iPhone 101: How to Add a Calendar Appointment on Your iPhone

By Rene Ritchie
last updated

Welcome to iPhone 101 where we're kicking off the new year for new iPhone owners with an all new, all basic how to series. If you're a beginner, worry not, we've got you covered. If you're a seasoned pro, but keep fielding support calls from friends and family new to the iPhone, we've got you covered as well -- just send them to us!

This time around we're adding calendar events. While you might already be syncing your appointments via Exchange ActiveSync or Apple's MobileMe, or from Outlook or iCal via iTunes, sometimes you may just be out and about and need to add that just-came-up event to your iPhone's calendar directly. Fret not, we'll show you how... after the break!

From the homescreen, tap on the calendar icon. Depending on how you last left it, you'll be greeted by either the List, Day, or Month view. You can add an appointment from any of them.

To start, tap the "+" (plus) button at top right to call up the "Add Event" screen.

Tap on the large, rounded rectangular box that says "Title" and "Location". Give your event a name (Title) and if you want, the location where it's taking place. (This can be either a physical location like "Library" or a virtual one like "TiPb.com")

IMPORTANT: The iPhone doesn't automatically store information as you type it, you absolutely have to hit the "Save" button or you will lose your data.

Continue down, tapping on the additional fields to fill them out. "Start" and "End" times will default to 1hr apart, but you can change either of them to reflect the actual time and duration, or you can toggle the "All-day" slider to "on" to float the event on top of your other appointments (birthdays, for example, typically default to "All-day" events.

Repeat lets you choose common frequency levels for events that you do on a daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly basis, and you can easily set custom repetitions as well (every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, for example).

Alerts let you choose to have the iPhone popup a reminder for you, and how long before the event you want that reminder to pop up. If you're only going online or down the hall for a meeting, maybe 5 minutes is enough. If you have to drive across town in traffic, you may want 1 or 2 hours!

If you have multiple calendars, you can also choose on which color-coded calendar you'd like your new event to appear. Family, work, training, etc. can all hold different events. (We'll cover creating custom calendars in a future iPhone 101).

Lastly, you can jot down any Notes, like conference call-in numbers, documents you need to bring, booking references, etc.

When everything is entered and the event is just to your liking, hit "Done" at the top right and your new appointment will show up in your calendar. If you're syncing over the air to Exchange or MobileMe, the iPhone will push out the new appointment near-instantaneously. If you're syncing via iTunes, it will transfer the appointment over next time you attach the USB cable.

Now you've done it, you've added an event directly on your iPhone. Let us know how it worked for you, and if you have any other tips for new users, please drop them in the comments!

Rene Ritchie
Rene Ritchie
Contributor

Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.

