Hello again. I’m back … and we’re back on the topic of calendars!

UPDATE! – I’ve added a separate article looking at the far simpler sync options for iOS 4. If you’re still using iPhone OS 3.X, then read on – otherwise click here for the updated how-to.

You may recall a few months ago I wrote an article on how I’ve solved my multiple calendar problem, in an attempt to separate my work life (and diary) from my personal one. One of the sticking points at the end of that solution was that I couldn’t sync my Google calendars with my iPhone over the air, so ended up using the Google calendar web-app for the iPhone. This was “ok”, but it wasn’t the neat all-in-one solution I was looking for.

However, on the 17th of June Apple release the iPhone 3.0 operating system, and the good news is that is supports CalDAV. Hurray!

The news is good if you only have one Google calendar, but if you create or subscribe to several calendars, things didn’t look so good – until I did some poking around and found some solutions that work. I thought I’d detail it here in case any of you are interested.

Solution #1: Only One Google Calendar

The good news is that there’s very little you need to do. On your iPhone, simply follow these steps:

  1. Go to “Settings” -> “Mail, Contacts, Calendars”
  2. Tap “Add Account …”
  3. Select “Other”
  4. Select “Add CalDAV Account”
  5. Enter the following details:
    1. Server: www.google.com
    2. Username: [Your Google Username]
    3. Password: [Your Google Password]
    4. Description: [Anything you like]
  6. Then tap “Next”, and the account should be verified.

If you now goto the Calendar app (and wait a moment for an initial sync), your Google calendar appointments should appear … just like magic!

Solution #2: Multiple Google Calendars

If you’re like me and you have multiple Google Calendars, then you may have noticed that the above solution only syncs your first calendar. To get access to any additional calendars you’re going to have to do a bit more work, but the good news is that the iPhone’s new copy n’ paste feature comes to the rescue, as you’ll see in a moment.

IMG_0315First of all, you’re going to need to obtain the “Calendar ID” number for each additional calendar you have. To do this, simply log into your Google Calendar on your Mac or PC. Under your list of available calendars in the left sidebar select “Settings”, then select the calendar you’d like to obtain the ID for. You’ll find the “Calendar ID” listed near the bottom of the page in the “Calendar Address” section.

This may be a good time to open your mail application, compose a new mail message to yourself, and drop this ID number into the body. Repeat these steps for all the calendars you wish to sync with your iPhone.

The ID by itself isn’t much use. Your iPhone will need the full CalDAV address to make this work. For each ID you’ve pasted into your email, reformat it so it looks like this:

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

(For example, your CalDAV address may look something like this:)

https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/[email protected]/user

Prepare the IDs for each of the calendars in this way (as it’ll save you doing it on the iPhone!), and then send the email to yourself. Now move to your iPhone and follow these steps:

  1. Follow the steps shown in Solution #1 to give you access to your first calendar.
  2. Then follow the steps to Solution #1 a second time to create an additional duplicate calendar, but change the “Description” to something unique.
  3. Return to the home screen and run the Mail app and open that email you sent.
  4. Using the new copy and paste feature, copy the full address of the additional calendar you’d like to add.
  5. Return to the settings menu for the calendar created at step 2, and select “Advanced Settings”.
  6. Replace the “Account URL” address with the one you copied from your email.
  7. Hit return, and repeat steps 2-6 for any additional calendars.
  8. When you’re done, return to home and run the Calendar app. Give it a moment to sync, and you’re done!

IMG_0317 IMG_0318 IMG_0319

Solution #3: Alternative Approach (.ics files)

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

The idea here is to use the iCal .ics file support built into Google Calendars to subscribe to your calendars. I’ve not tried this method, but many users are reporting success. One caveat of this approach is that you loose the ability to set/change the colour coding of your calendars. (Solution #2 sets the colour coding based on your Google Calendar preferences, and even syncs them if you change them online!)

