How To Share a Google Calendar on Your iPhone

How many times have you said, “If it’s not on the calendar, it doesn’t exist?”

Juggling hybrid or remote work with personal schedules has meant 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

Why should you share your Google Calendar? 

Sharing your calendar helps improve communication between your team and makes scheduling faster and easier.

Having a shared Google Calendar helps to 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.

How to share Google Calendar on iPhone

Note that calendar sharing isn’t yet supported on iPhone or iPad — neither on the iOS Google Calendar app nor on the mobile version of the website. However, we do have a workaround.

Even if you prefer Android over Apple, it can be helpful to know how to share your Google Calendar on iPhone, especially if you’re handed an iPhone for work.

Here’s how to share Google Calendar from iPhone: 

1. Open Google Calendar on your iPhone’s web browser. (If you have the Google Calendar app installed on your iPhone, opt to not open the app and be sure to proceed to the web page on your browser.)
2. Tap Desktop at the bottom of the page to switch views.
3. Find My calendars on the bottom-left of the screen.
4. Tap the calendar you’d like to share, then tap on the three dots that appear.
5. Tap Settings and sharing. 
6. Scroll down to Share with specific people.
7. 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.)
8. 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.)
9. Tap Send.

You’re done! Easy, right?

Tip: If you want to share a calendar with a person who doesn’t have a Google account, make your calendar available to the public. On the Settings and sharing page, click Make available to the public.

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

Although you can’t share your Google Calendar on iPhone directly, you can certainly make sure one or more of your calendars on Google Calendar are synced to your phone.

If you use your iPhone’s Calendar app, it might be helpful to sync your Google calendars with the Calendar app so you can view all of your calendars in one place. 

Follow these steps to sync Google Calendar to iOS: 

1. Open Settings on your iPhone.
2. Tap 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.

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 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.

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. 

Want the benefits of calendar sharing — without all the added steps? Clockwise simplifies calendar sharing so you can focus on your work, not your calendar. Clockwise is a calendar assistant that uses AI to optimize schedules across your entire team. It also syncs your personal calendar with your team availability calendar, so you only ever have to update your own calendar.

Try Clockwise for free today!