139 Comments
  • What is that button with the arrow (in the lower right corner next to List, Day, Month)?
    :shock: I don't have that. There's just blank space.
  • "Repeat lets you choose common frequency levels for events that you do on a daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly basis, and you can easily set custom repetitions as well (every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, for example)."
    I'm feeling sorta sheepish, coz I have no idea how to set custom repeats... I don't see the option anywhere. Am I blind?
  • @Steve: this button is to manage event invitations. It will appear if you have Exchange setup.
  • This article should also mention that if you neglect to choose the correct calendar, when first adding an event, you won't be able to edit it later on the iPhone (but can from MobileMe or iCal).
    @M. Elwan: Thanks, that's a relief.
  • Don't get my wrong, I love my iPhone, but the calendar blows. To add an appointment in Palm you just tap on the time slot, time in the appointment and your done. Just 1-click as compared to click on + icon Tap on title
    Type out event Tap Done Tap on Time Scroll to find date (why can't we have a @#%^ date picker that shows a whole month like every other OS/website) Scroll to find time Tap Done Tap Save That's 7 more taps/scrolls than it takes for an OS (Garnet) that's 12 years old! Apple needs to send its engineers to learn the Zen of Palm
  • I have not + sign on my calender. iphone4 how do i add appointments to the calender.
  • I just had the same problem. Here's what I found. In settings, when you go to manage your email accounts, each email account has an option for calendar as well. I had the calendar option selected for a hotmail account, and the account wasn't set-up properly. When I clicked on the hotmail account I was able to turn the calendar option off.
    When I revisited the calendar app I saw the "+" button and was able to add an event. I guess make sure you don't have the email calendars on, or if you do, make sure the account is set-up properly so that you can sync with the iPhone.
    Hope that helps
  • Dude that helps so much. Thanks!! Thats so stupid though
  • Pretty stupid on apples behalf but thanks for the info. I was going crazy trying to figure out how to SIMPLY put things on my calendar.
  • I had the same question...and would have never thought to look at my e mail accounts. Thanks for the wisdom.
  • Thank you Rusty!
  • Thanks a ton that seriously helped just got my iPhone today and calendars are one of the most important things I use on my phone you just saved me so much time and frustration thanks!
  • I was just experimenting with the calender settings and you have to go to "iCloud" in the settings and turn "on" the calender then it should let you add anything!
  • Thank you! This fixed my problem!
  • Mine is doing the same thing I have had every iPhone since they came out and I have never had this problem. I got the white iPhone 4, for Christmas and I want to add something to my calendar and the "+" button was missing what do I do?
  • Also, there does not seem to be anyway to invite other attendees from your address book! - a serious ommission that limits the usabilty of the device in business situations. Apple needs to get this feature in if they hope to make it in the enterprise!
  • @ches:
    My bad, the custom option isn't on the iPhone, it ported itself over from an event I added in iCal... Will fix article now.
    Sorry!
  • Yay, so I'm not iRetarded. ^_^
  • Is there a way to add a calendar for my Yahoo mail account? I have my work email, calendar and contacts set up in exchange and would love to be able to sync my personal appointments to my Yahoo calendar that comes with my yahoo mail account.
  • The calendar app is the single worst thing about the iPhone. Too many clicks required, can't search within it for events, can't copy events easily, etc.
    I've had entire threads deleted without a trace on the Apple discussion board by suggesting that Apple could have improved their calendar by looking at the Palm calendar.
    Some apple fanboys (aka the Apple moderators) don't like being told that the iPhone isn't perfect.
    I need a real calendar for business, so I now carry an iPhone and a Garnim Palm iQue3600, which has a real calendar (and a real working turn by turn GPS).
    I use Outlook and Chapura's Pocket Mirror to keep the Palm, Outlook and the iPhone calendars all synchronised.
    PITA.
    coop
  • @coop: It's true that the calendar can be pretty tedious when compared with other phones which tend to allow more convenient and speedy event entry.
    But the big difference between the iPhone and every other phone out there can be summed in a paragraph or two by Stephen Fry:
    "The iPhone’s position as an epoch-altering giant, a seismic, paradigm-shifting, cliché-evoking phenomenon has been incontrovertibly affirmed. This is no triumph of style over substance. iPhone is all about function, all about ease and pleasure of real, hard-working use, all about the fundamental understanding that is Steve Jobs and Jony Ive’s (Apple’s Chief Designer) great contribution to digital (and therefore cultural) life in our time – that human beings, willy-nilly, forge relationships even with inanimate objects and that those relationships, being human, take on all the colours of emotion: it is in our DNA for this to be the case. With objects that we spend most hours of most days with such a relationship is far from a secondary consideration. There is no ‘pathetic fallacy’ here, this is not an additional luxury for media types only, a pretentious over-reading for the leisured and chattering classes, this is a deep and important human psychological truth that allows machines to function better: much, much better."
