How To Share a Google Calendar on Your iPhone

Have you ever said, “If it’s not on the calendar, it doesn’t exist?”

Juggling hybrid or remote work with personal schedules means that, more than ever, we rely on calendar apps to remind us where we need to be, and when. Sharing your calendar with your team, boss, and even family members can help get everyone on the same page.

Google Calendar is one of the most widely used calendars for work because of its vast integrations with the rest of Google Workspace, as well as other apps and platforms.

Read on to learn: 

• The benefits of sharing your Google Calendar 
• How to share a Google Calendar on iPhone 
• How to share an individual Google Calendar event on iPhone
• How to sync your Google Calendar with your iPhone’s pre-installed Calendar app 
• How to accept shared calendars on your iPhone

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Why should you share your Google Calendar? 

Sharing your calendar improves team communication and makes scheduling faster and easier.

Having a shared Google Calendar helps minimize the dreaded back-and-forth that comes with scheduling a meeting. When your boss can access your schedule, they can see exactly when you’re available to sit down for that quarterly review.

Sharing your calendar can also help share out-of-office and vacation times more easily. When your team can see your vacations and out-of-office times on your calendar, they can know exactly when you’re available and plan accordingly.

Sharing your calendar is one of the first steps to increased productivity that we recommend at Clockwise. Shared calendars are central to how Clockwise automates scheduling, finds uninterrupted Focus Time for your team, and integrates across multiple platforms to ensure that you find more time in your day.

Think it’s only for professional settings? A shared family calendar is a must-have, whether you’re a family of two or ten!

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How to share Google Calendar on iPhone

You may have noticed that the Google Calendar app for iOS doesn’t feature calendar sharing. Luckily, we have a workaround!

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Here’s how to share Google Calendar from iPhone:

1. Open Google Calendar on your iPhone’s web browser. Here, you might get a popup asking to redirect you to the Google Calendar app. Opt to proceed to the browser version instead.
2. Tap Desktop at the bottom of the page to switch views.

3. At this point, create a new calendar if your calendar doesn’t exist already. Otherwise, skip ahead to Step #4.
4. Find My calendars on the bottom-left of the screen. 
5. Tap the calendar you’d like to share, then tap the three dots that appear.
6. Tap Settings and sharing.

7. Scroll down to Share with specific people.

8. Tap Add people and enter the email addresses of those you’d like to share the calendar with. You can also share with groups from Google Groups.
9. Enter permission settings. (If you want someone to see when you’re free or busy — without giving away specific details about calendar events — choose See only free/busy.)
10. Tap Send.

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You’re done! Easy, right?

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Tip: If you want to share a calendar with a person who doesn’t have a Gmail account, you could consider making your calendar available to the public. On the Settings and sharing page, click Make available to the public. Public calendars are visible to everyone and show up in Google search results.

How to sync Google Calendar with your iPhone’s Calendar app 

Syncing your Google Calendar account with the Apple Calendar app lets you view and manage all of your calendars in one place. Take it a step further by enabling iCloud Calendar, so you can access your calendars from anywhere — even if it isn’t a Mac or iPhone.

Follow these steps to sync Google Calendar to iOS:

1. Open Settings on your iPhone.
2. Tap Apps > Calendar > Calendar Accounts > Add Account > Google.
3. Sign into your Google account.
4. Toggle on Calendars.
5. Tap Save.
6. Open the Calendar app, and tap Calendars at the bottom of your screen.
7. Check the box next to any of the calendars you’d like to sync.

Close out of the Calendars screen by clicking Done, and you’ll then be able to view your desired calendars (and create events for them) in the app.

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How to accept shared calendars on your iPhone 

In addition to sharing your calendar with others, it’s useful to add other people’s calendars so you can coordinate more efficiently with your team.

Here’s how to view someone else’s Google calendar on iPhone:

1. When someone shares a Google calendar with you, you’ll receive a link to that calendar in an email. Open the email on your iPhone.
2. Copy the link to your clipboard.
3. Open Settings on your iPhone.
4. Tap Apps > Calendar > Calendar Accounts > Add Account > Other.
5. Tap Add Subscribed Calendar.
6. Paste the link you just copied from your email.
7. Select Next, then enter your settings.
8. Tap Save.

You can also request to subscribe to someone else’s calendar by going to Settings on Google Calendar desktop, then clicking Add calendar in the top left.

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Troubleshooting tips

Why can’t I find the option to share my calendar?

It could be that you’re using the Google Calendar mobile app, which doesn’t currently support calendar sharing. To share your calendar on iPhone, you must do so from a browser, not the Google Calendar app.

Why isn’t the person I shared my calendar with able to see it?

If a person is having trouble viewing your calendar after you’ve shared it with them, try the following troubleshooting steps:

1. Confirm you shared the calendar with the correct Gmail address. If someone has another type of address, like Outlook, they’d need to create a Gmail account to view your calendar. Alternatively, you can make your calendar public.
2. Ensure that the other person received the notification email and clicked the link inside it.
3. If your email address is managed through work or school, check if the admin has restricted calendar sharing.
4. Make sure the calendar name is checked in the My calendars section of Google Calendar. 

Why isn’t the person I shared my calendar with able to edit events?

You might have shared the calendar with view-only permissions. Double-check the permissions settings for the specific person in the calendar settings.

How can I stop someone from viewing my calendar?

Go to the calendar’s sharing settings and remove the person’s access by selecting the x by their name.

Going forward

Sharing your calendar with key people is a great first step towards a more productive day. It can help your team manage projects more efficiently, communicate out-of-office times, and schedule meetings. 

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Want the benefits of calendar sharing, without the added steps? Check out Clockwise, your calendar assistant. Powered by AI and automation, Clockwise simplifies calendar sharing by automatically syncing out of office events to a shared team calendar, keeping everyone on the same page regarding availability. 

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Try Clockwise for free today!

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