Solution #4: Exchange instead of CalDAV

If you’re not already using an Exchange account on your iPhone, then there’s an even easier solution for your multiple calendars.

Thanks to Kenny for posting this possible solution:

First you need to set up your main Google Account Calander using MS Exchange. Go HERE:

http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=138740

Then, to add all your other Google Calanders […] read THIS:

http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?answer=139206&ctx=sibling

This is certainly a more elegant solution, but unfortunately the iPhone only allows you to setup one Exhcange account so it may not be a solution for everyone. There’s also forum discussions at the moment as to which is better on your battery life: CalDAV or Exchange. I use both at the same time, so I don’t really care – but if seems to bother some folks! Also, I’m not sure if this solution supports push notification of calendar updates. CalDAV certainly doesn’t – your calendars simply get synced at whatever refresh interval you’ve set on your phone (30 minutes for me).

UPDATE: Google Contact’s Birthday Calendar

You can also add your Google contact’s birthdays to your calendar, thanks to the tip from Elena. Similar to solution 2, add a new calendar and follow the steps below.

I have killed an hour to figure out how to sync Google contacts’ birthday and I have this done!

Use this link for that
https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/%[email protected]/user

Email this URL to yourself or just copy it, then paste it into the “Server” field. Enter your login as[email protected] and password
Select “Advanced Settings”.
Make sure that the “Account URL” address has the same link that you copied.

It does work!

Elena

Some Final Notes

First of all, the thing I love about this feature (solutions 1-3) is that it will run alongside any existing calendars you have on your iPhone. I sync my work’s diary with my phone through an Exchange Server. The Calendar app simply overlays the additional calendars in different colours, just as with iCal or the online Google Calendar.

Another feature that I didn’t spot straight away is that the colour coding for each calendar matches the colours you select on the web version of Google Calendar. And yes, if you change the colour on the web version, it syncs to the phone! There doesn’t appear to be a way to change the colour on the phone at the moment, which is a shame as I can’t change the garish red that my Exchange diary defaults to. Oh well, maybe in time.

Finally, and most importantly, you don’t need an active web connection to view, edit or create appointments in your CalDAV calendars. If you’re out of range and make changes at either end, they’re automatically synced once the connection is re-established.

So there you have it. Not as simple as it could be, but certainly and workable solution. With the iPhone 3.0 release Apple have also added the ability to sync your contacts with an LDAP server of your choice. Its beyond the scope of this article, but it’s finally looking like it’s possible to get the Exchange/MobileMe experience without spending any money. RichB *will* be pleased ;o)


54 Comments

Grant · 19 June 2009 at 1:03 am

I’ve got my main Google calendar set up fine, but I can’t get a second one to work – I put in the settings and calendar ID as described, but when I leave Settings, I get a window saying my password for “Work” (the name of my second calendar) is incorrect, and it isn’t accepting my Google password. Any thoughts?

Grant · 19 June 2009 at 1:29 am

Strike that – I fixed it. I’m not sure what the original problem was, but I had pasted my Calendar ID into the Account URL on the iPod Touch and edited around it, instead of putting it in the https:// format in my original email and copy/pasting the whole thing at once. Once I tried doing that, it worked.

Kennytosh · 19 June 2009 at 4:32 am

Hey guys – there is a much more elegant solution.

First you need to set up your main Google Account Calander using MS Exchange. Go HERE:

http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=138740

Then, to add all your other Google Calanders, like Grant is looking to do, read THIS:

http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?answer=139206&ctx=sibling

I have 7 different Google Calanders and they all sync’d up like a charm on my iPhone.

Kenny

Oli · 19 June 2009 at 8:20 am

Kenny,

Thanks for the info! I should have made it clearer in my article that I already use Exchange for mail, contacts and calendar. The above describes how to setup your Google calendars in addition to that, since the iPhone only allows you to have one Exchange account setup at once.

However, I guess not everyone uses Exchange! I’ll update the article and add your info as a third solution.