    I guess one of the reasons why "apple fanboys" are so adamant against comparison is because of the iPhone's position as revolution, as gamechanger, as everything it has been purported to be. It's an utterly great phone; there is no denying that in the slightest, and anyone who can say with a straight face that the iPhone sucks is just as biased against it (for whatever reason) as the fanboys are for it.
    But yes, to be fair, there is room for improvement. Could the calendar be better? Of course, just as lots of other things on the iPhone could be. And with all the other companies scrambling to make an answer to the iPhone to make sure they're still in the irreversibly changed game, this only means that the iPhone will get better as Apple continues to change the game again, or maybe just throw in enough surprise plays to keep things interesting.
    But all in all, the fact remains that the iPhone is such a joy to use that it allows me to look past the tedium of calendar entry. I LOVE my iPhone. No other phone can claim to bring the joy that it brings, and the storm by which it has seemingly taken the world would go some way in demonstrating this. Personally, I've used a lot of phones in my years, and the iPhone is a keeper for me.
    And I ain't an Apple fanboy either.
  • The Calendar doesn't need search, or syncing with weird, unnecesary outsider apps. People just want to complicate their lives with too much detail, with all kinds of workarounds, on multiple devices, across too many platforms... while Apple works to simplify their lives... and this annoys people for some reason.
    Get a Mac, an iPhone, and whatever other Apple products and software you need! Otherwise, shut the f*ck up with your miserable whining!
  • Thanks for the tutorial. But is there a way to make the calendar generate an audible alarm? My old Palm OS calendars all did this, and I used those reminders a lot. This feature is especially important if you are carrying your iPhone in your pocket or case when the alarm occurs.
    thanks,
    --michael
  • @Michael Muller: There is an "Alert" in the iPhone Calendar. I've never used it yet so I can't say "how" audible it is (as far as volume). But it's there.
  • How do I enter a time that is not on a 5-minute interval? My train leaves at 8:43, not 8:40 or 8:45...
  • @Steve -- wow, tell us how you really feel. If you think that suggestions as to adding Search or the ability to add Attendees to a meeting (which is pretty basic calendaring functionality) is "whining", you better not go for that job in product development...
  • Did I miss something or there is actually no way to invite people when creating an outlook meeting from the phone?
    I don't beleive this is an activesync limitation since I am able to do it from a treo running windows. I haven't seen many people complain about it but if they want to make it a corporate device then this is a must have.
    Is there a workaround?
  • 34234tf fdfhttp://asddfghasdwe.com/
  • Its true, calendar on iPhone sucks. I have spent 2 weeks looking for a replacement. Have not found anything that is close to Palm - and that app was written years ago and never changed.
    The purpose of having a walk-about computer is to only have one of them. This means that good solid apps need to be available in all categories - perhaps especially calendars.
    No custom repeat, no alarm settable to minute intervals, repeat alarm does not do anything if set to the same figure as alarm, dozen taps to do anything. What a useless joy. Sync seems to be coming along, although I'm desk bound and only use my workstation to make invitations.
    I actually know an iCal engineer personally. I suggested providing a selection on an appointment for silencing the phone. Then after the appointment, automatically re-enabling the sound. No more disruptions when it isn't polite, no more missed calls or missed alarms with the sound off. This apps for you.
    I guess now I understand the dreamy, wish upon a star, look - instead of predatory excited glee. It was never, never in my life.
    Thanks for the clear truth.
    I will post again if I find a decent calendar.
    Without a good calendar, I personally don't need an iPhone.
    Perhaps Apple should not have fallen out with Palm.
  • Thanks for the tutorial! I am having a problem with my boss' iPhone: calendar sync works via an over-the-air link back to the Exchange server and all the appointments and updates arrive on the iPhone fine. When he edits an even via the iPhone, it hits his Exchange calendar just fine. HOWEVER, updates do not go out to other attendees.
    Example: He and I have an appointment for Friday @ 4pm. From his Outlook, he moves it to 3pm and I get the update. Friday, he's stuck in a meeting and, via his iPhone, he moves the appointment to 4:30pm. The update shows on his calendar via Exchange, Outlook, and OWA, but I never get the update at all.
    Any ideas? Please? Thanks!
  • It looks like everyone is having a same problem but is there any way I can enter repeat that is beyond every 2 weeks, say 3 or 4? When I choose every month, it sets on the date of the month not every second Sat of the month etc.
  • Love the iphone but how do you change settings to keep calendar data more than a month? Lots of appointments I want to check back on, say six months ago - gone, baby, gone! NEED HELP!!
