How to Share a Calendar on iPhone: Quick Setup Guide

To share a calendar on iPhone, open the Calendar app, tap Calendars, tap the info (i) button next to the calendar you want, choose Add Person, then enter a name, email or phone number and tap Add. The person gets an invite, and once they accept, your events appear on their device. Here is the full sequence:

1. Open the Calendar app and tap Calendars at the bottom of the screen.
2. Find the iCloud calendar you want to share and tap the info (i) button to its right.
3. Under Shared With, tap Add Person.
4. Type an email address, phone number or contact name, then tap Add in the top-right corner.

That is the core of it, and it matches Apple's own "Share iCloud calendars" instructions (steps current as of June 2026). The rest of this guide covers permissions, Family Sharing for an all-Apple household, subscribing to Google or Outlook calendars, sharing a read-only link with Android users, and the quick fixes when shared events stop updating.

One requirement to know upfront: the person you invite needs an iCloud account to accept a private share. If they do not have one, skip to the public link method, which works for anyone.

Set permissions: View & Edit or View Only

When someone accepts your invite, they get View & Edit access by default. That is right for a partner co-running the household schedule, but often you only want someone to see your plans, not change them.

To set the access level:

1. Open the calendar's info (i) screen and tap the person's name under Shared With.
2. Toggle Allow Editing off to drop them to View Only, or leave it on for full access.

• View & Edit: add, change and delete events. Treat this as co-owner access for a spouse or partner.
• View Only: see everything, change nothing. Best for a babysitter who needs the kids' schedule, a grandparent kept in the loop, or anyone you do not want editing events by accident.

A practical rule from supporting Haus households: reserve View & Edit for the one or two people you genuinely plan alongside, and default everyone else to View Only. It avoids the awkward moment when a shared event quietly disappears and nobody knows who deleted it.

Use Family Sharing for an all-Apple household

If everyone in your home is on Apple devices, Family Sharing is the fastest route. When you set up a Family Sharing group, Apple automatically creates a shared Family calendar, and everyone in the group gets access the moment they join. There are no invites to send or accept.

To create the group, go to Settings > [Your Name] > Family Sharing, then Add Member. Once people are in, any event added to the Family calendar appears on every member's iPhone, iPad and Mac.

The catch is that a single Family calendar fills up fast. Two habits keep it readable:

• Colour-code by person. The Calendar app will not permanently assign a colour to a person, but you can pick a colour each time you add an event, for example red for one parent, blue for another, green for the kids. A glance at the week then tells you who is busy without opening anything.
• Use recurring events. For anything on a loop, weekly swimming, fortnightly bin collection, tap Repeat when creating the event and set the frequency once. Pair it with an alert so a reminder fires the evening before.

Subscribe to Google or Outlook calendars

Not every household lives entirely in Apple's ecosystem. If your partner uses Android or your work runs on Outlook, you can subscribe to those calendars so they appear inside the iPhone Calendar app alongside your iCloud events.

Subscribing is a one-way, read-only feed: you see every event, but you cannot add, edit or delete from your iPhone. You first need a subscription link, usually ending in .ics.

Get the Google Calendar link (do this on a computer):

1. Open Google Calendar in a browser.
2. Hover over the calendar in the left-hand list, click the three-dot menu, and choose Settings and sharing.
3. Scroll to Integrate calendar and copy the Secret address in iCal format. Use the secret address, not the public one, to keep events private.

Get the Outlook calendar link (use the web version):

1. Sign in to Outlook.com and open Calendar.
2. Click the settings gear, then View all Outlook settings.
3. Go to Calendar > Shared calendars, choose the calendar under Publish a calendar, set permissions to Can view all details, and click Publish.
4. Copy the ICS link from the two that appear.

Add the link to your iPhone:

1. Go to Settings > Calendar > Accounts > Add Account > Other.
2. Tap Add Subscribed Calendar and paste the .ics link.
3. Tap Next, then Save. The events now show in your Calendar app.

Because this feed is read-only, many households eventually want true two-way syncing across devices. That is exactly the gap OneHaus fills: one shared household calendar that everyone can edit from any phone or browser, not a one-way mirror.

Share with Android users via a public link

You cannot add an Android user as an editor on an iCloud calendar, but you can give them a read-only public link to subscribe to.

1. Open the Calendar app and tap Calendars.
2. Tap the info (i) button next to the calendar you want to publish.
3. Turn on Public Calendar, then tap Share Link and send it by Messages, Mail or copy.

This generates a Webcal link, and recipients do not need an iCloud account to view it. They can add the link to Google Calendar or another app and see your events, but it stays one-way: they will never be able to edit. Turning Public Calendar off again makes the calendar private and breaks the link.

Quieten the notifications

Shared calendars can ping you for every edit anyone makes, which is the fastest way to start ignoring the calendar altogether. Two settings tame it:

• Per-calendar alerts: Settings > Notifications > Calendar lets you silence noisy calendars (a meal-plan calendar rarely needs alerts) while keeping appointments loud.
• Shared calendar changes: when you publish or share a calendar, tap Customise Notifications and turn off Shared Calendar Changes so you stop being told every time someone adds an event.

You can also set a default reminder so you are not adding one by hand each time. Go to Settings > Calendar > Default Alert Times and set a standard alert for events (say, 1 hour before) and all-day events (say, 9am on the day).

Where the built-in app runs out of road

The native Calendar app handles a single household well, but a few limits surface quickly: subscribed Google and Outlook feeds are read-only, Android users can only ever view, and there is no way to attach shared tasks, lists or meal plans to the schedule. Everything lives in separate apps.

OneHaus pulls the schedule, shared to-do lists, shopping and meal plans into one place that the whole household can edit from any phone or any browser, with one subscription covering everyone. If the one-way iCloud limits keep tripping you up, start a free 7-day OneHaus trial and see your family's week in a single view.

For more on building a routine around a shared schedule, see our guide to setting up a family shared calendar.

Frequently asked questions

Can I share my iPhone calendar with an Android user?

Yes, but only as a read-only feed. Android users cannot edit or add events to an iCloud calendar. Open your Calendar app, tap Calendars, tap the info (i) icon next to the calendar, turn on Public Calendar, and share the link that appears. They can add that link to Google Calendar to see your events, but it stays one-way.

Why are my shared calendar events not updating?

It is almost always connection or an iCloud toggle. Work through these in order:

1. Check everyone has stable Wi-Fi or mobile data.
2. Go to Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud, tap Show All, and confirm Calendars is switched on (green).
3. Open the Calendar app and pull down on the screen to force a manual refresh.
4. Make sure everyone is on the latest iOS version, as outdated software can cause sync conflicts.
5. As a last resort, remove the person from the calendar and re-invite them.

How do I stop sharing a calendar on my iPhone?

Open the Calendar app, tap Calendars, and tap the info (i) button next to the shared calendar. To remove one person, tap their name and choose Stop Sharing. To kill a public link, toggle Public Calendar off, which makes the calendar private again immediately.

Does the person I share with need an iCloud account?

For a private share (Add Person), yes, they need an iCloud account to accept the invite and see the calendar. For a public link (Public Calendar), no, anyone can view it in a compatible calendar app without an iCloud account.

Can I have multiple shared calendars?

Yes, and separate calendars are easier to manage than one crowded one. To create another, open the Calendar app, tap Calendars, then Add Calendar at the bottom-left, give it a name and colour, and share it. For example, a Family calendar shared with your partner, a Work calendar shared with colleagues, and a Weekend Plans calendar shared with friends.

Related guides

• Setting up a family shared calendar
• How to share a Google Calendar on iPhone
• How to set a reminder for the whole family