Why don't subscribed and CalDAV calendars sync as such?

[devburke]

Now that OS 3.0 supports calendar subscriptions and CalDAV, why don't those types of calendars in iCal sync as such? They sync as regular calendars, when it would make more sense for them to be added to the iPhone as a subscription or CalDAV.

Is there a good reason this isn't how it's done? Is it going to be done in the future?

Along the same lines, why can't LDAP be synced through iTunes, since it can now exist in both OS X and iPhone?

 

[mavis]

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I don't understand your complaint. I sync through a MobileMe account with multiple calendars; I also have one subscribed calendar and one CalDAV calendar. They all appear correctly in MobileCal.

 

[milani]

Edit: never mind, I don't follow what you mean either...

 

[devburke]

OK, I'll try and be more clear.

In OS 3.0, you can go under Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Add Account... > Other and you have options to add LDAP contacts, CalDAV accounts, and subscribed calendars. But if you have LDAP, CalDAV, or subscribed calendars already set up in OS X, they don't sync as such to iPod/iPhone. LDAP doesn't sync at all, and the calendars sync, but they're not set up on the iPhone as CalDAV or subscribed calendars. Rather, they just act like any calendar that was created on and exists only on the Mac, without acting as subscriptions or CalDAV. (If you don't believe me, check your Accounts, CalDAV and subscription calendars won't be listed, although if you add subscription or CalDAV accounts directly within the iPhone OS, they will be listed, because then they will function correctly as subscription and CalDAV).

Now, to be clear, they still sync back to iCal correctly, which then works fine with CalDAV. But now that iPhone OS itself supports CalDAV, this seems less than optimal.

 

[devburke]

I've added pictures for further clarification.



The first one is from my iCal, showing that Holidays is a subscription calendar.



The second is the calendars list after syncing calendars to my iPod. Holidays shows up as a normal calendar, not a subscription.



The third picture shows my Mail, Contacts, and Calendars settings here (there is an LDAP account there, I added it manually).



Then, I manually added the Holidays calendar as a subscription calendar from within the iPod's OS, and the fourth picture shows the same settings after I did that.



The fifth picture shows my calendars list after adding it as a subscription (yes, Holidays is listed under both categories, I didn't bother to sync my iPod again without it first, so the one under "From My Mac" is the non-manually-added-subscription one).

So there is a demonstrable difference between subscription calendars and regular synced calendar. But calendars that are subscription in iCal sync as regular calendars, NOT subscription ones.

 

[mavis]

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I don't know what to tell you. I just use MMe, push all of my regular calendars, publish my birthdays and subscribe to it on the iPhone, and setup my Google Calendar (CalDAV) separately ... Took four or five minutes to set up, but has worked great ever since. Sorry I can't be of more help.

 

[milani]

I have no idea why they would all show up under the same category like that. I setup a Google Calendar CalDAV calendar on my iPhone and it made a separate category. Likewise, when I setup iCal subscription calendars (again, from Google) they make a separate category.

A solution might be to figure out how to add them directly to the iPhone (i.e. to circumvent the iCal application syncing to the phone). For instance, I was able to sync my Google CalDAV calendar to my iPhone via this method: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/724114/

If you can figure out the server address you should be able to sync the calendar via the CalDAV or iCal protocol without using the iCal application... assuming I'm understanding you correctly (it's so confusing having protocols and applications with the same damn names!).

 

[devburke]

I have no idea why they would all show up under the same category like that. I setup a Google Calendar CalDAV calendar on my iPhone and it made a separate category. Likewise, when I setup iCal subscription calendars (again, from Google) they make a separate category.

A solution might be to figure out how to add them directly to the iPhone (i.e. to circumvent the iCal application syncing to the phone). For instance, I was able to sync my Google CalDAV calendar to my iPhone via this method: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/724114/

If you can figure out the server address you should be able to sync the calendar via the CalDAV or iCal protocol without using the iCal application... assuming I'm understanding you correctly (it's so confusing having protocols and applications with the same damn names!).

Haha yeah, I know I can do that, I'm just wondering if there's any reason it doesn't set itself up like that automatically on sync, or if we can expect that in a future update. It seems like it should be very doable for Apple.

 

[milani]

Haha yeah, I know I can do that, I'm just wondering if there's any reason it doesn't set itself up like that automatically on sync, or if we can expect that in a future update. It seems like it should be very doable for Apple.

In all honestly it sounds like a glitch to me. It might be worthwhile to report it to Apple.

By the way, if you do solve your problem by direct linking to the server you should post how you did it here - if it is indeed systemic, I bet you're not the only one to come across this problem.

 

[devburke]

In all honestly it sounds like a glitch to me. It might be worthwhile to report it to Apple.

By the way, if you do solve your problem by direct linking to the server you should post how you did it here - if it is indeed systemic, I bet you're not the only one to come across this problem.

If I'm understanding you right, do you mean if I'm able to successfully set up CalDAV from within the mobile OS? For that, you go to Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Add Account... > Other and there's a CalDAV option.

 

[milani]

If I'm understanding you right, do you mean if I'm able to successfully set up CalDAV from within the mobile OS? For that, you go to Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Add Account... > Other and there's a CalDAV option.

Yes but what is the specific server address that you have to use? For instance, Google Calendars requires you to use the follow server address:

https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/you@gmail.com/user/

I guess what I'm asking is what sever is actually hosting your calendar in the first place?

 

[devburke]

Yes but what is the specific server address that you have to use? For instance, Google Calendars requires you to use the follow server address:

https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/you@gmail.com/user/

I guess what I'm asking is what sever is actually hosting your calendar in the first place?

Yeah, that's what I tried it with. I mean once I set it up right it works fine, it just seems weird to me that it doesn't automatically recognize a CalDAV or subscribed calendar as such at sync and set it up automatically.