  • I too am frrrusssstrated by ical. One of the reasons to have a pda/phone is so that you never need to forget your in-laws birthday again - but when you use the listing in address book it shows up only on the desktop version of iCal and not on the phone! - how useless is that?! can anyone help?
  • I have the same issues HNKelley is having.
    Other issues:
    -- Create an invitation with others - I cannot just select additional email addresses to add to the meeting.
    -- Cancel I appointment I created. If for whatever reason I need to just remove, I cannot - The only thing I can do is decline
    If there is a way, thanks in advance for letting me know
  • On iphone calendar...is there a way to repeat monthly meetings and have them go to i.e. every second Wednesday of month, instead of to same actual numerical date in the following month ???? Maybe I'm just not smart enough to use this thing
  • I have learned to deal with the "issues" of the calendar, bc I love so many other parts of the iPhone....but now that I don't use Outlook for syncing, but now gmail...where is my calendar stored on the computer? I don't use mobile me, while none of my saved events are stored in gmail's calender online. I know they are stored somewhere, bc I did a reset, and feared I lost the scheduled appts, bu they all came back. Help?
  • For the moment the only thing that you can do to INVITE people seems indeed using Microsoft Outlook Web Access (OWA) in the Safari browser. It is not ideal, but it works for me. Maybe microsoft should make an iPhone version of OWA because you have to do a lot of zooming in and out to navigate through the interface.
  • Fine, the iPhone is a game changer. Now let's make it useful, please. I need calendar alarms that repeat nagging me at selectable intervals without my intervention. If I don't hear the one and only alarm for an event, I'm screwed!
    Palm provides this function.
  • I really, really need to see my calendar while on a call...is there anyway to do this on the iphone?
    Thanks!
  • If you use the Exchange calendar on Entourage on your lap top (and not iCal) there is the facility for setting custom repeats (eg third Wednesdays) and these seem to come across accurately on synching to the iphone. But as far as i can see there's no way to set custom repeats on the iPhone itself.
  • Well you are wrong as far as I can tell; the calendar on the iPhone does not allow repeating events for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. of a given month. So there isn't the ability to add holidays to the calendar without adding each event. Example; Thanksgiving occurs on the 3rd Thursday of each November, with iPhone this is impossible to make a recurring event. Such an over site makes the iPhone calendar anything but the preeminent app. Considering how much Apple likes to pat themselves on the back it is extremely poor design.
  • Calendar sucks. Beside palm, blackberry calendar at least allows to send the meeting req to others. This is basic. Is there any custom app available to resolve this issue
  • ?????????? ??????? – ??? ??? ?????? ????????, ??? ??????? ????? ??? ?????? ???????????? ?? ??????? ?? ??????????? ?????????. ????????? ?????????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ? ????????????? ?????. ??????????? ???????? ???????? ????????? ????????, ????????? ????????? ??????. ??????????? ?? ???????? ???????? ????????? + 500 ?????? ?? ????!
  • ?????????? ????? ??? ????? ?????????? - ??? ???? ?????????? ? ???? ? ???????????? ???????? ??????? ? ???????? ??????. ? ??????????? ????????? ????? ????? ??????? ? ?????? ????? ????????? ???? ???????? ???????. ????? ?????????? ? ????? ????? ???! ??? ????????? ??? ????? ? ?????. ??? ?? ??????? ?????? ????? ????????? ?????? ? ?????????, ???? ?????????? ? ??????? ?? ???? ??????. ??? ??????????? ????? ??? ??????? ?????? ???????????? ? ?????? ? ???? ????? ?????????!
  • Do you if it is possible to set an appointment as private? We are setting up a mail server with calendar sharing and it would be useful to set the appointment as 'public' (to be seen in details by others) or as 'private' (to be seen just as 'busy').
    Nokia E71 does that. Can Iphone do this or something similar?
  • How can I set a "default" fumction which automatically sets an alarm 15 minutes before the event's start time? That feature is available on the blackberry. Can it also be set on the iPhone?
    Thank you
  • A public water system that does not serve the same people year-round. ,
  • I have the same problem as Jonathan's comment on Feb 18, 2009. On iphone (3GS) cal, almost all events disappear off the cal once the event is more than about 45 days in the past. Interestingly, recurring events (those set to reoccur at that date in the future), do not drop off - they seem to stay on all past months. Any solutions to this so I can keep a history of appointments.
  • I have an iphone 3g and I am using an exchange account. When I receive meeting appointments in my emial from someone else on my iphone, they do not get added on my iphone calendar. Please help.
  • OK, so why can't I SEND a meeting request using iPhone?
    I have an 8GB 3GS, and when I go to enter an appointment, I don't get an option to "add invitees".
    Shouldn't this be a pretty standard option, or am I missing something here??
