You can delete a calendar in three ways depending on what you want to remove
The method depends on whether you want to delete a calendar you created yourself, remove a calendar someone shared with you, or clear all events from a calendar while keeping it. On iPhone, you delete calendars through the Calendar app settings, not through your phone's main settings. The steps take less than a minute once you know where to look.
If you created the calendar yourself (a personal calendar, work calendar, or any calendar you set up), you can delete it entirely. If someone shared a calendar with you through iCloud or another service, you can unsubscribe from it. If you want to keep the calendar but remove the events inside it, that's a different process. This guide covers all three.
Key Takeaways
- Open the Calendar app, tap Calendars at the bottom, find the calendar you want to delete, swipe left on it, and tap Delete.
- Deleting a calendar you created removes it permanently from your iPhone and from iCloud if you use iCloud sync.
- If someone shared a calendar with you, you unsubscribe from it rather than delete it — swipe left and tap Unsubscribe.
- Deleting a calendar removes all events in it, so check first whether you need to save or move any events elsewhere.
- If you only want to hide a calendar temporarily without deleting it, tap the circle next to its name to toggle it off.
How to delete a calendar you created
Open the Calendar app on your iPhone. At the bottom of the screen, tap the Calendars tab (it looks like a list icon). You will see all your calendars listed — these include any you created plus any that were added automatically like Birthdays or Holidays.
Find the calendar you want to delete. Press and hold on it, or swipe left across its name. A red Delete button will appear on the right side. Tap Delete. The calendar and all events in it will be removed from your iPhone. If you use iCloud, the calendar will also be deleted from iCloud and from any other devices signed into that iCloud account.
After you delete a calendar, you cannot undo it through the app. If you deleted events you needed to keep, you would have to recreate them manually or restore from a backup. For this reason, check the calendar's contents before you delete it — tap on the calendar name to see what events are inside.
How to unsubscribe from a shared calendar
If someone invited you to a calendar they own — through iCloud, Google Calendar, or another service — you do not delete it; you unsubscribe from it. The calendar owner still owns it, and unsubscribing just removes it from your view.
Open the Calendar app and tap Calendars at the bottom. Find the shared calendar in the list. Swipe left on it and tap Unsubscribe. The calendar will disappear from your iPhone. The calendar owner will not be notified, and the calendar itself will continue to exist on their account.
If you change your mind later, you can ask the calendar owner to send you the invitation again, and you can re-subscribe to it.
How to hide a calendar without deleting it
If you do not want to see a calendar's events but do not want to delete it, you can hide it temporarily. Open the Calendar app and tap Calendars at the bottom. Next to each calendar name is a small circle. If the circle is filled in (colored), the calendar is visible. If the circle is empty (white), the calendar is hidden.
Tap the circle next to any calendar to toggle it on or off. Hidden calendars still exist and still sync across your devices — you just will not see their events on your iPhone. This is useful if you have a calendar you check only occasionally, or if you want to focus on one calendar at a time without deleting others.
What happens to events when you delete a calendar
When you delete a calendar, every event in that calendar is deleted too. If you have events you need to keep, move them to another calendar before you delete. To move an event, open it, tap Edit, scroll down to Calendar, and choose a different calendar from the list.
If you use iCloud and delete a calendar on your iPhone, it will be deleted from iCloud and from any Mac, iPad, or other iPhone signed into the same iCloud account. If you use Google Calendar or another service, the deletion may sync differently depending on how that service is set up on your phone.
Deleting calendars synced from other services
If you added a Google Calendar, Outlook calendar, or another service to your iPhone, deleting it from the Calendar app removes it from your iPhone only — it does not delete the calendar from Google, Outlook, or that service. The calendar still exists on the original service's website or app.
To delete a calendar that originated in another service, you usually have to delete it through that service's own website or app. For example, to delete a Google Calendar, you would go to Google Calendar on the web, find the calendar, and delete it there. Removing it from your iPhone just disconnects your phone from that calendar.
Recovering a deleted calendar
The Calendar app does not have an undo button or a trash folder for deleted calendars. Once you delete a calendar, it is gone from your iPhone and from iCloud (if you use iCloud sync).
If you have a backup of your iPhone from before the deletion, you can restore from that backup to get the calendar back. Go to Settings, tap your name, tap iCloud, tap iCloud Backup, and check the date of your most recent backup. Restoring a backup will also restore all other data to that point in time, so this is only practical if the deletion just happened.
If you deleted a calendar that was synced with Google Calendar or another service, the calendar may still exist on that service's website. You can re-add it to your iPhone by going to Settings, tapping Mail, tapping Accounts, and re-entering your credentials for that service.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will deleting a calendar on my iPhone delete it from my Mac or iPad?
Yes, if you use iCloud. Any calendar you delete on your iPhone will also be deleted from your Mac, iPad, and any other device signed into the same iCloud account. If you use Google Calendar or another service, the deletion may not sync automatically — check that service's settings to see how it handles deletions across devices.
Can I delete the Birthdays or Holidays calendar?
You can hide the Birthdays and Holidays calendars by tapping the circle next to their names in the Calendars list, but you cannot delete them entirely. These are system calendars that iPhone provides by default. Hiding them removes them from your view without deleting them.
What if I accidentally deleted a calendar with important events?
If you have an iCloud backup from before the deletion, you can restore your iPhone from that backup through Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud > iCloud Backup. This will restore the calendar but will also restore your phone to that earlier date. If the calendar was synced with Google or another service, check that service's website to see if the calendar still exists there.
Does deleting a calendar delete events I created in it?
Yes. Deleting a calendar removes all events in that calendar. Before you delete, open the calendar and check what events are inside. If you need to keep any of them, move them to another calendar first by opening each event, tapping Edit, and changing the Calendar field.
Can I delete a calendar someone shared with me?
You can unsubscribe from a shared calendar, which removes it from your iPhone. You cannot delete the calendar itself because you do not own it — only the person who created it can delete it. Unsubscribing just removes your access to it.