How to Add Other People’s Google Calendars to Your iPhone

To add someone else’s Google Calendar to your iPhone, the owner shares it with your Google account and you open the link in the sharing email. It then shows in the Google Calendar app; for Apple’s Calendar app, add your Google account in Settings and tick the calendar on Google’s sync page.

Your partner or a coworker shared their Google Calendar with you, but it never shows up in the Calendar app on your iPhone.

Pick the Route That Fits You

There are three ways to see another person’s calendar on an iPhone, and they suit different people:

Your situation	Best route	What you get
You already use the Google Calendar app	Google Calendar app	The shared calendar appears on its own once you’ve accepted it; edit rights work as the owner set them
You want everything in Apple’s built-in Calendar app	Google account in iPhone Settings, plus Google’s sync page	Shared calendars alongside your iCloud and work calendars
It’s a public calendar (a school, team or league schedule)	Subscribe by its link	A read-only calendar that updates from the link

Every private-calendar route starts the same way: the calendar has to be shared with the Google account you use on your phone. You never need the other person’s password or sign-in details.

Step One: Get the Calendar Shared With You

Say Marisol wants her sister to see the “Marisol Work Shifts” calendar. Marisol does this part in Google Calendar on a computer browser:

1. Under My calendars, she points at the calendar and clicks More (the three dots), then Settings and sharing.
2. Under Shared with, she clicks Add people and groups and types her sister’s Gmail address.
3. She picks a permission level and clicks Send.

The permission level decides what you can do with the calendar later. Google’s calendar sharing help page lists five levels: See only free/busy (hide details), See event details, Make changes (see private events as free/busy), Make changes and see event details and Make changes and manage sharing. If you’ll need to add or move events, ask for one of the “Make changes” levels.

Now accept it. You’ll get an email; tap Open Calendar (or the link in the message) to add the calendar to your account. If the owner hasn’t shared it yet, you can request it yourself on a computer: open Google Calendar in a browser, click the add button next to Other calendars, choose Subscribe to calendar and type the person’s email address. If their calendar isn’t shared with you, Google sends them a request instead.

Google’s page on subscribing to other calendars is clear that you can’t subscribe from the Google Calendar app for iPhone or iPad, and that new subscriptions need a web browser on a computer. Opening the link in a sharing email works on your phone.

See It in the Google Calendar App

Once the calendar is on your Google account, the Google Calendar app picks it up with no extra setup.

1. Open the Google Calendar app and make sure you’re signed in to the same Google account the calendar was shared with.
2. Tap Menu (three lines) at the top left.
3. Find the shared calendar under your account and check the box to the left of its name. Uncheck it to hide those events again without removing the calendar.

If you have more than one Google account in the app, the calendar only appears under the account it was shared with. That mismatch is the most common reason a shared calendar seems to be missing.

See It in Apple’s Calendar App

The built-in Calendar app needs two things: your Google account added to the iPhone with Calendars turned on, and the shared calendar ticked on Google’s sync page. Most people do the first and miss the second.

Add Your Google Account

1. Open Settings and go to the Calendar settings. In iOS 27, tap Apps, then Calendar, then Calendar Accounts, as shown in Apple’s calendar account setup steps. Google’s own help page shows the older layout as Calendar > Accounts.
2. Tap Add Account, then Google, and sign in with your own Google account.
3. Turn on Calendars. You can turn off Mail and Contacts if you only want the calendar.

If your Google account is already on the phone for Gmail, don’t add it a second time. Tap the existing account in the same list and turn on Calendars instead; adding it twice can give you duplicate events. The same Calendar Accounts screen is where you’d connect an Outlook calendar to your iPhone, and both accounts can show side by side.

Tick the Calendar on Google’s Sync Page

By default, Google only sends your own calendars (and Birthdays) to Apple devices. Calendars other people share with you stay off until you choose them, as Google explains on its Apple Calendar sync help page.

1. Open Google’s calendar sync settings page in Safari or on a computer, signed in to the same Google account.
2. Check the box next to each shared calendar you want on your iPhone.

3. Click Save.
4. Open the Calendar app and tap Calendars at the bottom. The shared calendar should be listed under your Gmail account; make sure it has a check mark.