  • I am a hairstylist. If someone is scheduled on my calendar, other than putting the client's number in Notes, why can't I call them directly from Calendar where I've typed in their name? I have get out of Calendar, go to Contacts, look up the client's name to make a call. It seems silly that I can't call the person in my Calendar. Can anyone help answer how?
    Thanks in advance.
  • True, the lack of an audible alarm setting on the phone is crazy. Normally I set up appointments in iCal on the Mac, then sync, and the alert sound goes on both Mac and iPhone. But I set up my note to phone the doctor about my cholesterol test on the iPhone, so the alert never sounded. Five days later I remembered myself...
    Just a bad, bad app, full of flaws and lacks.
  • Can you please show how to do the custom repeat? For example, I need to repeat an event on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday only; for the week.
  • How does one change the calendar type (work to personal or the reverse) on a calendar entry? I often forget to designate which calendar when entering an item and that choice disappears after the initial entry is saved!
  • I'm not too concerned with the number of clicks.. But it would be nice if the calendar even worked... So far I've got Calendar and Youtube which do not work and Stocks which is worthless for a trader... Not to mention Safari..The slowest slug of a browser I've ever encountered.. And an iPod icon.. None of which I can delete to free up space on the screen..
    Couple that with lousy photo capacity..And surprise! No video.. i think the iPhone is an over hyped piece of crap.
  • Did I mention that wifi is slower than 3G.. Whoah! There's value for you!
  • When I create an event by clicking on the plus icon, a page pops up that has a date one month into the future. How can I make the calendar understand that I want the date that I'm presently looking at for my new event.
  • Does anyone know how the iphone picks the times that it picks? For instance, create a new event, and look at the time it fills in...in the example on this page, it's 6:00 pm. Whenever I create a new event the time "default" is never the same, and I can't seem to discern a pattern or logic to it. I'd like to know how I can control it, so I could manipulate it closer to my target time and maybe skip a field... Thnx in advance!
  • I recently (yesterday!) tried switching from Palm to iPhone 3GS and am profoundly impressed by Apple's quantum leap forward and somewhat depressed by iPhone calendar functionality. The obvious question: why don't the complainers on this thread switch to Pre? It certainly must retain all of Palm's classic advantages, and I'm sure porting calendar/contacts/memos must be a snap. Plus Pre's predigree is pure Apple, is it not?
  • Complex repeating appointments (eg every 2nd Monday) are a serious problem limiting iPhones. The only way to do them is to enter them in a computer calendar like Outlook and then sync. iPhone will then correctly assign them and the alerts will work. You can see but not edit the appointments on the iPhone.
    Annoying. Why they have not fixed this common and long-noted bug is beyond me.
  • My husband couldn't understand why I wanted a palm pre instead of iPhone - he made me cancely order so he could buy me the world famous iPhone. While It does do some neat things and has these awesome apps, can it really be called a smartphone when it can't even have a decent calendar that can accept regularly rpeating mtgs (eg 3rd tuesdays) or transfer bithdays to the calendar? I think that I would rather have a fully capable functioning calendar than an app that turns my phone into a flashlite, metal detector , or police car detector. The phone salesman/owner told me the iPhone was not a serious phone only a fun toy but my husband thought he had to be smoking something or just lying in order to sell his product. Joke's on me - he was telling the truth!
  • Everytime I add events to my calendar they are gone after a couple of days. I have not connected the Iphone to the Iphone to my computer. Anybody that can help?
  • My iPhone calendar will not save events. I do, all that is listed above. It looks a little different but works the same. I add an event, and it's there for a second or two. Then it disappears for a second or two. Then it comes back for up to 5 seconds. Then it's gone for good. I've tried it 10-15 times. This always happens.
  • Please help. I use to have a Nokia E90 and was used to setup a meeting or appointment in my calendar and then forwsrding the meeting via sms or mms to my wife to also ensure her cellphone diary is updated and remind her of important events.
    I bought the iPhone 3Gs and would really love to be able to continue doing this. The wife is stil on a Nolia so i dont know if MobileMe will be able to do this. Your advice please.
  • I think you'd better move back to Nokia as your wife did.
    I got an iPhone for a week and am already considering changing it to a blackberry (that I never liked), given these two are the only options I am given by my company.
    iPhone is a toy.
    Very cute toy, but not good for serious stuff.
  • For some reason my browser doesn't display your article as it should... Can you confirm that this article has been tested with Google Chrome? You might wanna double check your code, although it may come from a bug on my laptop
  • Hi, can you tell me please how to change the custom repetitions, I have events that occur every 3 weeks and its not an option,
  • Hi,
    New iphone user, (a former black berry corporate gal), so quick ??? surrounding iphone and calendar sync. I have mobile me, so all apps align, but I don't see how I can take a message and add it easily to a new appointment from email. Also, how can I add from contact a new appointment? Is there an elegant way to add appointments from various apps to the calendar from the phone?
