Notion Calendar: Huge potential but underwhelming first version

Does the world need another calendar app? Well, Notion just launched a standalone calendar app (standalone being the keyword) Here are my first thoughts about Notion Calendar - the good and bad aspects of the release. So you can decide whether to switch from your calendar app or wait it out. 👉 The context Guess what, this is the first time Notion launched a stand-alone product outside its main tool. Their leadership has been talking about a multi-product and Atlassian-like vision and this seems like the first step. I like the idea of a calendar app integrating straight into your workspace and processes. This is what was expected when Notion users requested a direct calendar integration. But instead what we got is a rebranded Cron (which they acquired in 2022) and a surface-level integration to Notion. Maybe this wouldn’t be underwhelming if Notion hadn’t hyped up this launch for more than 2 weeks. So much so that they archived their posts on social media to do a countdown. Talk about setting wrong expectations. Anyway, here we go. 👉 The good 🟢 The calendar integrates with Notion workspace. You can show items from your Notion database alongside calendar events. 🟢 Free to use. Since it is a standalone product, you do not need a Notion account. 🟢 Includes a free Calendly-like scheduling feature. It is very basic but does the job well. You can drag and drop your available times and share a link for users to select the time slot. But there is no option to add recurring schedules. 🟢 The aesthetics are clean and very Notion-like. 👉 The bad 🔴 No two-way sync. This means items added or modified in your Notion database will not reflect on Google Calendar. This was the main aspect of a direct Calendar integration. It is surprising how they decided to deprioritize it in the first version. 🔴 No Android app, no tablet support 🔴 No integration to Outlook 🔴 A standalone app is counterintuitive for power users who already invested time into designing their systems and dashboards on Notion. 🔴 Too many permissions are required to connect to Google Calendar, for example - asking for access to edit and delete Google contacts felt unnecessary. 👉 The verdict A direct integration between your workspace and calendar can have enormous value in bumping up productivity. It is just that Notion Calendar is not there yet, I wouldn't switch right away. I will wait it out till two-way syncing is completely implemented and the integration to Notion is deeper. I'd be happy to hear your thoughts below.