The simplest way to share your iPhone calendar
Open the Calendar app on your iPhone, tap the Calendars tab at the bottom, and find the calendar you want to share. Press and hold on that calendar name until a menu appears, then tap Edit. Scroll down and tap Add Person, then enter the email address or phone number of the family member you want to share with. They will receive an invitation and can accept it to see your calendar on their own device.
The person you invite will see your calendar events in their own Calendar app once they accept. They can view when you are busy, but they cannot edit your events unless you give them permission to do so. This works across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and even Android devices if family members use those instead.
If you want to share a calendar you created yourself (not your main personal calendar), the process is identical. If you want to share your main calendar — the one that syncs with your Apple ID — you may need to use iCloud Family Sharing instead, which is explained in the section below.
Key Takeaways
- You can share any calendar by opening it in the Calendar app, pressing and holding the calendar name, tapping Edit, and selecting Add Person with their email address.
- Shared calendars appear in the recipient's Calendar app automatically once they accept the invitation, and they can see all your events without being able to change them.
- If you want family members to see your main personal calendar, use iCloud Family Sharing instead of the Add Person method, because it keeps everything linked to your Apple ID.
- You can remove someone from a shared calendar at any time by opening the calendar, tapping Edit, and selecting their name to delete them.
- Shared calendars work across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Android, so family members on different devices can all see the same events.
Using iCloud Family Sharing for your main calendar
If you want your whole family to see your main personal calendar — the one that holds all your events and syncs with your Apple ID — the better route is iCloud Family Sharing. This is different from the Add Person method because it ties your calendar directly to your family group instead of sending individual invitations.
To set this up, open Settings on your iPhone, tap your name at the top, then tap Family Sharing. If you have not set up a family group yet, tap Create a Family and follow the prompts to add family members. Once your family group exists, go back to Settings, tap your name, tap iCloud, and make sure Calendar is toggled on. Your family members should do the same on their own devices, and your calendars will sync together automatically.
The advantage of Family Sharing is that it works without sending invitations back and forth. Everyone in the family group sees everyone else's calendar by default, and you can turn off calendar sharing for specific people if you change your mind. The disadvantage is that Family Sharing requires everyone to have an Apple ID and an iCloud account, whereas the Add Person method works with any email address.
Controlling what family members can see and edit
When you share a calendar using the Add Person method, the person you invite can only view your events — they cannot create, edit, or delete anything on your calendar. If you want to give someone permission to edit your calendar, you need to change their access level after they accept the invitation.
Open the calendar you shared, tap Edit, find the person's name in the list, and tap their entry. You will see options to change their role from Viewer to Editor. An Editor can add events to your calendar, change existing events, and delete events, so only give this permission to people you trust completely. You can change someone back to Viewer status at any time using the same method.
If you are using Family Sharing, all family members have the same access level by default — they can see everyone's calendar but cannot edit other people's events. You cannot give one family member editing permission while keeping another as view-only, because Family Sharing treats the whole family group the same way.
Troubleshooting when someone cannot see your shared calendar
If you sent a calendar invitation and the person says they never received it, ask them to check their email spam folder first. Calendar invitations sometimes get filtered there by mistake. If it is not in spam, have them check that they are using the correct email address — the one you actually sent the invitation to.
If they received the invitation but it is not showing up in their Calendar app, they may not have accepted it yet. Have them look for a notification or banner in the Calendar app that says they have a pending invitation. They need to tap Accept before the calendar appears in their list.
If they accepted the invitation but still cannot see your events, check that your calendar is actually turned on in your own settings. Open Settings, tap your name, tap iCloud, and make sure Calendar is toggled on. If it is off, your calendar data is not syncing to iCloud, so nobody can see it. Turn it on and wait a few minutes for the events to appear on their device.
Sharing a calendar with people outside your family
The Add Person method works for anyone with an email address, not just family members. You can share a calendar with a coworker, a friend, or anyone else by entering their email address the same way you would for a family member. They will receive an invitation and can accept it to see your calendar on their device.
This is useful if you want to share a work calendar with colleagues or a shared event calendar with a group of friends. Each person you add gets their own invitation, and you can remove them individually at any time without affecting the others.
Removing someone from a shared calendar
To stop sharing your calendar with someone, open the Calendar app, tap Calendars at the bottom, press and hold the calendar name, and tap Edit. Find the person's name in the list and tap the minus sign next to it, then tap Remove. They will no longer see your calendar on their device, and any invitations they have not yet accepted will disappear.
If you are using Family Sharing and want to stop sharing your calendar with one family member, you cannot do that — Family Sharing shares all calendars with all family members by default. Your only option is to remove that person from the family group entirely, which also affects shared photos, purchases, and other family features. If you only want to hide your calendar from one person, use the Add Person method instead of Family Sharing.
Why your calendar might not be syncing across devices
If you can see your calendar on your iPhone but not on your iPad or Mac, the problem is usually that Calendar is turned off in iCloud settings on one of those devices. Open Settings, tap your name, tap iCloud, and make sure Calendar is toggled on. Do this on every device where you want your calendar to appear.
If Calendar is already on but still not syncing, try turning it off, waiting 30 seconds, and turning it back on. This forces your device to reconnect to iCloud and read your calendar data again. If that does not work, sign out of iCloud entirely on that device, wait a minute, and sign back in with your Apple ID.
Make sure you are using the same Apple ID on all your devices. If you have different Apple IDs on different devices, they will have separate calendars that do not sync with each other. You can check which Apple ID you are using by opening Settings, tapping your name at the top, and looking at the email address shown.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can family members edit events on my shared calendar?
By default, no — people you share with can only view your calendar. If you want someone to be able to edit events, open the calendar, tap Edit, find their name, and change their role from Viewer to Editor. Only do this for people you trust completely.
What happens if I delete an event from a shared calendar?
The event disappears from everyone's calendar who has access to it. If you shared the calendar with multiple people, they will all see that the event is gone. You cannot undo this, so be careful when deleting events from a shared calendar.
Can I share my calendar with someone who does not have an iPhone?
Yes. The Add Person method works with any email address, so you can share with people who use Android, Windows, or Mac. They will receive an invitation and can view your calendar on their device using their email account.
Do I need to set up Family Sharing to share my calendar with family members?
No. You can share your calendar with family members using the Add Person method, which just requires their email address. Family Sharing is simpler if everyone in your family has an Apple ID and iCloud, but it is not required.
Why can I not find the Add Person option on my calendar?
Make sure you are pressing and holding on the calendar name itself, not on an individual event. The menu should appear after a second or two. If it does not, try again or restart your Calendar app and try once more.