If you’re trying to manage your busy family schedule, the Skylight Calendar may be the answer. After using this digital calendar for several years now, I want to share this Skylight Calendar review with you. For our family, it’s absolutely worth the money.
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Skylight Calendar Key Features:
- Digital Display: HD touchscreen for easy interaction.
- Integration: Works seamlessly with iCal, Google Calendar, Outlook, Apple’s iCal, Cozi, and Yahoo. View and manage your schedule directly on the device or through the free mobile app.
- Personalization: Uses color coding to organize events by person, enhancing visibility for family members.
- Accessibility: Access the calendar on the free mobile app, allowing updates and checks from anywhere.
Where to Buy the Skylight Calendar
You can get the Skylight Calendar on its website or popular retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, and Costco. Each platform might offer different deals, so it’s worth checking multiple sources to find the best price.
What is the difference between the Skylight Frame and the Skylight Calendar?
The Skylight Calendar differs from the Skylight Frame, which primarily serves as a digital photo frame. The Calendar integrates robust scheduling features with optional photo display functionality, enhancing its utility as a family organization tool. Remember, displaying photos requires a $39 annual Plus subscription, which is not necessary if you only use the calendar functionality.
Who is the Skylight Calendar Good For?
The Skylight Calendar is helpful for anyone who wants a visual representation of their schedule, whether for work or families.
Skylight Calendar Display Options
- Choose to view your calendar by the day, by a few days, by the week, or by the month
- Tap on an event to get more details about it
- Simply tap on a photo to return to the calendar display
- Adjust brightness in settings
- Color code by events or by family member’s names
Other Skylight Calendar Features
- Shopping lists
- To-do lists
- Custom lists
- Interactive chore chart
- Meal planning
- Create events on the Calendar itself
- Optional photo storage
Pros and Cons of the Skylight Calendar
Pros:
- Easy to use and kid-friendly with a clear, readable display.
- Stylish design; combines functionality of a calendar and a digital photo frame.
- Cost-effective with no mandatory subscriptions.
Cons:
- Additional subscription required for enhanced features like photo captions and video uploads.
- Vertical photos display with borders due to aspect ratio limitations.
- Mobile app sometimes less intuitive for making changes than the calendar itself.
Skylight Calendar Alternatives
- Command Station Dry-Erase Calendar: Ineffective due to infrequent updates; lacks real-time synchronization. Cost: Generally inexpensive but requires manual upkeep.
- Google Nest Hub: Limited to daily and weekly views; missing the comprehensive monthly overview essential for planning. Cost: Typically around $100, more expensive than the basic Skylight Calendar.
- Echo Show: Only shows dots for events on the monthly view, offering less detail. Cost: Starts at about $85 for the basic model.
- Dakboard: Requires a DIY setup or purchasing their high-priced hardware. Cost: Hardware starts at nearly $500, making it significantly pricier than Skylight.
- Hearth Display: No built-in grocery list; requires a $9/month membership for full functionality. Cost: Starting price is $599, much higher than Skylight, plus ongoing costs.
I did a ton of research before deciding on the Skylight Calendar.
How Much Does the Skylight Calendar Cost?
The smaller calendar retails for $159 and the larger calendar sells for $299.99 but you can save $10 if you sign up for their Plus Plan. So for $289, you can get the Calendar with one month free of their Photo Plus plan. After that first month, you will pay $39 a year for a photo subscription.
Skylight reminds you that this is just 11 cents per day.
TIP: On the Skylight website, you will see a pop-up asking you to subscribe to the Skylight Frame newsletter. If you do, you will save $10 off your order. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Do You Need a Subscription to the Skylight Calendar?
No. The calendar works without a subscription. However, to use the calendar as a photo screensaver, you do need a plan.
The Skylight App
Honestly, my favorite part of the calendar is the Skylight App. My kids often forget to check the calendar each day but they both have phones and can view the calendar app even when they’re not home.
On the app, we can see calendar events and times, chores, lists, and even select photos. You can even invite someone to view the calendar.
How Do You Send Photos to the Skylight Calendar?
The easiest way to send photos is though the app. Click on your calendar and the photo icon. Then choose to add photos from your gallery or camera.
You can also send photos via email. When you activate your calendar, you will create a Skylight email account. For example, [email protected]. If you forget your email, you can always view it in your Skylight app.
Share your new email address with other family members or friends so they too can upload photos to your frame. Don’t worry about running out of storage. The calendar holds 8GB or about 8,000 photos.
If you take most of your photos on your smartphone, meaning vertically, these photos will display with a border on either side. Horizontal photos will take up the entire screen.
How Do You Upload Your Events to the Skylight Calendar?
The Skylight Calendar integrates with these calendars: Google Calendar, Outlook, Apple’s iCal, Cozi, and Yahoo.
Once you activate your Calendar, you can choose which calendars from your phone you wish to sync with the Calendar.
Magic Import
Skylight introduced a new way to add events to your calendar called Magic Import. This new feature can read events from PDFs, emails, spreadsheets, or emails.
