Microsoft to merge calendar app Sunrise with Outlook

Microsoft has finally revealed its plans for Sunrise, the calendar app it acquired in February this year for US$100 million. Microsoft is going to integrate Sunrise into its email service Outlook, after which it will shut Sunrise down.

At the time of the acquisition, Sunrise said that it would remain a standalone app and that being acquired by Microsoft would allow it to focus on two things: building an amazing team of designers and engineers, and to build the best product to help users manage time and remain free and available.

Though the Sunrise app will remain available for download on Android and iOS, it will receive no further updates or new features.

Founded in 2012, Sunrise quickly grew to be become one of the best calendar apps, owing to its intuitive design and functionality. Its advantage is that it works across platforms, pulling information from various accounts and consolidating its calendar from different providers.

Announcing the news, the Sunrise said that its integration into Outlook will mean that we’ll see something more than a calendar app.

“This is an email app and a calendar app all in one. It lets you easily share files and includes all of your contacts,” the company wrote in its blog.

Read more: Microsoft acquiring Sunrise iOS, Android calendar app for around $100-million

The Sunrise team is keeping a positive attitude amidst this take over, which is exactly what it is, pointing out that this is in line with its plans to bring ‘Sunrise touch’, meaning its seamless design and features to Outlook.

“Joining the Outlook Mobile team was our chance to make a difference on a much larger scale, tackling calendar and email all at once, working with people as passionate as we are,” the company further wrote.

The Sunrise team is aware that this is not great news for its users and wrote a heartfelt thank you to all of them:

Thank you for being there with us since day one, for pushing us to make a better app, for getting involved and asking questions, for sharing the word around you, for sending us love poems and pictures of our logo around the world. We wouldn’t be here without your support and we wanted to let you know.

Read more: Sunrise calendar introduces Meet, the fastest way to schedule a one-to-one

Since the acquisition, Sunrise has been fairly quiet, introducing a direct connection to Office 365 on Android, iOS and Desktop, Sunrise for Apple Watch and Meet. Meet was a significant feature. Meet was introduced in May, two month after the acquisition. Meet was a keyboard for Android and iOS that enabled users to select available time slots on Sunrise calendar without leaving the app they are in.

The company promises that some of its best features like other calendars, connected apps and its three-day view to show up before the end of the year, will be integrated into Outlook.