Sunrise, the popular calendar app acquired by Microsoft in 2015, is officially no longer around.
The app's calendars have stopped updating, and users will no longer be able to access their accounts through the app or website starting Sept. 14, the company said. In an effort to soften the blow, Microsoft also delivered a major update to calendar features in its Outlook app on Tuesday.
First, the Outlook calendar, which Microsoft previously confirmed would replace Sunrise, now has a design that looks a lot like the old app from previous versions. The in-app calendar uses colorful icons that will look familiar to Sunrise users. The update also adds some new icons with graphics for special events.
Outlook is also much better at handling specific locations for events. It now uses Bing to populate locations for meetings and appointments, and you can open maps and directions directly from the calendar.
Microsoft also updated the app with Skype for Business and redesigned the date and time setting, which allows you to find free times on your calendar from within emails.
While the improvements will likely come as welcome news for many Outlook users, dedicated Sunrise users may not be thrilled about losing their standalone calendar. In a final blog post on Tuesday, the Sunrise team called Tuesday's update "the end of an era," though it noted that many of the app's features now live in Outlook.
Microsoft is also taking suggestions for new features that users want in Outlook Calendar with a new “Suggest a Feature” menu in the app’s main settings.