Thanks!

Oli · 19 June 2009 at 9:00 am

@Grant, glad to see you fixed the problem. I actually had the same problem first time around. Perhaps the copy and paste feature was adding some whitespace that screwed things up? Who knows ;o)

Rich B · 19 June 2009 at 5:44 pm

Hmm…..as an iPod Touch 2G user I’m still somewhat reticent about having to PAY for the 3.0 upgrade, especially as it’s only iPhone users who get full benefit from the range of enhancements (and for free too), however I am an avid calendar man / user and it would be nice to not have to rely on iTunes sync to use the Touch’s iCal, admittedly my GoogleCal I can already view through the Google Apps module, however obviously the built in version is nicer.

Will I upgrade? Probably, reluctantly, and I’ll complain about it continually until something clicks and then it’ll be the best thing since sliced bread.

Rich B · 19 June 2009 at 7:13 pm

So, I went for it of course.

First impressions, not much, CalDAV is useful (but worth £5.99?), the app store now seems to take ages to load and I had to re-install and re-pair Things as it was hanging when it tried to sync with the MacBook Air.

Voice memos may or may not be useful (I do have the audio headphone lead) and cut & paste – who knows.

What would be useful would be if the upgrade enhanced my Need for Speed driving skills.

Scott · 2 July 2009 at 9:24 pm

I’m addicted to Google calendars and recently made the switch from BB to iPhone. I was very disappointed with the “one Exchange account” rule, and Google’s reliance on Exchange ActiveSync for iPhone sync (which is not the case for BB). While I think that in the long run ActiveSync will be incredible for Google and Gmail, I needed a workaround due to my work using my one iphone Exchange account. This is a very helpful blow-by-blow, and my initial impression is that this will be a seamless workaround. Also – keeping calendar colors is nice (which even Google Sync does not do).

Felix · 16 July 2009 at 8:47 pm

Oli,

This solution was great, and just what I needed.

In my workplace (which is where I spend most of my day) I have very spotty cell reception, and the wi-fi works when it wants to (which is rarely) so there is a significant advantage to having the reminders on my phone calendar since it doesn’t rely on connectivity.

Before this it would have been difficult to bridge the gap between my calendars. Thank you for documenting this here.

As an added bonus, I noticed that setting up the events through Google calendar bypasses the (silly) restriction that reminders should be in increments of what the phone conveniently lists for you. (Yes, I am aware they did it for simplicity)

And, I tested setting Pop-up reminders and email reminders, and both work the same way as the standard reminder on the phone (so I assume the SMS would achive the same)

Thanks again,

Felix

Anil · 18 July 2009 at 5:19 am

Useful information. I was able to set up multiple Google calendars based on your detailed description of the process. Thanks!

johnny · 7 August 2009 at 9:47 am

Hello. Thank you for this great info! Keep up the good job!

JC · 10 August 2009 at 10:01 pm

Very helpful information. I don’t use exchange, so having over-the-air sync with multiple google calendars is great. Adds another feature that makes me glad I’ve gotten the 3G

warriorwoman · 21 August 2009 at 5:00 pm

Thanks for this work through. I really like the fact that it retains the google colour schemes.
Quite an arse to set up for loads of calendars though.

Michael L. · 21 August 2009 at 11:03 pm

Excellent write-up! Thank you for putting this together.

MacG · 26 August 2009 at 10:51 pm

I am still having issues syncing my secondary calendars. For some reason after I add the Account URL in the Advanced setting tab it is removed when I move away from that screen back to the main settings page.
Do you need to use the Public Calendar ID or a Private one? Does the calendar need to be configured for Public viewing?
Any thoughts on how to get this to work?

Also, if you simply use the ICS subscription method does that allow for editing of the calendar from your phone?
Thanks,

JeffreyR · 4 September 2009 at 10:49 am

Thanks, Oll. I’ve been trying to get around the “one exchange account” issue for a while.

