Cannot view privately shared Google Calendar via iPhone Calendar App

[rceee]

Hello,

I have an iPhone 4, through which I view my Google Calendar via a CalDAV account. This works great, and my calendar stays synchronized between my iPhone, my Macbook Pro (via iCal), and the GCal web interface.

Recently, a colleague shared his Google Calendar with me. He did this with in the actual Google Calendar website, so it is privately shared (not a public ical link), and shows up as a "delegate" of my main Google Calendar account. This works great in iCal on the laptop... I just go into delegates for my calendar, and check the box for his account, which shows up (read-only, as he specified).

My problem is that I am now trying to also view his calendar on my iPhone 4, and it will not work. So far as I can tell, there is no way to access the main list of delegates via the phone, and check/uncheck them. So, I tried to add a new calendar, using the direct calendar link that the GCal website generates (http://www.google.com/calendar/ical/myfriend%40gmail.com/public/basic.ics). I also tried the way it's listed in iCal when I do "Get Info" on the delegate calendar (www.google.com/calendar/dav/myfriend%40gmail.com/events/). Neither one works... I get "Account Requires a Username and Password", and/or "Unable to Verify Account Information". I've tried adding both urls as "Add CalDAV Account>" as well as "Add Subscribed Calendar".

I have successfully added a different calendar (a ToodleDo one) as a "Subscribed Calendar" that's an .ics link on a different server, so I think "normal" calendar subscriptions work... It's something to do with my friend's calendar being shared within the GCal system rather than just a public .ics file I think.

Could anyone tell me how I'm supposed to do this? I would really appreciate any help.

By the way, as a side question, what is happening when one adds a Gmail account, and toggles "ON" the "Calendars" toggle within the Gmail settings in the System Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Gmail screen? Is this just adding your GCal via the Gmail account? Does it to a CalDAV connection as default? Right now I have this toggled to OFF under my Gmail account on the phone, and I access the calendar separately as a CalDAV account. Just wondering what the difference is here.

Thanks!!!!!

 

[ericslaw]

added 'subscribed' or shared google calendars to your iphone

Read this post elsewhere:
http://www.ideaexcursion.com/2009/06/17/howto-sync-google-calendar-on-iphone-os-3-0/

it covers the basics....
go into gcal and click on settings below the calendar list on the left.
click on the shared calendar name
click on the 'ical' button to expose the URL ending in .ics for the shared calendar.

(I copied that link and sent it to myself in email, then clicked on the link while reading email on the iphone to get it to subscribe).

 

[DoctorK4]

Make sure you have your settings correct to make that shared calendar visible on your iphone:

https://www.google.com/calendar/iphoneselect

 

[Sandtiger]

Use this Link to setup up shared calendars on iPhone

https://www.google.com/calendar/syncselect

 

[Mikey94025]

I was able to get my shared calendars to show up in my iPhone Calendar list only after visiting https://m.google.com/sync/settings/iconfig/ in the iPhone Safari browser. That page lets me manage the Google Sync devices (e.g. iPhone, iPad), each has its own Settings page where I must click the checkbox to sync each shared calendar. Once I saved those device-specific settings, I was able to see the extra calendars on the iPhone.