If you're curious about trying an Android device then you might be interested to know that you need not abandon your iCloud calendar or reminders for Google based alternatives. With so many great devices on the market these days running Android it's perfectly reasonable to expect someone to have a mix of both platforms in their lives. Keeping your iCloud calendar running on Android is a piece of cake, and I've written about it over on Android Central.
Thanks to an enterprising developer, Marten Gajda, you can import and two-way sync your iCloud calendars to the stock Calendar app on your Android device. With his app, Smoothsync for Cloud Calendar – grab it from the Play Store – it's as easy as entering your iCloud credentials
It really is that simple. I've gone in to a little more detail in the post on Android Central, but for $2.99 you can use your iCloud calendar just the same as any other calendar on your Android device. As an added bonus, Gajda's app also has a free add-on that will sync your iCloud reminders to your Android device as well. It all works in the background, and while you have a separate app, Tasks, for reminders, your calendar just works within the stock calendar app on your device. It's really slick.
Sure, using Apple products together is still much easier, but it's great to know that if we should want to go cross-platform we can take a little piece of iCloud with us. I love this app – particularly the reminders sync – since I'm very much a cross-platform person. Much of my work is done using an iPhone and a Mac, and it's so convenient knowing I can flick over to any Android device and still have access to my iCloud reminders.
If this scratches a particular itch for you, grab the app from the Google Play Store at the link below. If you try it out, be sure to let me know how you find it.
- $2.99 - Download Now
Reader comments
How to keep using your iCloud calendar and reminders on an Android device
Ducking. Just waiting for the inevitable person livid at the mere idea of posting this on imore. lol.
Yea... Me too!
Nexus 5... enough said
Wow, you sound 12.
I think it actually fits here, it is iOS related really.
oh i'm fine with it, or other articles.
I'd be leery of giving some unknown developer my iCloud credentials (and paying him to do so), but given how safe the Android market is, I'm sure those credentials will be perfectly secure.....
I like feeding these:
1) You're paying the developer, so why would they need to steal your info?
2) Prove to me that iOS apps don't request other data more than Android apps. (not counting the obviously sketchy apps that exist for both platforms*)
3) I don't know why someone would use this app anyways, instead of just entering the settings.
*Seems that iOS fixed my quick example, but up until recently, I'd search for Microsoft Office, and get a bunch of tutorial apps that didn't say Tutorial in the search results, and use the actual Office icon. Tell me that isn't sketchy just to get instant downloads.
1) iCould credentials could give one access to all your Apple devices. Why do you think that if an app costs money it automatically equates to safe and secure?
2) Some iOS apps ask for more. Stop moving the goal posts. The fact is you are are giving iCould credentials to a random person and the Google play store has a much more sordid history of apps stealing user data than the app store.
3) Because iCloud has limitations for cross-platform use and this app solves them.
1) No, sorry if I implied that. It makes it less likely though, as I don't have to wonder where the money is coming from.
2) I'm moving the goal posts back to where they should be imo. I don't think it's been proven that the GPlay is less safe (if you throw out the really obvious bad apps). I can easily install LBE Privacy (I have XPrivacy but it isn't in GPlay afaIk) and be prompted whenever an app asks for something, so I get granular controls. iOS only gives me some choices, without Jailbreak that is.
3) This is why I personally sync with Google for everything, but I've been able to add iCloud without issue on some devices.
It is not that the Play store is a hive of scum and villainy, it is that iCloud permissions are coarse, and most people use (and Apple recommends) the same credentials for their iCloud and device/iTunes account.
Google has the concept of application-specific passwords, so third party apps can use some Google user infrastructure without gaining access to the whole kit and kaboodle. Apple does not (and it does not really fit their business model to do so), so giving a third party your iCloud credentials grants them complete access to your entire Apple-based presence. Anything you can do, they can do *as* you. Giving *anybody* that ability is madness. Even if the Play store is full of nothing but Saints, if that 3rd party is compromised, so is your Apple account.
Sent from the iMore App
Hi,
I'm Silvio from the SmoothSync support team. We're very concerned about the privacy of our users and the security of their credentials. Our apps connect directly to the iCloud servers and they never attempt to connect to any others.
The communication with iCloud is secured with SSL encryption. Also, the apps store user credentials in the account database of Android in an encrypted form. We can't access your credentials and we don't want to. SmoothSync is available for two and a half years now and we would not risk losing the trust of more than 100000 users.
If you have any questions, please feel free to mail them to: support@dmfs.org
Regards,
Silvio
Typical Android: Attending? Yes | Maybe | No. I've no idea what those means but I'm probably fucked either way ;)
Sent from the iMore App
You don't know what it means to attend an event?
Instead of paying, I preferred using this free alternative found here (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.granita.icloudcalsync). Does the same thing as SmoothSync, but for free.