It can take a few minutes for the calendar to arrive. The Calendars list is also where you hide clutter later, the same way you’d hide the holiday calendar on an iPhone.

Add a Public Calendar by Its Link

A public calendar, such as a school district or sports league schedule, often comes as a web address ending in .ics. You can subscribe to it in the iPhone Calendar app without anyone sharing it to your account. In iOS 27 the option is in Settings under Apps > Calendar > Calendar Accounts > Add Account > Other > Add Subscribed Calendar. Paste the address and follow the prompts to save it. You can also do it inside the Calendar app: tap Calendars, tap Add Calendar, choose Add Subscription Calendar, paste the .ics address and tap Find, as Apple describes in its guide to using multiple calendars.

Tapping a link to an .ics calendar also starts a subscription. An .ics file attached to an email is different: opening it imports a copy of the events, which won’t update when the organizer changes the schedule. A calendar added this way is read-only on your phone. In Google Calendar on the web, adding a calendar by its link (From URL) only works when the owner has made it public.

What You Can and Can’t Do With a Shared Calendar

• Editing depends on the owner. With See event details, you can only look. With a Make changes level, you can add and edit events in the Google Calendar app.
• Apple’s app has limits with Google calendars. Google lists features that don’t work through Apple Calendar: email notifications for events, creating new Google calendars and Room Scheduler. Create new calendars on the web or in Google’s app.
• Your default calendar stays yours. New events go to the default calendar unless you pick the shared one when you create the event. You can also set default alert times in the iPhone Calendar app so shared events remind you too.
• Too many subscriptions slow things down. Google warns that being subscribed to more than 400 calendars can make browsing slower.

If the Shared Calendar Still Doesn’t Show Up

Work through these in order; each one is a separate cause.

1. Wrong account. Ask the owner which email address they shared with. If it went to a work address and your phone uses your personal Gmail, it won’t appear.
2. Not accepted. Open the sharing email and use its link, or check Google Calendar on a computer for the calendar under Other calendars.
3. Not ticked on the sync page. This only affects Apple’s Calendar app. Recheck the sync settings page and save again.
4. Calendars turned off for the account. In the Calendar Accounts list, tap your Google account and confirm Calendars is on.
5. Hidden in the app. In Apple’s Calendar, tap Calendars and check the box; in Google’s app, check the box in Menu.
6. Work or school rules. Google says that for a work or school calendar, the administrator decides whether it can be shared, and sharing outside the organization may be blocked. The owner may need to ask their IT team.
7. Access removed. If the calendar disappears after working fine, the owner may have stopped sharing it or lowered your permission.

If events show up but arrive late, remember that changes don’t always sync instantly, so a new event can take a little while to reach your phone.

Stop Seeing Someone’s Calendar

To hide it for a while, uncheck it in the Calendars list (Apple) or in Menu (Google). To remove it completely, open Google Calendar on a computer, click Settings, select the calendar in the left column, then click Remove calendar, Unsubscribe and Remove calendar again. Google’s delete or unsubscribe help page warns that you can’t get it back unless the owner shares it with you again. For a subscribed .ics calendar, in the Calendar app tap Calendars, tap the info button next to it, then tap Unsubscribe. If Google is also filling your schedule with flight and reservation events from email, you can stop Google Calendar from adding Gmail events as well.

Shared Google Calendar Questions

Can I add someone’s calendar without them sharing it?

Only if it’s public. For a private calendar, your subscribe attempt sends the owner a request, and nothing appears until they approve it.

Will the owner know I added it?

They chose to share it with your email address, so they know you have access. Google doesn’t describe any extra notice to the owner when you also add the calendar to a phone.

Why does it show on my iPhone but not my iPad or Mac?

Each device needs your Google account added with Calendars on. The sync page choice applies to your Google account, so once the calendar is ticked there, it should reach every Apple device signed in to that account.

Why do I see “busy” blocks instead of event names?

The owner shared it with See only free/busy (hide details). Ask them to change your permission to See event details or higher.

Once the calendar is showing, open one of its upcoming events and make sure it lands on the right day and time, then set alerts so you don’t miss anything new the owner adds.