  • I also switched from Blackberry to I Phone. Is it really that hard to have an invite application???
  • I am also p?!* off. I just moved from a Blackberry to Iphone expecting since the iphone has ical that I would be able to accept outlook meeting requests from clients and can't. Am not sure what to do.
  • I switched from a Blackberry to and iphone about 6 mos. ago. It took a big of getting used to, but now I love it. I have long resisted using a electronic calendar. I'm just so used to having a book; where I can go back, check on people's info that I wrote down earlier, etc. But it seemed silly to be carrying this big filofax around all the time. So I started using the calendar. And kept missing meetings, etc. At first I thought I wasn't entering them correctly. The final straw was this weekend. I made an appt. for Monday afternoon. On Monday am checked my calendar; nothing on, great. Get a call that night from my client; where was I? Did I forget the meeting, etc. Very embarrassing. So last night I added two new events. Three times. That's how many times I had to add them before they "took." Again just now, the same problem. Now I am so paranoid I check the darn thing hourly, just to make sure events haven't magically disappeared. Sadly, I will have to go back to paper. And for tax purposes, I need to keep a record of all client meetings for 4 or more years back. In reading the above threads, it looks like the past also vanishes. I am frankly astonished that Apple can't get this relatively simple app right.
  • I was a big Blackberry fan and the main reason I switched to the iPhone was the screen size. It's much easier to read.
    Bottom line - it's three steps forward and one step backwards. Like any new solution you can't replace every feature you had in the old one.
    This truth is indisputable. The calendar app sucks and as this thread shows many people hate it.
    My theory is that Apple does not care about Business users. They are after the teen age users that just want to have fun.
    Major calendar issues: Can't zoom into text like most other apps. Can't forward meetings to other users. Can't click on a phone number is the subject field and auto dial. Can't create repeating appointments Can't create alert warning. Must use ATT network (NO I can't hear you now) If enough people ask for new features Apple might listen. Apple has an Enhancement Request website. Make sure you select Enhancement Request when you use it.
    Please go here and submit your feature request.http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html
  • How do I invite an attendee to the meeting from my phone?!
  • Melissa,
    That is serious limitation. If you are the owner of the meeting you can add people in the edit screen. If you are not the owner you have to go back to your PC or MAC and use your thick email application to forward it.
    On the Blackberry I used to be able to forward the meeting to people and they would simply accept it.
    This is clearly a business function and Apple does not put business first. Their idea is "keep it simple stupid" (KISS). Sorry, I just can't believe Apple can't match Blackberry at Calendaring.
    Or, do they care?
  • My sister in law's iPhone is not on the latest software version. She can add invitees to a meeting she creates. I have a brand new iPhone and I cannot. Help?!?!
  • I can see how to set an appointment but what I need is a constant sound (beep or whatever) to alert me until I acknowledge that I have seen it and switch it off - does this have that feature?
  • So...how do you make "custom" repeated appointments on the calendar. If I have an appointment every third Thursday of the month, how can I do it??? I see no option for that
  • Hello when I set an event on the calendar I expected the phone to ring/sound/vibrate at the chosen time but nothing happens. Why is this, where am I going wrong?
  • In iPhone Tips 101, it is stated "Repeat lets you choose common frequency levels for events that you do on a daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly basis, and you can easily set custom repetitions as well (every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, for example)." Unfortunately no explanation at all is given on how to customize a repeating event such as every Monday or every third Friday. Would you please explain how this is done.
    Thank you.
  • I recently switched from a Blackberry after using one for 9 years and I must say I am very disappointed that you guys forgot that people with smartphones still need to communicate with each other in person. Why would you have a calendar app without allowing people to send a meeting request to each other. Not everyone in the world just wants to chat or text each other, some of still do business and get together the old fashioned way through sitting down and talking face to face, but now because I can no longer do that on my new latest and greatest technological marvel - I guess I will have to tell my customers, family and friends that I am only available via chat or text. Seriously, I have 20 days left to return the phone and go back to the Blackberry! If you have someone in your entire organization that knows of a solution to your inadequate calendar app, please let me know.
    Sincerely,
    Derek Hall