I was able to add the calendars to iPhone with little difficulty (one calendar out of 15 still won’t load up…) However, when I sync with MBP, nothing goes over. No calendars, no data. I tried manually adding a calendar with a matching date, but no luck. I habe the “sync all calendars” option checked.

Any thoughts?

Oli · 5 September 2009 at 10:28 am

@JefferyR: This method allows your iPhone to ‘subscribe’ to an online calendar. It’s not designed for syncing back to your MBP/iCal in the traditional way, but you can easily setup the same subscriptions to Google Calendar from within iCal. That way both your iPhone and iCal calendars would *always* be in sync without the need to sync your iPhone with iTunes.

I dont use iCal, but there are plenty of sites out there explaining how to set up the sync with Google. Just have a search :o)

sairuh · 11 September 2009 at 1:32 am

In spite of CalDAV support in Snow Leopard (10.6), I was able to get my Google calendars into iCal — but they failed to sync onto my iPhone Calendar app (OS 3.1, plus iTunes 9.0). However, I’m so glad I found your writeup, because Solution #2 saved the day for me!

Perhaps OS X 10.6.1 might fix the issue I encountered, and/or perhaps a future version of iTunes. If that happens, it ought to be easy to remove any duplicate calendars, i.e., from the iPhone side.

Thanks very much for posting your solutions.

Sandi · 14 September 2009 at 4:52 pm

Hi. I tried several times to set up my additional Google calendars, but the only one that shows up is my main one. I’ve checked the little boxes, I’ve added the accounts. HELP!! I’m not a techie, so I’ve just followed the instructions. I have to be doing something wrong.

Sandi · 14 September 2009 at 5:01 pm

Adding two things I’ve questioned. For Calendar Address, it gives me 3 choices, XML, ICAL and HTML. I’m just trying to sync my “google” calendars together on my iphone, so which address do I choose?

Secondly, on the address, it shows http://www.google.com/calendar/feeds/7bk7iuvg7p4s9b6ub92uigfiqo%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic
Is the public/basic part right? Your article said it would show “user”?
Thanks for the help

Phill · 15 September 2009 at 7:50 pm

Thanks! I set up multiple calendars just fine, but I am having one problem. When I look at my iPhone calendar’s “month” view, it shows dots (indication of events) on every single day (although I don’t have events on many of those days).

Did I do something wrong?

Oli · 17 September 2009 at 8:25 pm

@Sandi: I think you may have missed a step or two – go back to solution #2 above and read through the steps again. You need manually create the URL as described above.

Before step 1 in solution #2 it explains how to retrieve your “Calendar ID” and then use that ID to create a URL that will work on your iPhone. I’m afraid the HTML/XML/iCAL links that Google offers you will not work this way (unless you want to look into using solution #3, but I’m not a fan of this).

You’re looking in *almost* the right place. Right next to those three options under “Calendar Address” you’ll see your “Calendar ID” listed … it looks like a complicated email address, and from the link you’ve posted I’d guess your ID is as follows:

[email protected]

so, the URL you need for your iPhone is:

https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/[email protected]/user

Make sure you follow the steps carefully. Upto Step 5 you will have a duplicate of your first Google calendar. It’s only when you get to Step 6, and input this URL above, that you get the desired calendar.

If you’re still having problems, feel free to get in touch. :o)

oli (at) moonbee.co.uk

Oli · 17 September 2009 at 8:27 pm

@Phill: That’s an odd one – I’m not experiencing that problem. You might want to try turning off your calendars one by one to see if any one in particular is causing it.

Oli · 17 September 2009 at 8:34 pm

@MacG: Sorry for the late reply. In answer to your question, you need to use the Calendar ID listed next to your “Public Calendar” URLs (next to the three buttons marked XML, HTML and iCAL).

This ID is actually the ID for both public and private calendars, and no you don’t need to make your calendar public for this to work.

