How to sync iCloud/Apple Calendar with Google Calendar

Are you juggling iCloud/Apple Calendar and Google Calendar, and wondering if there’s a better way to manage both Calendars? In this article, we’ll do a thorough step-by-step explanation of how to sync an iCloud/Apple Calendar with a Google Calendar.

How to manually sync iCloud/Apple Calendar with Google Calendar by importing

The manual method of syncing an Apple/iCloud Calendar with a Google Calendar is by sharing the Apple Calendar and importing it into the Google Calendar.

By following this step-by-step guide, you can sync one Apple Calendar with another Google Calendar.

1. Open the Apple Calendar. You can open the iCloud/Apple Calendar by visiting https://www.icloud.com/calendar/.
   
2. Hover over the Apple Calendar you want to sync with Google Calendar. The calendars are located on the sidebar on the left, below the Calendar section.
   
3. Click the Profile Picture Icon on the right of the Apple Calendar you want to share. After clicking the icon, a modal with the title Calendar Sharing will pop up.
   
4. Toggle the Public Calendar (switch it on). This will make the Apple Calendar public, and generate a new Webcal URL.
   
5. Copy the Webcal URL generated when toggling the Public Calendar toggle. You can copy the link by clicking the Copy button provided by Apple Calendar.
   
6. Open Google Calendar. You can open Google Calendar by visiting https://calendar.google.com/
   
7. Find the Other Calendars section. The Other Calendars section is located on the left side of the page, on the sidebar.
   
8. Click the + Icon. The plus icon is located on the right of the Other Calendars section.
   
9. Click From URL. After you click the plus icon, a modal pops up. You should click the option that reads From URL.
   
10. Paste the URL we copied from Apple Calendar. In step 5, we copied the Webcal URL that we generated from the Apple Calendar, by enabling Calendar Sharing. We should now paste that URL inside the From URL field in Google Calendar.
    
11. Click Add Calendar. Your iCloud/Apple calendar is synced with your Google Calendar.
    

Your iCloud/Apple Calendar is now synced with your Google Calendar. You should be able to see all the iCloud Calendar events in your Google Calendar.

Benefits of syncing Apple Calendar with Google Calendar by importing.

1. Meeting transparency: Your iCloud/Apple Calendar events sync with Google Calendar, providing you with the visibility of your schedule. This helps you have an overview of your schedule, and saves time, as you won’t have to check multiple calendars to see your availability.
2. The service is free of charge. You don’t have to pay for the service, as it’s provided by Apple Calendar and Google Calendar. Note that there are some serious disadvantages that come with syncing Apple Calendar with Google Calendar by Importing.

Downfalls of syncing Apple Calendar with Google Calendar by importing

1. Not secure, with no privacy controls. When you sync your iCloud Calendar with Google Calendar by sharing, you’re basically making the iCloud Calendar public. If that’s not bad, workspace administrators can also see your private events along with their details.
2. The sync is not in real-time: Note that Google Calendar will not automatically sync with iCloud/Apple Calendar. You will notice a considerable amount of delay in your events (up to 24 hours).
3. Leads meeting conflicts. Another significant downfall is that if your team members use the Find a Time feature in Google Calendar, they won’t be able to see events outside your Primary Google Calendar. Given that the iCloud/Apple Calendar we imported is a Shared Calendar, they won’t be able to see the busy slots in it, leading to scheduling conflicts.
4. Takes time to set up: Note that you can sync one Apple/iCloud Calendar at a time. If you want to sync more calendars, you’ll have to go through the same steps again.

Is there an automated way to sync Apple Calendar with Google Calendar?

Calendar automation tools such as OneCal have made it easy to automatically sync calendars, in less than a couple of minutes.

OneCal integrates with Google Calendar, Outlook and iCloud Calendars, making it one of the few calendar platforms that support all major calendar providers.

How to automatically sync iCloud Calendar with Google Calendar

1. Sign up for OneCal for free: OneCal offers a 2-week free trial, no credit card is required. You can sign up for OneCal by visiting the Onecal signup page.
   
2. Connect your Google and iCloud Calendars. OneCal allows you to connect as many calendars as you'd like. For this example, we'll connect iCloud and Google Calendars.
   
3. Start syncing iCloud to Google Calendar. After you connect your calendars, you have to click the 'Start new Sync' button, which takes you to the flow that enables calendar syncing.
   
4. Select the sync direction. OneCal has one-way and multi-way syncs. One-way syncs sync from a calendar to one or more calendars. Multi-way keeps multiple calendars in sync. For this example, we'll click 'one-way sync'.
   
5. Select the calendars you want to sync. Given that we're syncing iCloud Calendar with Google Calendar, we'll select an iCloud Calendar as a source, and a Google Calendar as the target.
   
6. Configure how events are synced. This is the feature that makes OneCal powerful, as it allows you to keep your privacy intact by deciding what is synced between iCloud and Google Calendar. You can choose to only sync the time, by marking all events with a 'Busy' title, or sync event properties like titles, descriptions, and more.
   

Your iCloud Calendar is now synced with Google Calendar!

OneCal works in the background, making sure events are synced from iCloud to Google Calendars as soon as they're created or updated.

Use OneCal to sync iCloud Calendar with Google Calendar

OneCal is the go-to calendar syncing platform, used by thousands of professionals to streamline their schedule across all major calendar providers. Use OneCal to seamlessly sync Apple iCloud Calendar with Google Calendar.

To try OneCal, you can sign up for a 14-day free trial, no credit card is required