  • Hey people, let Apple make progress! It is indisputable that Apple has lots to do to compete with Blackberry. Good thing is that Apple is trying, trying hard! Finally they opened Calendar API, finally they listened to their users and app developers. But yeah, it's very very limited, I only hope they'll keep moving towards the right direction.
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  • With update to IOS 4.2, all previous entries on calendar were wiped out, along with the sync backup. Total disaster. Apple guy tried hard, but couldn't help. He just said they would put my experience in their problem list. New version of calendar also doesn't show intermediate repeating meetings in the month list... just the first and sometimes the last. This was supposed to be a useful tool?
  • The suggestion that 'you can easily set custom repetitions as well (every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, for example)' seems akin to apple spin. On my iPhone it is next to impossible (unless you want to write your own app or enter a number of distinct appointments). Unfortunately this myth is being peddled on other websites as well. And there is NOWHERE that explains why apple seems to regard it as all too difficult to cover the common enough arrangement of 'every third Friday' or 'every second Sunday' Why can't Apple do it when Windows can?
  • i want to fetch the type of calendar selected, either the calendar is of Work type or something else . how we can fetch the type of calendar ..
  • Sent to APPLE: when you add the name into the title do you do this manually? ie. type it in or is there an easier way to do this, say I am driving and trying to add someone from my contacts list I have to go to contacts, copy contact, go to calendar & paste or manually type in contacts name, all while driving, or is there a quicker way to overcome this problem? adding an invitee does not add the contact to the calendar title so the title field stays as "new event", very frustrating! seems such a simple function as start typing in the contacts name and it directs you to your contact list then select and save, also this has not been addressed since the iphone was released, as much as I have googled to date I have not seen any other way to do this, thank you
  • I chose the IPhone4 over the Blackberry Torch in September, after many years with a BB Bold. I am totally disappointed with the business-unfriendliness of the IPhone. As some have pointed out, it is almost as if it was intended to be an entertainment toy rather than a useful business tool. My biggest disappointment is the lack of options for dealing with emails (such as inserting files & contacts into an open email msg, inability to move an email msg into a calendar event, etc) AND the woefully limited calendar functions (e.g only one type of 'alarm' available and it is weak, can't set one's own specific advance time, etc). If faced with the same choice again, as much as I love other aspects of the Iphone4 (mainly, readability and speed of access to web sites), I don't know if I would choose it again over the BB Torch.
  • There's now a way to schedule advanced events on the native iPhone Calendar app. You can make an event that repeats on the 2nd Thursday of every month, that alerts you 3 hours and 51 minutes before the event. It's a $0.99 app called Calendar Event Pro that works with the native Calendar app. It's awesome.
    http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/calendar-event-pro/id425820450?mt=8
  • There are now apps that Have great capabilities compared to the built in option. Which tells me that apple In it's arrogance (since they won't listen to it's consumers) has the capabilities built into the OS but don't care what we have to say. It's them saying "take it or leave it...we don't care."
  • Week cal is a very good app and has the ability to add invitees. It costs about $2.00 -which while frustrating to pay more for what should be a robust built un feature, it gives you that capability without having to resort to carring 2 or multiple devices.
  • There is no item called "Calendar" on my iPOD when I create an event. The calendar seems to default to something which then is carried with the event when it syncs to iCal on my computer.
  • After entering an appointment into the calendar (that syncs with Outlook), how does one invite someone to the event? This option was available when making appointments in my Blackberry but it is no longer an option with Iphone. Is there an app or feature I can buy to make this possible?
  • Ugh. New to the iPhone and can't figure out how to "invite" individuals to meetings. Finding iPhone is not as user friendly with outlook as blackberry!
  • Well I want to keep a Denver, Colorado phone number though live in Raleigh, NC and find that even though I set an alarm to remind me both 2 hours and 1 hour before appointments, the time on my cell phone reads Raleigh time though the calendar thinks I'm still on Denver time. Is it a flaw that can be corrected in calendars. I think it sees a (720) area code and can't decide to alert me at 9 am for an 11 am meeting in MDT or EST... How do I fix this??? Is there a particular setting or is it a design flaw in the Calendar for the IPhone 4???
  • I just got my iphone and I tried to do this tutorial. Unfortunately, ever time I try to do it, it will not save. Any suggestions?
  • my phone 4s calendar does not have the + to add an event
  • mine either it just has the reminder new app and i don't like it
  • I don't have the "+" either, how do you get that up????
  • Mine doesn't have the + sign either what happened?