As with Sandi above, make sure you’ve constructing the URL you need using your Calendar ID – not any of the URLs offered through the XML,HTML or iCAL buttons. Your finished URL should have an “@” symbol in it before “groups.google.com”.

I might update the article with a screenshot to make this step clearer ;o)

Oli.

juan carlos · 18 September 2009 at 10:22 pm

I just did my calendars sync using the first option the CalDAV thing… it worked!! :)… however… when i do make changes on my phone they do not show up on my google calendar online.. and when i took away the REMINDER before and after 10 minutes it didnt sync it to my phone?
also… if i wanted to remove it… how do you remove the whole google calendar at once?
thank you

    Oli · 19 September 2009 at 1:51 pm

    Juan, I’m not sure why your phone is not syncing back to Google … sometimes it can take a few seconds (maybe up to a minute) to push back those changes. If it can’t (because of a lack of web connection) I find it automatically pushes the changes when you next connect.

    As for deleting the calendar from your iPhone, all you need to do is goto the [Mail, Contacts and Calendars] under [Settings] on your iPhone. Select the calendar you wish to remove, and scroll down to the red [Delete Account] button.

Phill · 22 September 2009 at 9:57 pm

@Oli: I did as you said and deemed that one of my calendars is somehow producing a “phantom” event on every single day of the year (when I click on most days, there is no event in there at all). I currently have it disabled on my iPhone. The problem is that when I view it in the normal Google Calendar website, I do not see the entries.

Any suggestions?

Oli says:
September 17, 2009 at 8:27 pm

@Phill: That’s an odd one – I’m not experiencing that problem. You might want to try turning off your calendars one by one to see if any one in particular is causing it.

————————————

Phill says:
September 15, 2009 at 7:50 pm

Thanks! I set up multiple calendars just fine, but I am having one problem. When I look at my iPhone calendar’s “month” view, it shows dots (indication of events) on every single day (although I don’t have events on many of those days).

Did I do something wrong?

Chloe · 23 September 2009 at 4:41 am

Oli –

I found your information on iphone cal sync extremely helpful. It’s well written, organized and easy to follow.

It’s nice to know that I am not the only person that is stickler on color on Calender!

I hardly ever leave any msg anywhere but I really think your post is worth 100 stars! Thanks a lot!!

I will check back your website more on tips on iphone or just gadgets in general. And the photos are nice!

Cheers,
Chloe

Mark · 3 November 2009 at 3:52 pm

I’m having trouble getting my iphone calendar to SEND information back to Google calendar. I’d like the same information across all calendars. Any advice?

Clive · 7 November 2009 at 1:04 am

Thanks very much.

I was using NemusSync before which did this well, admittedly you had to run the sync every now and then, and had to jailbreak the phone to do this but I couldn’t live with the only other solution for multiple calendars i had found (exchange) as it changed all the colours, yuk. Then it stopped working, so I thought I was doomed into the garish red for the first calendar.

This, once set up, is simple and hassle free, thanks very much!

Clive

Rob · 22 November 2009 at 6:54 am

Very well written. Easily understood. Exremely helpful.

Thank you very much! Life just became a bit easier…

Rob

Daniel · 4 December 2009 at 6:00 pm

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: #[email protected]
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?

NAJS · 7 December 2009 at 10:49 am

Can anyone confirm if iPhone will sync with Shared Google calendars owned by other people, that have chosen to share with you?

Am investigating the classic Family calendar situation, Wife & Kids to have their own calendars (owned by wife), me to have mine.

That way both our iPhones show everything, enabling us to plan things a little smatter… well theres the thought!

Oli · 7 December 2009 at 11:25 am

@NAJS: Hmm. Not thought of that – it certainly works the other way around. Two of my calendars (owned by me) are shared with family members. They sync just fine with the iPhone. Anyone else tried this yet?

Shea · 7 January 2010 at 5:20 pm

How do you edit the additional calenders that you are subscribed to on the iPhone?

