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The Calendar app on your iPhone can be a great way to keep your busy schedule in sync with family, friends or colleagues. Here's how to manage your calendar so everyone is on the same page.
The phrase “my whole life is in my phone” is becoming more relevant almost every day, as both apps and the iPhone itself become more and more functional. However, one of the most powerful tools for organizing your life is a pre-installed phone right out of the box.
Apple's Calendar app may seem simple at first glance, but with a little tweaking, it can become one of the most powerful tools on your phone for keeping track of your busy schedule. One of Calendar's most powerful features is Shared, allowing you and anyone with an iCloud account to coordinate your Calendars and view each other's schedules at a glance.
Here's how to get started creating and posting to Calendar.
What you need
- Any iPhone compatible with iOS 15.4 or higher (for delegation) or any iPhone (for creating and sharing).
- iCloud account.
How to create an iCloud calendar
Calendar comes with several pre-installed calendars out of the box. However, if you want to add your own calendars, Apple has made it pretty easy.
How to add your own calendar
< ol>In the Add Calendar menu, you can also subscribe to an existing calendar or add a holiday calendar. Subscription calendars are public calendars from external sources. Holiday Calendars are public calendars with lists of holidays from different countries and regions compiled by Apple.
Sharing your calendars
Once you create your own personalized calendars, they can be a great way to stay in touch with family, friends or colleagues.
How to share a calendar in iOS 16
- Similar to creating a new calendar, in the Calendar app, tap Calendars at the bottom of the screen.
- Next to the calendar you want to share, click the Info button – it looks like a lowercase letter i in a circle.
- In the Edit Calendar menu in In the Sharing section, click Add User.
- You can add a person by entering their name, email address, or by clicking the + button to the right of the To: field.
- Click on the person you want to share your calendar with.
By default, the people you share your calendar with have access to view and edit, meaning they can add and modify events, as well as view them. You can change this in the Edit Calendar menu by tapping the person's name and tapping the green Allow Editing.
Optionally, you can also make this calendar public, allowing anyone to subscribe to a read-only (non-editable) version of the calendar. Apple has limited the number of people you can share a private calendar with to 100, but public calendars have no limits.
What is calendar delegation?
While browsing in the calendar settings you may notice the Delegate calendars option. Calendar delegation is a way to share a CalDAV or Exchange calendar service with other people.
Even though the delegation feature is a holdover from iCal and has been largely deprecated, it is still required by some businesses and organizations. If your organization uses a private CalDAV or Exchange server, you may be asked to delegate this Calendar to others. Here's how to get started.
How to delegate a calendar
- In an application “Calendar” tap Calendars at the bottom of the screen.
- Swipe up the screen until Delegate calendars appears at the bottom. list.
- If you have delegateable calendars, you'll see them here. Select the calendar you want to delegate and click Add User.
- If your system administrator has allowed it, you will see a list of other users to whom you can delegate the selected calendar. Tap the person's name, then tap Done.
In the Delegate Calendar menu, you can also view calendars delegated to you.
One thing that is very important to note is that Exchange calendar delegation gives another user access to your calendar as if they own it, i.e. they can make changes, add or remove events, share events with others, or even delete the calendar entirely.
