[...] HOWTO: Sync Google Calendar on iPhone OS 3.0 | Idea Excursion Written by in: Uncategorized | [...]

What is the advantage of subscribing to a Google calendar versus setting up the iPhone to use Exchange?

that is what i thought so thanks for the clarification. My issue is i cannot accept ics invites using 3.0. The files now show up correctly with a calendar icon in the email but if you click on them, a blank screen appears and you cannot accept the invite. Any ideas on how i might be able to get this to work? thanks in advance, brian

Works great, but I have one minor annoyance. The color of my google calendar and exchange calendar are slightly different shades of red. I tried adding a subscribed calendar prior to my google calendar to force the iphone to show a different color, but that didn’t work. Any suggestions?

Didn’t work either. Just brought in another Caldav calendar in the same confusing shade of red

Hi there. Great article.

I had the same problem, but took a slightly different approach. I don’t “subscribe” to my additional calendars via .ics files, but rather set each one up as a separate CalDAV calendar. The setup involves a few extra steps, but the details are on my blog:

http://blog.olitee.com/index.php/2009/06/iphone-3-0-and-google-calendars/

One thing I discover though: The colour coding for each calendar I subscribe to matches the colour I selected in Google Calendar. I had the same problem as Pat, so simply changed the colour of the calendar in Google Calendar – and the colour updated on my iPhone!

I don’t know whether the colour change trick works with the .ics subscription approach though. Someone here may be able to try that out )

[...] A similar solution to the above I’ve discovered on my travels is detailed here on ideaexcursion.com. [...]

Works great, not having to pay for mobile ME or an exchange server is wonderful.

I had no problem with Caldav calendars, but I get an error when I try to add subscribed calendars. “could not subscribe to the calendar “basics” from “www.google.com”

Hi there,

I’d like to point out that I think the multiple CalDAV entry should be:

https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/ [ your Google Calendar ID ] /user

… and not userS. See here: http://blog.olitee.com/index.php/2009/06/iphone-3-0-and-google-calendars/ and also here: http://blogs.sun.com/chienr/entry/configuring_caldav_on_iphone_3

This is what worked for me personally.

Question, I already am using the google sync app with my iphone 3.0. My husband and I want to view each other’s calendars without having to “copy to my calendar” every entry made. Is this what is being suggested? I’m not very good with all the computer stuff, but I can follow step by step pretty well. I tried what was suggested above and it said the caldav account verification failed.

I have run into the problem that when I subscribe to a google calendar we use for work it kills the speed of my iPhone. It makes everything run VERY slow. I can’t use it as a CalDav calendar because the username/password is held at administrator level. Does anyone else have a problem with a subscribed calendar drastically slowing down phone speed?

Awesome article. One thing I did find that was useful… for ‘Subscribed Calendars’.. if you just click on the ICAL private address (on the iPhone) in the email you sent to yourself, the iPhone software pops up a message asking if you need to add the subscribed calendar… going back to ‘Settings’ is not required.

@Bernard Molloy
I’ve too noticed that subscribed calendars slow down the whole iPhone. My only workaround is to go into each calendar and disable it (not delete it) unless I need it immediately. Hopefully Apple fixes this in the next point release.

@Rob L
Google calendars subscribed to via CalDAV will automatically synchronize colors based on what is set in the web interface. For ICS, you’ll have to keep adding the same calendar until you get the color you want, then delete the rest. For Exchange – well, good luck with that!

[...] up CalDav in your iPhone – View Tutorial – (you can now read/write from your iPhone – iCal & gCal, test by [...]

@Bernard Molloy and @Taylor Gerring

I’ve noticed the same slow-down once I subscribed to even a single ics calendar.

Disabling the calendar does seem to fix the speed issue, but then I don’t have the calendar displayed…

Thanks a lot for this, especially including the screenshots. Worked perfectly.