Oli · 7 January 2010 at 6:58 pm

@Shea If you used Solution #2, all your additional calendars should be editable. Did you use one of the other solutions? Solution #3 *may* only allow you to subscribe to calendars (as in “read only”). I havent tried this myself, but that is certainly the case with desktop calendars such as iCal.

Elena · 2 March 2010 at 10:00 am

I have killed an hour to figure out how to sync Google contacts’ birthday and I have this done!

Use this link for that
https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/%[email protected]/user

Email this URL to yourself or just copy it, then paste it into the “Server” field. Enter your login as [email protected] and password
Select “Advanced Settings”.
Make sure that the “Account URL” address has the same link that you copied.

It does work!

Elena

    Oli · 2 March 2010 at 11:01 am

    @Elena, to save everyone scrolling down the comments, I’ve added your handy tip to the article. Thanks!

Philotech · 2 March 2010 at 5:10 pm

@Phill: regarding your dot-problem:

The potential causes have been discovered:
(a) events that have an end date before their start date. May happen due to daylight saving time etc. You would need to check every single event
(b) recurring events starting some time in 1932 or earlier (your grandfather’s birthday for example). These should be easy to find. You would need to delete that event or set a later starting year (suppose you are able to remember your grandfather’s year of birth 😉 )

For details see the discussion at http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2049299&start=30&tstart=0

Hope that helps!
Philotech

Andrew · 5 March 2010 at 10:21 am

You sir… have saved me from throwing my iPhone into the sea.
Thanks

Nick · 5 March 2010 at 11:02 am

Thanks. Great post.
I just don’t understand why I can’t have the colors match between google and my iphone for the main google account.
I’ve used your second method (multiple google calendar subscriptions, since Exchange is already configured for my office agenda)
Main google cal on iphone stays browish, whatever color I pick on calendar.google.com
All other google calendars change colors on iphone to match what I pick on the website

Beats me 🙁

Anyone encountered the same pbm?

Philotech · 5 March 2010 at 8:02 pm

Anyone here also using iCal on a Mac?
Even with Elena’s great hint I just don’t get this to work on my Mac. When I insert that same URL, iCal will immediately recognize the %23 as # and then, because it apparently knows that # won’t work in an URL, delete the whole part of the URL starting with the #. This leaves me with the really short URL /dav/calender which obviously doesn’t bring me by birthday calendar 🙁
Any help greatly appreciated!

Philotech · 5 March 2010 at 8:05 pm

@Nick:
Are you sure your main calendar is not just the local iCal calendar but is one of the Google calendars being synced to Google? This misconception appears to me to be a main cause for failure. So many people complain that syncing works only one-way with them, I assume not realizing that they enter appointments just in their local iCal / iPhone Calendar app calendar.

Philotech · 7 March 2010 at 10:59 am

Commenting my on question two posts above:
This has been solved, sorry it was a stupid oversight: All secondary accounts in iCal are listed under the third tab representatives/substitutes (don’t know what it is called exactly in the English version).

Oli · 8 March 2010 at 12:45 am

@Nick – I have the same setup as you’ve described, and yes, there doesn’t appear to be a way of changing the default colour of “dark red” for the Exchange calendar. I’ve resorted to changing the colours for my Google calendars to suit … not ideal, I know.

Cesar · 21 March 2010 at 5:24 pm

Hi!
I tried the 3rd solution (ics. file) on my iphone. It works great, but there is a minor problem….
Now all my secondary calendars are for subscription!! Everytime i create or edit an event on my Pc, it asks me if I want to send a notification to myself! why? because Im the only guest on my OWN calendars!!
What can I do to restore the previus setttings??

Steve · 2 May 2010 at 4:26 pm

This is great. I have abandoned another method I was using, as this one seems to work a little better. One last little problem: all of my calendars are on Google. I have no “Mac-based” calendars. However, when someone sends me an invite, it ONLY records the invite on the “home” calendar on my mac and I do not get a possibility to move it to a google-based calendar. Any solutions to this? I can’t find any place to indicate to the calendar or email that invites should be recorded on a google-based calendar……..

