iCloud: Troubleshooting iCloud Calendar

Also learn about troubleshooting Calendar attachments.

Always begin with the general troubleshooting steps below. If these steps don't resolve your issue, follow the steps for the operating system that you're having issues with.

Before troubleshooting, make sure you've made copies of any important calendar data from your devices and iCloud. Learn how to make copies of your calendar data.

General troubleshooting

• Check the System Status page to make sure there aren't any issues affecting iCloud Calendars.
• Check your settings and preferences, because something may not be set up correctly. For example, having incorrect date and time settings can cause issues that are easily resolved by entering the appropriate settings.

Troubleshooting on iOS devices

First, confirm that you've turned on iCloud Calendar by tapping Settings > iCloud on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, then check that Calendars is turned on.

If you are having trouble with the Calendar app on an iOS device (iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch) and iCloud Calendar, try these steps, testing after each to see if the issue is resolved.

• Make sure you've updated to iOS 5 or later. If your issue isn't resolved, try installing the latest version of iOS supported by your device. For instructions on setting up iOS for iCloud, see iCloud Setup.
• Make sure your iOS device is online. Attempt to view www.apple.com in Safari. If you can't connect to the Internet, your iCloud calendars and events will not update in your Calendar application. Learn how to troubleshoot your Internet connection.
• Open a secure website to test if ports 80 and 443 are accessible. Calendar requires port 443 access to iCloud to push and fetch updates to and from the iCloud Calendar servers.
• If recent changes don't appear, try to refresh your calendars:
  • In iOS 7, open Calendar and tap the Calendars tab to load the Calendars list, then pull down on the list to refresh.
  • In iOS 6 or iOS 5, open Calendar and tap Calendars in the top-left corner to load the Calendars list. Then tap the Refresh button in the lower-left corner of the Calendars list window.
• If you've recently made changes to your contacts' birthdays and are not seeing those changes reflected in your Birthdays Calendar, try to refresh your calendars. If you made the changes in the Contacts app on your Mac or at iCloud.com, it may take up to an hour for those changes to appear on your other devices.
• If you add new events on your iOS device, but they do not update on iCloud.com or your other devices, confirm that you've added the event to an iCloud calendar:
  • In iOS 7, open Calendar and tap the event to view the Event Details. Tap the calendar name to confirm that you've saved the event to an iCloud calendar.
  • In iOS 6 or iOS 5, open Calendar and tap the event to view the Event Details. Tap Edit > Calendar to confirm that you've saved the event to an iCloud calendar.
  • You may want to verify your default calendar settings. If you want to create new events in an iCloud calendar, set that calendar to be your default calendar. You can modify Default Calendar settings in Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Default Calendar.
• If you're using iOS 7, quit and restart the Calendar app:
  1. Press the Home button twice to see preview screens of the apps you have open.
  2. Find the Calendar preview screen and swipe it up and out of preview to quit the application.
  3. Tap the Home button to return to your Home screen.
  4. Wait a minute before reopening the Calendar app.
• If you're using iOS 6 or iOS 5, quit and restart the Calendar app:
  1. Press the Home button.
  2. Double-click the Home button to open the multitasking menu.
  3. Tap and hold the Calendar icon until it jiggles.
  4. Tap the "X" to remove Calendar from the list.
  5. Press the Home button to go back to your Home screen. Wait a minute before reopening the Calendar app.
• Restart your iOS device: Hold down the Sleep/Wake button until the red slider appears, then drag the slider. After the device turns off, turn it back on by pressing the Sleep/Wake button until the Apple logo appears. This may sound simple, but it reinitializes your network and application settings and can frequently resolve issues.
• Change the Sync settings for your calendars:
  1. Tap Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
  2. Under Calendars, tap Sync. If Sync is set to All Events, set it to a specific duration, such as Events 1 Month Back. If it's already set to a specific duration, set it to All Events.
  3. Tap the Home button. Wait several minutes, then open Calendar and try to refresh your calendars again.
• Turn iCloud Calendar off and back on:
  1. Tap Settings > iCloud.
  2. Turn off Calendar. Choose to delete data only if your data exists at icloud.com/calendar or on one or more of your computers. Otherwise, choose Keep Data.
  3. Wait a few minutes before turning Calendar back on.

Troubleshooting on OS X

Try these steps.

Troubleshooting at iCloud.com

• Check iCloud Help (help.apple.com/icloud) for possible information about the issue you are experiencing.
• If you're having trouble with the web-based iCloud Calendar at icloud.com/calendar, the first place to start troubleshooting is your browser. Learn how to troubleshoot browser issues for a variety of web browsers on multiple operating systems. Browser troubleshooting should never be skipped for web-based issues.
• If you are seeing issues with the iCloud Birthdays calendar, remember that it updates hourly, so it may take up to an hour for changes to the birthday field in iCloud Contacts to be reflected in iCloud Calendar.
• If you encounter an issue while using iCloud Calendar on the web, a message may appear with a "Send to Apple" button. Clicking this button helps iCloud to track issues and create fixes.
• If updates from other devices do not appear, or the Calendar interface does not appear as expected, switch to another application by clicking iCloud in the upper-left corner and selecting the application you wish to use. After visiting a different app location, such as Contacts, switch back to Calendar. If issues persist, you may wish to sign out of iCloud by clicking on your name in the upper-right corner, signing out, then signing back in.
• If you've recently made changes to your contacts' birthdays and are not seeing those changes reflected in your Birthdays Calendar, try switching to another iCloud application, then back to Calendar. If you made the changes in the Contacts app on an iOS device or on your Mac, it may take up to an hour for those changes to appear on your other devices or on iCloud.com.

