iCloud calendars

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Syncing iCloud calendars


Privacy disclaimer:

It is possible to keep using your synced address books and calendars provided by Apple, even when you keep your phone 'de-googled' otherwise. Please consider the implications of you providing sensitive data to a big tech giant like Apple.


Consider exporting iCloud calendars instead.


Note that it is also possible to have contacts / calendars synced in more private ways by using decentralized & open source solutions, like CardDAV and CalDAV. We provide this service to subscribers of Above Suite.

 

You can use the following guide to setup a connection to your synced calendars provided by Apple. You can also opt to then migrate your data directly onto your phone device or onto a different platform that can offer you syncing.


With newer versions of DAVx⁵ it is now possible to sync contacts (and calendars) from an iCloud account.

The process is described by DAVx5 on their website

Generating an app-specific password

A crucial part to point out is that in order to be able to access iCloud from a non-Apple device or app, the user is asked to generate an app-specific password and use that instead of the general user password. The idea is to not expose the actual password to a potentially untrustworthy party (from Apple’s point of view).

Generating an app-specific password for an iCloud account can be done on the site account.apple.com


There, head over to Security tab and the option to Generate Password.


Here is Apple’s own guide for how to do this: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102654


DAVx⁵ settings for iCloud accounts

If you don't have the app installed, you can get it via F-Droid.

  1. Open DAVx⁵
     If this is the first time you're opening the app, it will ask you to set up the required permissions for it
     
      >  on 'Tasks support' you can select 'I don't need task support'

    tasks support is integrated into the Fossify Calendar apps (green calendar icon)


  2. On the Permissions screen, be sure to check all the sliders.

    On the first one 'Keep permissions' it will forward you to the App info page of DAVx5 and toggle OFF 'Manage app if unused'



     
      > on 'Regular sync intervals', you can toggle on the slider and allow DAVx5 to run in the background. This will ensure seamless syncing.


Add the account

On the main screen of DAVx⁵, tap the green + button towards the bottom right to add a new account.


Case A: if your iCloud account ends with @icloud.com:

  1. Choose Login with email address

  2. Email address: your iCloud account, e.g. example@icloud.com
    Password: app-specific password (see above)


Case B: If your iCloud account does not end with @icloud.com:

  1. Choose Login with URL

  2. Base URL: https://icloud.com
    User name: your iCloud account, e.g. user@host.example
    Password: app-specific password (see above)

Contact group method: groups are separate VCards


Known problems

  1. Sometimes, the icloud.com DNS entries (SRV records) for CalDAV/CardDAV seem to have problems. In this case, only calendars/only contacts are found by DAVx⁵. Most times, it should be enough to delete the account from within DAVx⁵ and then set it up again.

  2. If you "upgrade" the Reminders with iOS 13, CalDAV functionality is removed by the server. So as soon as you upgrade, you can't access the reminders with CalDAV clients like DAVx⁵ or Thunderbird anymore. Read this blog entry for more information.

Exporting iCloud calendars

It is possible to export calendars that are synced to Apple by logging into iCloud. The exported file will be in the file format .ics and will hold all events that were saved in that specific calendar.

Since the mobile view of the icloud.com website is restricted, it is recommended to use a desktop computer or tablet for this process.

Open a new browser window or tab and navigate to icloud.com. 




Sign in with your Apple account credentials. You may need to approve your login with another device. Usually Apple would send you a code for that.

When asked whether you trust this browser, be sure to click TRUST



 

Scroll down until you see a list of icons. Click on the Calendar icon.



You’ll see a list of your calendars in the left hand sidebar.




Hover over the calendar you want to export and click on the person icon that pops up to the right. Note that this icon is always visible on calendars that are shared and will only be visible on hover on calendars that are not shared. A Calendar Sharing box will open.




Toggle “Public Calendar” on. A link will appear. Click ‘copy’.




Now comes the trick!


With this link copied in the clipboard, open a new browser window or tab and paste the link into the address bar - but before hitting ENTER, remove webcal from the front of the link and replace it with https

Hit ENTER.

Basically, from this type of link...




...change it to that type of link.




You will now be prompted to save the ICS file.




Choose your desired location, change the file name (the default file name will be a long string of letters and numbers), and click ‘Save’.



Your file will now be saved where you selected.




Repeat the above steps for each calendar, if necessary.

You can now copy this file to other devices and import this .ics file to other calendars.

On the Above Phone, we recommend using Fossify Calendar.

Follow these links to learn how to import events and export events from complete calendars on the Above Phone.