Lyft For iPhone App Gets iOS Calendar, Google Calendar Syncing Feature; Uber Rival Climbs To 4th Spot In App Store Rankings

Lyft just updated its app to add a new calendar integration feature that makes it easy for users to keep track of their destinations. The feature supports Apple’s native iOS Calendar and its third-party alternative, Google Calendar. Thus, users will be able to view their upcoming event locations just by syncing their iPhone with these calendars.

Early this week, Lyft announced in a blog post the arrival of the new feature on its app. The ridesharing service pointed out that with this calendar syncing feature, users will no longer have to go through multiple apps and spend time looking for names or addresses of locations they need to go to. All it takes is a quick sync of the iPhone app with the calendar and all pertinent data of a user’s itinerary will be stored in the app.

By default, the Lyft app can sync with the iPhone’s native Calendar app. For iPhone users who keep their travel data on Google Calendar, all they need to do is to sync Google Calendar with their phone. This will then automatically take advantage of Lyft’s new feature.

According to MacRumors, users can activate Lyft’s new feature by selecting “Add from calendar” after entering a destination. Then, upon clicking on the “Add” option, Lyft will be able to see the event locations saved in the Calendar app of the device. This is a one-time activation, so users can automatically view all the event locations information on the Lyft app.

Apple Insider has pointed out that in order for an event location to show up on Lyft's interface, users should provide all the important details for every event. Users should key in the complete address including the street, city and zip code, so the feature can pick this up and include this in the itinerary.

Meanwhile, Lyft saw a big jump in the Apple Store rankings this week. From its 50th ranking, the app was catapulted to the top 10 free apps on the iOS App Store on Tuesday morning. In the afternoon, it climbed up to no. 4 — higher than very famous and established apps like Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat and Instagram, as per The Verge.

The surge in Lyft’s ranking is believed to be a result of the campaign against its main rival, Uber. Apparently, Uber’s response to Trump’s immigration ban did not sit well with its users. Many reportedly deleted their Uber account in the wake of the #DeleteUber campaign and switched to Lyft, which explains the significant increase in the users of the latter.