All you have to do is email the document to your calendar.
Of course, you can categorize the events after.
Sync your phone calendar with the Skylight Calendar
After activating your calendar, you will receive a series of welcome emails from Skylight. I found this video that they included very helpful:
You can also add new events to your Calendar through the app.
Adding subscribed calendars to the Skylight Calendar
A subscribed calendar is a calendar you do not own. In my family, we use subscribed calendars mainly for sports using the TeamSnap app. Every time my son has soccer practice or a game, it automatically gets updated to my iCal. When the team manager edits or deletes the event, it gets changed automatically.
Integrating subscribed calendars, like sports schedules from TeamSnap, is straightforward once set up. For iPhone users, simply go to Settings -> Calendar -> Accounts -> Subscribed Calendars, select the desired calendars, highlight and copy the URL and email the link to your Skylight account. While initial setup took some figuring out, the process is smooth and updates automatically with changes.
Note: I use an iPhone. It may be slightly different on an Android phone. If it is, please let me know how you do it in the comments below. Also, I think it depends on the settings the organizer uses for subscribed calendars as I’m unable to add my son’s music lessons
Adding Color Categories to the Skylight Calendar
There are several ways to add color categories to your calendar. This means that you can assign each member of your family a specific color. This makes your calendar easily organized allowing family members to quickly scan and identify their individual events. My kids were very excited by this feature.
Change calendar colors within your phone
By default, the Calendar will display whatever colors already appear for that calendar on your phone. If you wish to change the colors on both your phone and the Skylight Calendar, you need to do the following:
- Open calendars on your phone
- On the bottom of your screen, you will see the words “today,” “calendars” and “inbox”.
- Click on the word “calendars”
- Next to each calendar, you will see an information symbol in red
- Click on the information symbol and change the color if you wish
Change calendar colors on the Skylight Calendar
The color of the event is determined by which calendar you add it to. But you can also tap an event in the Calendar itself and choose a member of your family. That event will now display with the color associated with that person. My kids like to do this month by month so they can easily spot all of their events on the calendar.
Change calendar colors in the Skylight Frame app:
- On the bottom of your screen, you will see a home icon, a list icon, a timer icon, and a sync icon
- Click on the timer icon
- This brings up all your calendars
- Click on the calendars whose color you wish to change
- Choose your color
Skylight Calendar Settings
- Put your Calendar in sleep mode (mine is dark from 11 pm to 6 am)
- Adjust how often the photo screensaver turns on (mine is every 2 minutes)
- Display photos chronologically or randomly
The Skylight Calendar Display Screen
The Skylight Calendar comes in two sizes: 10-inch or 15-inch. We have the 10-inch, measured diagonally. You can hang it on a wall (although you would see the wire that hangs down) or use the included plastic stand.
Color: white frame with white inner border
Dimensions: 10.7” x 7.4” x 0.9” with a 10-inch diagonal touchscreen
Price: $159
Photos: 8GB (approximately 8,000 photos)
Both sizes have the same amount of storage (8GB) but the resolution is better at 1920 x 1080 px vs the 1024 x 600 px of the 10-inch calendar. In case you’re wondering, 8 GB of storage space holds approximately 8,000 photos.
Where to put your Skylight Calendar
The best place to set up your calendar is in a place where it’s visible to all who need it. We chose to put ours upstairs on a bookcase near everyone’s bedrooms. I wanted the kids to see it first thing in the morning and before they went to bed each night.
A kitchen or home office could also work. The calendar also comes with a grocery list and to-do list. I’m not using either feature but if I had it on my kitchen counter, I think I absolutely would.
Another great feature about the Calendar is that more than one family member can add to the calendar. Is your spouse going on a business trip? Simply add that event individually to the Calendar or sync a specific calendar.
Remember you need an outlet and good internet connection.
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Is the Skylight Calendar Worth It?
The Skylight Calendar was designed for busy families like mine. While I love my Apple Calendar and Google online calendars on my phone, the Skylight Calendar provides seamless integration and allows me to see everyone’s events displayed on one digital device.
If you’re a person who loves a paper calendar, it may not be right for you. Personally, I haven’t used a written calendar since the Palm Pilot came out.
The Skylight Calendar works for my family and I’m sure it can work for yours. It takes some of the stress off of me, especially when I feel like a project manager most days.
Since we got the Skylight Calendar, my kids have taken more responsibility for getting themselves ready and understanding what’s on the agenda for the day, week, and month. It’s a great time management tool and an easy way for the whole family to view our to-do lists, chore charts, parent-teacher conferences, extracurricular activities, and synchronize our various calendars.
And, my kids love sending photos from their phones to the calendar.
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Michelle is a content creator and certified personal trainer. Proving it’s never too late to reinvent yourself, she’s a former attorney and teacher who loves to do the research so you don’t have to. She takes a deep dive into each topic and writes about her wellness journey here. She loves trying out new workouts, fitness tips, healthy foods, and products to share with you. This native New Yorker recently made the move to the suburbs of Minneapolis, where she lives with her husband, two kids, and two dogs.