  • you have to go to your settings
    than you have to go to icloud
    than turn icloud on
    than go back to your calender
    and there will be a "+" sign there :)
    HOPE IT WORKED FOR YOU GUYS!
    it did for me :)
  • My iPhone 3s lost the Calendar + sign when I updated it and I can no longer add events. I need to be able to easily use my calendar it is important to me.
  • You need to go to settings and sync with iCloud and turn on Calendar and Contacts to add new events/people.
    Go to the settings app, then mail, contacts, calendars, then iCloud and turn them on. Hope this helps!
  • This fixed the Plus + not showing up. Thanks heaps
  • This fixed the Plus + not showing up. Thanks heaps
  • This fixed the Plus + not showing up. Thanks heaps
  • This fixed the Plus + not showing up. Thanks heaps
  • This fixed the Plus + not showing up. Thanks heaps
  • This fixed the Plus + not showing up. Thanks heaps
  • This fixed the Plus + not showing up. Thanks heaps
  • Thank you heaps Emily its been driving me nuts :)
  • Thanks, this solved my problem as well.
  • this helped so much! oh my gosh thank you so much! i have been fooling around with it for like weeks! now i know how to do it! THANK. YOU. :)
  • Thank you! This answered my question!
  • My iPhone 3s lost its ability to add events to the iPhone calendar when I updated the phone. I need to be able to add events and set new alerts.
  • When i have appointments that have other invitees, where can i view the other folks who are attending the meeting? i don't see a place to view other attendees.
  • What do you do if the + and calendar icons are missing?
  • Never mind. Read on and found the fix. Thanks so much.
  • On my new iPhone 4s, when I press the + to add an event the "calendar" tab is not there. I have a tab that saysURL instead. What do I do?
  • go to settings, than to mail & contacts & calander, go to default calander and set it to Calander instead of Home.And that should to it! Hope that helps!
  • I don't have the "+" button or "add event" anywhere, I can't add it and when I ask Siri to add it she says she can't do it. So how do I add an event, this is getting pretty frustrating!!
  • Does anyone know of a program which would allow you to sync the Lotus Organizer 6.0 Calendar with either the iPhone Calendar, or MS Outlook's Calendar?
    I hate to give up the Calendar I use in Lotus Organizer.
    Thanks.
  • Does anyone know if it is possible to set an appointment alert/reminder further out than 2 days? Ideally, I would like to be reminded 4days or a week in advance of the actual event.
    Thanks
  • Kimba,
    You can click on the date you want to add an event to. Then when it comes up you should be able to make the reminder as you would for the 2 days ahead. If that doesn't work you can also scroll through the days I think.
    Good luck!!
  • I have a stupid question... What if my new iphone 3GS doesn't have the little + sign on the right side of the calendar?
  • Sine i ipdated my phone last (now has icloud) it wont let me add an event to my calender. It tells me"calender has not been set" then tells me "that event does not belong to that event store". I had no trouble before this and used this app every day. What am i doin wrong????
  • I had an iPhone 2 and got tired of my past calendar appointments disappearing and dug around and finally found a way to save them. I think it was something in the iPhone, not remote. I travel some for work, need to keep track of past dr, hair,etc and travel dates and appointments. I have the newest iPhone now and CANNOT figure out how to program it to save my past appointment dates and times, and so they just disappear as soon as we start a new month. It is driving me crazy and I know it can be programmed to save them. Someone HELP! Me with this!
  • did you figure this out? i'm having this problem of past events disappearing as well...
  • Is there a way to set a repeating Monday through Friday only event on the calendar for IPhone 4S? Didn't see that option in the calendar settings!
  • Mr. Celestial Black Bow-tie, you seem to have forgotten the golden rule of mormonism: ONLY WEAR WHITE!!!
  • For some reason my iPhone 4 calendar does not have the plus sign at the upper right so I can not add text. !Help!
  • I want the calendar to create a new event, but by default put the reminder at 1 hour before and choose my icloud calendar ... but no way to change the defaults... I was thinking I missed something... but it seems the iPhone calendar app is made for teenagers, and not "real" people who work and do business... hope I'm wrong...
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  • Have you guys not heard of Siri? I use siri for most of this, although I don't understand what commands to say to view the days appointments. I use siri to set appointments, then go back to calendar to set the various options. Siri rules there's nothing like it
  • When Siri works it is fantastic; e.g., tell Siri: "set a dentist appointment at 1:30 on January 8".
    My problem with Siri is that all too often Siri tells me that it can't complete that request. Try again later.
  • Well I would normally know how to do this but my new iPhone 5s won't let me add anything to my calendar or anything else except for my notes. The + sign doesn't light up.. I can't tap on it.. How can I turn it on??
  • Nevermind
  • did not work on my iphone 4. after i tap done, i go back to the calender and there is no circle around that date
  • I need to know how to use the calendar to post events, Appts, etc.