Thanks so much for the instructions. I spent hours this weekend trying to figure this out and went thru other tutorials with no luck. I was about to give up when i came across this article and cannot believe how easy it was!!!

how many calendars can be synced via 3.0, I currently have version 2.2 and can sync only 5 google calendars, will 3.0 allow me to sync more?

this worked great except for trying to sync with Google’s Contacts’ birthdays and events, it appears to sync, but no events show up on the iPhone

I have a domain that I purchased through Google. I want to access that calendar through CalDav. But since the core URL is more that http://www.google.com, the setup on the iPhone doesn’t recognize it.

The URL renders as

http://www.google.com/calendar/hosted/momentum-strategy.com. I can get me gmail account and purchased domain to recognize each other in a browser but can’t get there on the iphone. I tried iCal on the Mac and I can get iCal to access the calendar.

Thanks so much it worked great as it said
Thanks

@Melinda
Google only displays a single calendar per URL. You’ll need to enter separate URLs for each calendar.

@Chris

It is truly sync’ing your Google calendars. If you choose to have an additional local calendar, then you’re choosing to maintain separate, local data.

Cheers mate.

Your article works a treat.

When setting up multiple Google calendars via CalDAV, is there a way to have all Google calendars grouped together in the iPhone’s calendar source list? I’d like to be able to view my exchange calendar individually but view all of my Google calendars together. When I tried to follow the instructions for multiple CalDAV calendars, each one is listed separately in the calendar source list, so I can only view each calendar (whether Google or exchange) by itself or all of them together — I can’t find a way to view just the Google calendars as a group.

Anyone else having a problem getting multiple google calendars to sync as CalDAV after 3.1 update on the iPhone?

I can’t seem to make mine work.

iPhone 3GS – 3.1 update.

I’ve got a work Exchange account on my iphone plus three Google calendars via CalDAV. With just the Exchange calendar active, it’s a nice shade of blue/gray. When I add the first CalDAV calendar they both turn red (the slightly different shades). Then I add a second CalDAV and it turns the nice blue/gray – the other two are still red.

Color changes made in Google calendar are not updated in CalDAV calendars on the iPhone. It’s a small thing, but I hope we’re able to choose the colors in some sort of 3.2 update.

Fantastic! Thanks much!

Question: I’ve subscribed to Google’s US Holidays calendar, but can’t seem to synch it with my iPhone.

When I go to the Settings page on that calendar, and click the ICAL button, the following is displayed:
http://www.google.com/calendar/ical/en.usa#holiday@group.v.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics

After I email that link to myself and click on it, it opens Safari to the google calendar page and then tells me “Couldn’t parse path: /en.usa”

Thoughts?

Thanks!

Perfect! You’re the best! Thanks!

Perfect, amazingly simple and yes this is definitely a must for working professionals that already have a work account

I seem to be the only one who couldn’t get this to work. When I click on the link on my iPhone that I sent from my Google calendar, I get the message: ‘Cannot Subscribe to the calendar “basic.ics” from “www.google.com” ‘ Any ideas how to get the calendar to work?

this has worked great for me, thank you. i have been able to set up 2 personal Google calendars and a public holiday calendar, with out problems. i cannot seem to get my contacts birthday calendar to work tho. does anyone have any suggestions?

Initial setup worked perfectly for a half day…now nothing. I have deleted the account and gone back and repeated the process…shows that it is installed correctly through settings, calendar “on”, however no information in the phone calendar.

Help ? Robert I too installed yesterday 10/7/09…wondering if it is on google’s end ??

Thanks…

thinking that the three of us are having the same issue over the past 2 days….I mentioned earlier maybe it a google thing or even an AT&T thing ??

Put an icon on the phone to google mail and it works fine. Just the phone calendar will not show anything.

After successfully setting up a subscribed calendar, I can not edit the ewvent details on my iPhone. However when I make changes on the desktop, then the changes do reflect on the iphone. Any suggestions please?

I’m trying to sync a 3rd calendar using the CAV link in an email and I keep getting this response;
“Could not subscribe to the calendar “basic.ics” from “www.google.com”.

Can anyone help?