Bob · 5 August 2010 at 4:36 pm

After some searching around, it turns out google has a nice solution to adding calendars beyond the first one. Just go to http://www.google.com/calendar/iphoneselect and it will give you a list of your calendars. You simply check the box for the calendar you want to add.

James · 9 August 2010 at 6:37 am

OK. Looks great. However where the heck do I find the /user part of the server string?

I log on to my google calendar using an email address as a user name and if I add that to the server address on the iphone when trying to add the second calendar to the iphone it just showes https in the server box and then gives me the can’t log on with https error. Then, Server validation failed and no joy.

I suspect it is because I am putting the /user part in the in the wrong format. So… how do I find this last most important bit of data?

Thanks for the tutorial

Also when it is all set up will I be able to add/edit events on google calendar from the iphone and then have them show up changed on the web?

Cheers,

James

Oli · 12 August 2010 at 8:43 am

@Bob: thanks for the link. Yes, Google have added that feature since I wrote this … I think I need to get my act together and update this for iOS4! One thing to note everyone: You can visit that link on your iPhone if you want. Cheers.

@James: There is no /user part … it’s literally that: “/user”. Just go carefully through Solution #2 again, and look at the example I give. The important thing is the calendar ID (which I describe how to get in the 2nd paragraph of that solution). Your final URL should look exactly like the example, just with different numbers before the “@group.calendar.google.com/user” bit.

In answer to your other question, yes – once setup you can create and edit appointments on your iPhone.

I’ve not updated this article for iOS4 yet – but if you are using an iPhone running the new OS, then I recommend a simpler approach. Just setup your GMail account as normal on the iPhone. This will give you access to your mail, notes and your primary Google calendar. To get access to the rest, use the link that Bob suggested:

http://www.google.com/calendar/iphoneselect (you can open this on your iPhone is you want)

Then just select the additional calendars you want to sync, and hit save. Your additional calendars should now sync. So much easier than the manual method I describe above!

Sebastian · 25 September 2010 at 8:07 pm

Hi guys – one question that has REALLY been difficult to find an answer to is: How can I share my Iphone calender with my Google-calendar <- meaning that I dont even use the Google calender, but in order to have the opportunity to share my Iphone calender with my girlfriend's Iphone calender, we must go through Google-calender, right? So its the other way around I want to do it; create a event on my Iphone, sync it with Google calendar, so that when my girlfriend syncs her Iphone calendar with google, she can see the event I made on my Iphone, and this will now be in her calender as well… Does this make any sense :-)? Would really love an advice.

Oli · 18 October 2010 at 4:36 pm

Hi everyone! I’ve been getting quite a few enquiries about this article, and the fact there are easier ways of setting this up under iOS4. I absolutely agree – this article was written for iPhone OS 3, so it’s a little out of date now. I’ve create a separate How-To post specifically for iOS 4 to help clarify things.

Thanks to everyone for their input on this over the past few months. Syncing your Google calendars has gotten a lot easier, that’s for sure!

The new post is at:

http://blog.olitee.com/2010/10/ios-4-and-google-calendars/

Amy · 2 September 2011 at 10:59 pm

Please help me. I followed your directions for Solution #2 for adding syncing multiple Google Calendars. I get to the step 6 instruction follow it and my phone tells me “Unable to verify account information” Looks as if the Account URL is too long. When I go back to look at what’s entered there it’s been cut off.

Oli · 3 September 2011 at 1:58 pm

Hi Amy, can I just check – are you using the iPhone 4 or iPhone 3GS? If so, then you really should follow the updated instructions on my newer post: iOS 4 and Google Calendars

Apple and Google have changed the way multiple calendars are supported. I hope that helps 🙂

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