How to set the calendar's start day of the week on iPhone and iPad

By Allyson Kazmucha
last updated

While most of us consider Sunday as the official start of the week, there are lots of reasons some people would want the Calendar app to show differently. Whether you work a different schedule or just want to group your weekends together, the Calendar app can be changed to reflect whatever you'd like. Here's how:

How to change the default start day of the week in the iPhone and iPad calendar

  1. Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
  2. Scroll down and tap on Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
  3. Under the Calendars section, tap on Start Week On.
  4. Here you can change the day of the week your calendar starts on.

That's it. Now just relaunch the iOS Calendar app to see the changes. The start of the week will now reflect the day you chose.

Do you change the start days of the week in your Calendar app to reflect your work schedule? Why or why not?

Allyson Kazmucha
Allyson Kazmucha

iMore senior editor from 2011 to 2015.

15 Comments
  • Never even thought about it. I guess if consider it to start my week on payday since I get paid every week, but I think it'd be weird and throw me off since all calendars are basically the same. Sent from the iMore App
  • I don't consider Sunday part of the "weekend" as it's the 1st day of the week.
    :D Sent from the iMore App
  • THANK YOU!!! I've used (and continue to use) a physical DayMinder that goes Mon-to-Sun with weekend days having as much "space" as the weekdays. I just made the settings change to my iPad. Perfect!
  • Apps can detect that setting so developers don't need to add their own "first day of week" switches. (And yes, Monday has always been my start-of-week day.)
  • The week always starts at Monday for me and the other citizens of Germany and many other countries.
  • This is a great option! I like to group the weekends together although it does look a bit odd considering US calendars usually start on Sunday. Ally: Off topic but did we have a new photo contest last week or this week after the 'bokeh' contest? I might have missed it. Sent from the iMore App
  • Week starts at Monday for me, makes logical sense as that's when school and work starts Sent from the iMore App
  • Monday for me too. Sunday is on the weekend. Isn't that why it's called a weekend? Signifying the end of the week.
    Also, I'm using Fantastical 2 for iOS, and thanks to your previous recommendation, I downloaded the Mac app two days ago and it's great! Sent from the iMore App
  • I work different day of the week. My problem is I schedule all my appointment on the month view. Some of them run into multiple days. Some time they start on Saturday. If they start durning the week there highlighted in the calendar color. If it starts on the weekend there in no highlight. Why?
  • This is awesome! There are so many things you don't realize you have the control to do with your device. Nice tip! Sent from the iMore App
  • Monday is the first day of the week for basically everyone but some hard bible waving nations. It's even an ISO standard (like dates yyyy-mm-dd). There's a reason it's called "weekend" (notice the "end") in English.
  • Hi, thanx 4 the tip!...that kinda annoyed me, the week starting on Sundays.
  • Thank you for the instruction. My calander started on Monday and this screwed me up several times when glancing at an appointment date. It's now as My brain needs it, week starting on Sunday
  • Even if you set it so that both Saturday and Sunday of a single weekend show as part of the same week, it is still super hard to get an overview of a couple of weekends in a row, requiring tapping in and out of days. The big calendar apps don't seem to get that, but lesser known ones like Weekender are great for that. I use iCal for my day to day calendar needs, but when I want to hone in on a view of weekends only, then I use the 'Weekender' app.
  • In Australia the working week starts on a Monday, except in my iPhone which clearly has a US centric view of the world; and why the Australian default in the iPhone is set to Monday, who knows? Presumably someone over in Cupertino pulled out an old copy of The Readers Digest World Atlas or the Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia and found that Christianity was nominally the predominant religion here. All the calendars I've ever used in Australia start on a Monday.