How to Create a Family Calendar on Your iPhone & iPad

It can be difficult to keep up with appointments, tasks, and activities, especially if you're coordinating with family members. Here's how to create a family calendar on an iPhone or iPad, how to share an iPhone calendar with family, and how to add an event to an Apple family calendar, so you can keep your schedule organized and up to date!

How to Create a Family Calendar on iPhone

Does Apple have a family calendar option? Yes, but in order to share your calendar with family members, you need to make sure you have the Calendars app enabled in iCloud. To quickly check this, open the Settings app, tap your name in the banner at the top, tap iCloud, and tap See All. Make sure iCloud Calendar is on. You'll also need to check that anyone you share a calendar with has iCloud Calendar enabled in iCloud. Once you've done that, you're ready to create and share your calendar! Here's how to set up a family calendar on an iPhone or iPad:

1. Open the Calendar app.
2. Tap Calendars.
3. If you're creating a new calendar, tap Add Calendar in the lower corner. If you want to share an existing calendar, skip to below.
4. From the menu that appears, tap Add Calendar.
5. Type in a name for your new family calendar.
6. You can also select a color for your new family calendar. (Events in this calendar will be highlighted in the selected color.)
7. Tap Add Person to share your family calendar.
8. Type in the name of at least one person you want to invite to your calendar. Tap their name when it appears in the options below.
9. Tap Add to finish adding members.
10. Tap Done to save your new Apple family calendar.

Your invited family member will receive an email invitation. To gain access to the shared calendar, they will just need to tap Join Calendar in the email. Alternatively, they can open the Calendar app, and they will see the invite to join the shared calendar in their Inbox.

Add an Event to a Shared Family Calendar

Now that you have an Apple shared calendar, we'll show you how to create a new event and add it to that Apple family calendar. There are many fun options you can make use of when creating events, but we'll stick to the basics of creating an event and adding it to your new shared calendar below.

1. Tap the plus icon at the top of the screen.
2. Type in the name of your new family calendar event.
3. Toggle on All-day if applicable, or select dates and times in Starts and Ends. You can also add in Travel Time.
4. Tap the Calendar field to open a menu of all your calendars; tap your family calendar.
5. Tap Alert and Second Alert if desired to choose alert times for your event.
6. Tap your alert preference from the drop-down menu.
7. Tap Calendar to select the calendar you want to add your event to.
8. Tap the name of your shared family calendar.
9. Tap Add.

Now the event will appear on the calendar of everyone who has joined the shared family calendar! Once an event has been saved in the shared calendar, it will be updated on the devices for all people who are part of the family calendar. This way, they can see when an event has been canceled, or when a time or meeting location has changed.

If you're unfamiliar with the Apple Calendar app on your iPhone, you can also learn more options to create and edit calendar events, see how to delete calendar events, and move an event from one calendar to another in the Calendars app on your iPhone. The process for moving, deleting, and adding events to a shared family calendar is similar to that of a calendar you haven't shared. Just keep in mind that when you add a new event, assign it to your shared calendar so it will appear on your family member's devices.

For more handy organizational tips, check out our free Tip of the Day Newsletter.

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