Unusual? iPhone Calendar Problem

[donheff]

People here seem able to solve all kinds of things others fail at so why not try this.

I am trying to figure out why my wife and I can't share our iPhone calendars. We both use Google calendar as our primary calendar for a variety of reasons. With the Google Calendar on the PC and in the Google Calendar iPhone app we can both see our own entries as well as each other's.

Unfortunately, for historical reasons, we both prefer to us the native iOS calendar app to view and make appointments when we are on the iPhone. There we are unable to see each other's entries. Years ago we could see them but not for a couple/few years. So, if either of us is making an appointment and pull up the iPhone calendar app, we can and do make mistakes and schedule things that cause conflicts. The obvious answer is to just use the Google Calendar app and we may eventually just do that but we shouldn't have to do it. The Apple calendar app is supposed to handle this just fine and does for most people.

I tried everything Apple's support pages instruct and I consulted with my brilliant friend ChatGPT, all to no avail. I engaged an Apple support tech on chat and she took me thru every setting we could think of, to no avail. She escalated me to a tech guru who called me and remoted into my phone. He spent about 45 minutes and gave up as well.

I feel good that it wasn't some dumb lack of understanding on my part at fault. But I am irritated that we can't do something very simple that the Apple techs agree we should be able to do.

Has anyone else ever run into this problem and resolved it? Should I write Apple and suggest they give us new phones for stumping their techs?

 

[retire48in2018]

Did you do the following? You can share an “additional” calendar - that you make primary. Not initial calendar

Create an iCloud calendar
Tap Calendars at the bottom of the screen.
Tap Add Calendar.
Type a name for the new calendar, then tap Done.
Share an iCloud calendar
You can choose to share a calendar with one or more people in iCloud. Those you invite receive an invitation to join the calendar.
Tap Calendars at the bottom of the screen.
Tap the Info button next to the iCloud calendar you want to share.
Tap Add Person, then enter a name or email address, or tap the Add button to browse your contacts.
Note: Your contacts must have an email address to share an iCloud calendar. See Add and use contact information on iPhone.
Tap Add.




Link. - https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/share-icloud-calendars-iph7613c4fb/ios

 

[retire48in2018]

To share primary -

You both have to have same appleID. It’s like sharing info from iPhone to tablet

We did that for a while, but too many inconveniences from same appleID, so we separated our 2 phones by changing her AppleID

 

[donheff]

Did you do the following? You can share an “additional” calendar - that you make primary. Not initial calendar

Create an iCloud calendar
Tap Calendars at the bottom of the screen.
Tap Add Calendar.
Type a name for the new calendar, then tap Done.
Share an iCloud calendar
You can choose to share a calendar with one or more people in iCloud. Those you invite receive an invitation to join the calendar.
Tap Calendars at the bottom of the screen.
Tap the Info button next to the iCloud calendar you want to share.
Tap Add Person, then enter a name or email address, or tap the Add button to browse your contacts.
Note: Your contacts must have an email address to share an iCloud calendar. See Add and use contact information on iPhone.
Tap Add.




Link. - https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/share-icloud-calendars-iph7613c4fb/ios

LOL Come on, that's like saying "Google it," which is often the right response. But that was the first thing I did. Remember, I exhausted all of the self help instructions I could. Then I spent about 30 minutes on a live chat with an Apple tech. Then an Apple 2nd level guru called and remoted into my phone. He worked with me for at least another 30 minutes and was unable to figure out why it doesn't work. He had me going thru my own settings and DW's. They all appear fine and the iCloud calendars created in the steps above are present and accounted for. They are just not synching between us.

 

[donheff]

To share primary -

You both have to have same appleID. It’s like sharing info from iPhone to tablet

We did that for a while, but too many inconveniences from same appleID, so we separated our 2 phones by changing her AppleID

No, you can share or even delegate calendar management to other users with different Apple IDs. Think about it, would two Apple techs spend 30+ minutes each trying to fix it if it couldn't be done? People do it all the time on the Apple Calendar app and DW and I do it right now on our Google Calendars and in the iOS Google Calendar app. We just can't get the Apple app to sync properly.

 

[braumeister]

To share primary -

You both have to have same appleID.

No, that's not necessary at all. We have different Apple IDs and share our iOS calendars with each other.

They do have to be iCloud calendars, since you obviously can't share something that is only on your own phone.

Share iCloud calendars on iPhone

 

[donheff]

No, that's not necessary at all. We have different Apple IDs and share our iOS calendars with each other.

They do have to be iCloud calendars, since you obviously can't share something that is only on your own phone.

Share iCloud calendars on iPhone

Precisely. Everyone else can do it but not me and DW

 

[braumeister]

Try this:

On your Mac, sign into iCloud Calendars.
Click the symbol to the right of the calendar's name and under Private Calendar you should see your DW as sharing with it.
If not, send an invitation to share.
If so, and it's not working, delete it and send a new invitation.

 

[donheff]

Try this:

On your Mac, sign into iCloud Calendars.
Click the symbol to the right of the calendar's name and under Private Calendar you should see your DW as sharing with it.
If not, send an invitation to share.
If so, and it's not working, delete it and send a new invitation.

I don’t have a Mac and don’t think I can see the calendars in the iCloud web page but I will look. We sent and accepted invitations like you described from our phones. When they were accepted the phones said to login to our Apple account, at which point they sent back a two factor access code which overwrote the window where you would presumably enter the code. Nevertheless, the settings show us having access to each other’s iCloud calendars. Maybe I should delete all this and try to gain access through our iPads so codes go to our phones.

And the Apple fan boys are always crowing, “it just works.” Not!

 

[SnowballCamper]

I went through something like this a few years ago. I don't remember all the details, but we ended up having personal gmail calendars that we can see in the apple calendar app, and a single shared calendar in iCloud that three of us share, and can see at the same time in the calendar app. It works great on mobile, which is where it counts. Good luck, I know this can be a pain...

 

[braumeister]

I don’t have a Mac and don’t think I can see the calendars in the iCloud web page but I will look. We sent and accepted invitations like you described from our phones. When they were accepted the phones said to login to our Apple account, at which point they sent back a two factor access code which overwrote the window where you would presumably enter the code. Nevertheless, the settings show us having access to each other’s iCloud calendars. Maybe I should delete all this and try to gain access through our iPads so codes go to our phones.



And the Apple fan boys are always crowing, “it just works.” Not!

You should be able to do that on the iPad. Just not on the phone.

 

[homestead]

Ours was working well with two iphones and two macs. I upgraded my iphone and it only works one direction now. I can see her changes but she can't see mine. Perhaps there is a hardware id included in the sharing connection. I am thinking of trying to delete the current settings and start over and see if that fixes it.

 

[target2019]

If you create a Family in Google, then a Family Calendar is available to members of the family. Of course they must be invited, accept, etc. But then you are done, and the calendar works.

Why won't your Cloud calendar sync between your iPhones? Could you possibly have different settings about sharing that affect this?

How about WiFi vs Mobile data? You're on mobile net, she is on WiFi?

Just WAG'n...

 

[Jerry1]

Another WAG - make sure you’ve rebooted your phones and that you’re both on the same iOS version. Similar - turn off all sharing settings and start over (ugh).