external testing soon. If you're on the waitlist, you'll be among the first to get access.
TestFlight builds get the full app experience without the subscription paywall — I want testers focused on finding bugs, not navigating payment flows.
What Features Matter to You?
This is where I need your help. hora Calendar is built for people who actually use Google Calendar on Mac every day. But "people who use Google Calendar" is a wide group — freelancers, engineering managers, founders, students.
I want to hear what features would make hora your default calendar app.
Some things on my radar:
- iOS / iPadOS companion app
- Apple Intelligence integration (meeting briefings, smart scheduling)
- Natural language event creation ("Coffee with Anna tomorrow at 3")
- ICS file import/export
- Deeper Google Workspace integration
Send your thoughts to hello@horacal.app — every email gets read. Tell me what's missing from your current calendar setup, what annoys you about existing apps, or what would make you switch.
What's Next
The roadmap has shifted. Day View and Menu Bar Widget are done. Here's the updated plan:
Phase 1 — Launch & Polish (now) Mac App Store submission, macOS 27 compatibility, performance optimization, and the final round of QA.
Phase 2 — iOS & iPadOS A native companion app — not a port, not a web wrapper. Same SwiftUI foundation, designed for touch from the ground up.
Phase 3 — Apple Intelligence On-device AI for focus time planning, meeting prep briefings, and smart scheduling suggestions.
Phase 4 — Google Workspace Gmail context for meetings, contact enrichment, and deeper integration with Google's ecosystem.
The foundation is solid. Now it's about getting it into your hands.
Join the waitlist, follow the build on @moto_szama, or just send me what you'd want from a Mac calendar app: hello@horacal.app.