Troubleshooting on Microsoft Windows (Microsoft Outlook)

If you're having trouble with iCloud Calendar on a PC (with Outlook 2007 or later), try each of these steps, testing after each to see if the issue is resolved.

Note: iCloud Control Panel does not support Outlook 2010 Personal Edition. When using iCloud Control Panel 2.0 and later, iCloud Calendar event descriptions in Outlook 2010 do not support text formatting (bold, italics, or underline), HTML, images, or attachments. The contextual menu (right-click) has also been disabled.

• Verify that you are using a Windows configuration supported by iCloud.
• Make sure that your computer is online. Attempt to view www.apple.com. If you can't connect to the Internet, your iCloud calendars and events will not update in Outlook. Learn about troubleshooting your Internet connection.
• Open a secure website to test if ports 80 and 443 are accessible. Outlook requires port 443 access to iCloud to push and fetch updates to and from the iCloud Calendar servers.
• Verify that your iCloud member name is entered into the iCloud Control Panel window. Learn about setting up iCloud on Windows.
• Close and reopen the iCloud Control Panel.
• Make sure that iCloud is not your default account in Outlook:
  • In Outlook 2013 and 2010, select File > Info > Account Settings > Data Files. If iCloud is listed as the default account in the Comments column, select a different account and click Set as Default.
  • In Outlook 2007, select File > Data File Management > Data Files. If iCloud is listed as the default account in the Comments column, select a different account and click Set as Default.
• If you recently made changes in Outlook and they are not updating on your other devices or vice versa, click the Refresh button in Outlook.
• Turn iCloud Calendar off and back on:
  1. Close Outlook.
  2. Open the iCloud Control Panel:
     • In Windows 8.1, go to the Start screen, click the down arrow in the lower-left corner, then click the iCloud app.
     • In Windows 8, go to the Start screen, then click the iCloud tile.
     • In Windows 7, choose Start menu > All Programs > iCloud > iCloud.
  3. Deselect the checkbox next to Mail, Contacts, Calendars & Tasks, and click Apply. Wait a few seconds, then replace the checkmark and click Apply.
  4. Open Outlook and test to see if the issue has been resolved.
• Make sure that the iCloud Outlook Add-in is active within Outlook. (Learn more about managing Add-ins with Microsoft Outlook.)
  1. Outlook 2013 and 2010:
     1. Open Outlook 2013 or 2010.
     2. Click the File menu.
     3. Click Options in the left panel of the Outlook window.
     4. Click Add-Ins in the left panel of the Outlook Options window.
     5. Look at the list of add-ins beneath "Active Application Add-Ins" and verify that "iCloud Outlook Add-in" is listed.
  2. Outlook 2007:
     1. Open Outlook 2007.
     2. From the Tools menu, choose Trust Center.
     3. Select Add-ins from the left column.
     4. Look at the list of add-ins beneath "Active Application Add-Ins" and verify that "iCloud Outlook Add-in" is listed.
• Restart your computer. This may sound simple, but it reinitializes your network and application settings and can frequently resolve issues.

Note: When enabling Mail, Contacts, Calendars & Tasks in the iCloud Control Panel, part of the setup process is to copy your Calendars data from the default Outlook .pst file to iCloud, then remove the Calendars from the .pst file by placing them in the Deleted Items folder in Outlook. The Calendars data is then stored in the iCloud data set within Outlook so that changes can be pushed to and from Outlook by iCloud. Make sure that you're looking for your data within the iCloud folder in Outlook after enabling Calendars in the iCloud Control Panel. The deleted files can be seen by viewing Deleted Items within your Outlook Folder List. This is not iCloud removing your data. iCloud simply copies your data into the iCloud data set and then removes the local Calendars data by placing it in the Deleted Items folder.

Duplicate Calendars

After moving your calendar data from Calendar (or iCal) on your Mac, or from Microsoft Outlook to iCloud Calendar, your calendar data may display twice. This issue can be caused by:

• Using iCloud Calendar with Calendar, iCal, or Outlook, and using iTunes to sync Calendar or iCal with your iOS device via USB or Wi-Fi.
• Calendar and iCal keeping your calendar data on your computer and on iCloud servers (locally and remotely).

Confirm you are experiencing this specific issue by logging in to iCloud Calendar at icloud.com/calendar to see if your calendars are duplicated there.

• If your calendars are not duplicated on the iCloud website (but they are in Calendar, iCal, or Microsoft Outlook) refer to the instructions for resolving duplicate calendars.
• If your calendars are duplicated on iCloud.com, contact iCloud Support.