DotCal feature guide
Everything
you need
to use DotCal.
A practical guide to every shipped feature. Each section explains what it does, gives a real example, and shows where to find it in the app.
Start here
Set up your
day in minutes.
DotCal works as a complete local calendar without an account. Add the permissions you want, choose a view, and start with one event or task.
Keeps calendar content, reminders, and settings on your Android device by default.
Create “Gym tomorrow at 7 AM” and see it in your calendar immediately.
Open DotCal → complete setup → choose Calendar, Tasks, or Settings from the bottom navigation.
Your first event appears locally, with no account sign-in required.
Free: core calendar and local planning foundation.
Calendar
See time from
every angle.
Use the view that matches the question you are asking: what is coming up, how busy is the week, or where is the free space this month?
Offers Year, Month, Week, Day, and Agenda views with events, tasks, birthdays, and holidays.
Use Month to see deadlines, then switch to Week to place a meeting in an open slot.
Open Calendar → tap the view selector at the top → choose Year, Month, Week, Day, or Agenda.
The same schedule is reorganised for the selected view without changing the event.
Free: all core calendar views and event creation.
Sync & recurrence
Keep calendars
in step.
DotCal uses Android CalendarProvider for Google and system calendar integration. Recurring events and single-occurrence changes are handled without adding a separate cloud account.
Imports and exports provider events, reminders, recurrence rules, EXDATE exceptions, RDATE dates, time zones, and provider status.
Edit only next Monday of a weekly meeting; the original series stays intact and the edited occurrence stands alone.
Settings → Calendar Preferences → enable sync → grant Android calendar permission → choose calendars.
Changes made in DotCal and the synced system calendar appear on both sides without duplicate detached events.
Free: provider-backed sync. Requires Android calendar permission.
Tasks & events
Turn plans
into action.
Keep scheduled events and tasks in one place, with details that make them useful after you create them.
Create events, tasks, countdowns, birthdays, holidays, recurring plans, templates, and shift patterns.
Create a task for “Submit report” with a due time, then mark it complete from Tasks or its reminder.
Tap + → choose Event or Task → add title, date, time, duration, location, calendar, reminder, and attachments.
The item appears in the correct calendar views, widget surfaces, search results, and reminder flow.
Free: core events and tasks. Pro: selected power limits and advanced controls.
Reminders & Glyph
Alerts that
work for you.
Basic reminders stay useful for everyone. Advanced local controls give Pro users more control over sound, repetition, vibration, and alert strength.
Schedules local alarms with snooze, complete, and open actions. Advanced controls include custom sound, repeat-until-dismissed, vibration, and full-screen Strong alerts.
Set “Take medicine” for 8 PM, snooze it for 15 minutes, or repeat the alert until it is dismissed.
Event editor → Reminder → choose time. For advanced options, open Settings → Reminder Defaults or the event reminder controls.
The reminder fires at the selected time; snooze, open, completion, and cancellation stop repeat alarms correctly. On Android 14 and newer, enabling Strong alert opens the Android full-screen alert permission screen if access is denied; DotCal saves Strong alert only after access is allowed.
Free: basic reminders and snooze. Pro: advanced sound, repeat, vibration, and stronger alert behavior.
Widgets
Your schedule,
outside the app.
Place a useful DotCal surface on the home screen and configure each placed instance for the information you need most.
Provides Date, Event, Agenda, Month, Today, Tasks, Countdown, and Quick Actions widget categories. Larger schedule widgets can use longer ranges, including a 14-day range where enabled.
Use a 1×1 Date tile for today, a 4×2 Agenda for upcoming events, or Quick Actions for one-tap Quick Add.
Long-press the Android home screen → Widgets → DotCal → choose a size → configure the placed widget.
Each widget shows its saved category, range, theme, and tap action; placed widgets can be edited from Settings → Widgets.
Free: core widget sizes and useful calendar views. Pro: calendar filters, custom tap actions, high density, 14-day range, transparent background, opacity, dot texture, accent color, and deeper customization where enabled.
Quick capture
Add less.
Do more.
Quick Add is an English-focused local command layer. Voice dictation, the Quick Settings Tile, and launcher long-press shortcuts make event and task capture available from more places.
Creates and edits events using deterministic English commands, with voice input and fast system entry points for Quick Add, Create Event, and Create Task.
“Move my 2pm to tomorrow”, “set location of gym to Studio 2”, or “add reminder for gym 15 minutes before”.
Open Quick Add from Calendar, the Quick Settings Tile, a widget, or the launcher shortcut → type a command or tap the mic → review the preview → confirm.
A matching event is previewed before saving; no-match commands explain the problem instead of changing data.
English-focused: no Hindi/Hinglish command expansion. Basic creation is Free; some advanced move/prep actions follow existing Pro gates.
Smart planning
Protect the space
between.
Use the local availability engine to find usable time without treating every visible event as a hard blocker.
Auto-Buffers add before/after time around meetings. Find-a-Time suggests up to six slots using working hours, duration, recurrence, buffers, all-day events, and ghost handling.
Find a 30-minute slot tomorrow while reserving 15 minutes around existing meetings.
Settings → Reminder Defaults → set Auto-Buffers. Then open Calendar menu → Find a Time → choose date range, duration, and working hours.
Candidate slots appear as event-card rows; tapping Use slot opens the event editor with date and time prefilled.
Free: current Auto-Buffers and basic Find-a-Time. Advanced preferences remain separate roadmap work.
Privacy & power tools
More control.
Still local.
Search, Calendar Sets, Templates, Bulk Edit, drag-and-drop rescheduling, Calendar menu customization, Private Vault, App Lock, themes, week numbers, all-day reminder defaults, and backup/restore are built around the same local-first foundation.
Find items quickly, group calendars, reuse event patterns, edit multiple items, protect private content, tune calendar controls, and move data through local backup files.
Create a “Deep work” template, select a group of events for bulk edit, or hide private events behind App Lock.
Use Calendar menu for Search, Templates, Calendar Sets, and Bulk Edit. Use Settings for Theme, Calendar Preferences, Private Vault, App Lock, and Backup/Restore.
Changes stay on the device and reuse the normal DotCal event/editor flows; exports happen only after you choose to share them.
Free: core search, views, and useful calendar workflows. Pro: selected privacy depth, advanced controls, and power limits.