@Article:

Update: Commenters have pointed out, that you only need to open the link directly from the email, and the iPhone will take care of the rest… Genius!

————

I, like several other posters, have found that adding via ICS kills the performance of the iphone so badly it is painful to even unlock the screen. This doesn’t resolve even after 24+ hours though disabling or deleting the account does take care of it.

The only work around I have found thus far is to simply add all “shared” calendars as full CALDav accounts (i.e. no ICS) just like you do the first account. Performance is great but access is full and you need the account password of course.

Hi!
I have accidentally added an ICS calendar twice… how do I remove it?
thank you!

thanks so much!

I can now see my own calendar + my fiance’s personal & work calendars! It works great!

Agreed, the different colors will take some getting used to, but no biggie!

Thank you so much for posting this! I had a hell of day trying to get Google/iTunes Sync to work after my entire calendar and most of my contacts were deleted & not refreshing properly. Tried the Google archives & MAC tech support and no luck – till I found your forum. Switched over to CalDAV, enabled Google calendar subscription and I’m happily back in business!

Leslee, are you sure you’re using the private calendar links? According to this Google Calendar Help article, “If you receive a ‘Feed Processing Error’ message when exporting events, please make sure you’re using your calendar’s private iCalendar address (‘Private Address’).”

I have addded a calendar that adds my contacts birthdays. I am having trouble getting that calendar to work on my iphone. I think the problem is that the calendar address is:
Calendar ID: #contacts@group.v.calendar.google.com
which looks like it has a variable in it that doesn’t seem to work on iphone.

Anybody else able to get their contacts birthday’s calendar to synch?

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I never knew it was this simple! Now I never have to use iCal again.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH, YOUR ARTICLE IS VERY USEFUL !!

To change colors login to your GMail account via web; go to calenar, and change the colors by clicking settings of the desired calenar. This will change calendar color both on your web and on your iPhone

This isn’t working for me…

I’m a consultant and have 3 gmail app calendars. Each is shared to my personal gmail calendar so all appear in one place online. In addition I have a calendar I’ve created to share with my GF (social calendar).

When attempting to sync my personal calendar alone I have no problem getting but no other shared calendar data appears as expected.

I’ve tried the instructions above for multiple CalDAV calendars using the calendar ID with no success (Is it unusual for my calendar id to be my userid@gmail.com? or should this be some long #?). It copies the url into the advanced settings area but doesn’t show anything on the calendar…

What am I doing wrong?

I can’t get the ics to work correctly. I get an error when clicking on the link I emailed to myself “Sorry Frame load interrupted”
or

CHANGE CALENDAR COLOR. Worked great! For those wanting to change the color of your caldav google calendar account, change the color of your calendar on your computer via google.com/calendar. It changed within seconds on my iphone.

I have been searching but I don’t seem to see the info I’m looking for.

What I want to do is have ONE calendar that I can see from Google or see from my iPhone, that I can update or change from either Google or my iPhone. When I add an event to my iPhone, I want it to automatically update on my Google calendar, and vice-versa.

I have followed the instructions, but it seems that what that did was add a calendar to my iPhone. For example, now when I select the Calendar button on my iPhone, I see “All Calendars”. Since I want my Google Calendar to be the same as my iPhone calendar, I want to see “4 PM MEETING” just once. Insteat I see “4 PM MEETING” and “4 PM MEETING” side-by-side. I have an appointment on my iPhone that I want to see on my Google calendar, however it’s not updating. I have my phone set to Fetch New Data every 15 minutes, and it’s been much longer than 15 minutes and I am still not seeing it reflected on Google. I don’t want to maintain 2 separate calendars and have to enter data into both.

I’d appreciate ANY help anyone could provide!

I have the latest version of my iPhone, and I followed the instructions above to a T.

Great info, but is there a way to sync Google contacts without using Exchange? I want to use my iPhone for work email & calendar using Exchange, but I want to continue to use my Google contacts.

This worked wonderfully and easily imported my husband’s calendar as well. Thanks!