Sync a Shared Google Calendar with macOS, OS X, iOS (iPhone, iPad), or CalDav

2018 Update: Sadly, this is still the correct way to get syncing working.
2019 Update: Still true.
2020 Update: Sigh.
2021 Update: Yup, still relevant.
2022 Update: Another year, still relevant.
2023 Update: Still works
2024 Update: How is it possible Google still hasn't fixed this?

Someone shared a Google Calendar with me recently, and it showed up at calendar.google.com just fine. However, I could not see the shared events on my Mac (using Calendar) or on my iPhone or iPad (using the Calendar app).

To fix this, I had to visit https://www.google.com/calendar/syncselect directly, and check the shared calendar, then save the settings.

I'm posting this here because after spending an hour or so digging around all the Google Calendar settings online and settings on my Mac and iPhone, I finally found that link in some random forum post (nowhere to be found in Google's help docs!), and I don't want to forget how to manage shared calendar sync! Even using the iCal feed for the shared calendar didn't work.

Comments

Thank you, you seriously saved me hours of searching!

This must be the 3rd time I found this blog in last 4 years. Still on spot. Thank you.

Thanks! Would have taken me a long time to find that.

Thank you so much! You're a lifesaver. Why this isn't more obvious on Google's help pages, I'll never know. Still relevant after 4 years...

Thanks, it was super helpful and probably saved me a bunch of time!

My God you're a genius. Why can't this be posted in Google world! I've been trying to fix this for MONTHS and with your tip it took 5 seconds! Thanks!

Wicked - spent awhile (but thankfully not hours) to try and figure this out - thanks heaps for posting!

Thank you so much! Just saved me a huge amount of time trying to get my son's baseball schedule loaded on my phone!

I'd have never worked this out! Many thanks for posting it!!

This link was an absolute LIFE SAVER, thank you!!! Somehow, I could not see any .ics link in my shared calendar settings, only "Public address in iCal format" - which did not work at all. I couldn't find my way to a helpful Google Help article, until of course, after I'd found your page. Thank you for being find-able!

The problem was that I kept looking at the iPhone side of the help articles, and this link was in the Computer side (https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/99358), even though it also did fix the issue on my iPhone. Once I ticked the box on my computer browser, it immediately showed up on my iPhone. THANK YOU!

this is great! Thank you. I've spent hours looking for this. QUESTION: Do you know if there is a way to then share the Google shared calendar to with another iCal? (My agent uses Google - she shared with me. I shared to my iCal, and want to share it with my Inside Sales Team who are all on iCal. Possible?)

Unbelievably, this worked! Thank you, sir!

Genius.

Seriously, why is this so hard to find? Worked like magic, thank you!

Wow! Thank you so much for posting this.... seriously, this saved me from pointless hours of searching... I noticed this was posted almost 5 years ago - Google please post this on your FAQ... cheers! - TS

This needs to be posted everywhere. Thank you so much

Thank you, this solved my problem in minutes. I'd expected a long Googling session before resolving this. Thank you!

Thanks for sharing. And for your "2019 Update: still true" message. It prompted me to keep reading.

OMG thank you tried to do this for months. I LOVE YOU

You should be selling this link! I don’t know why this isn’t available more easily!

You are pure genius !!
Thank you.
Saved me so much time and brain pain.
Much appreciation to you!

Thank youuuuuu!!! Had been searching for hours!

Thank you very much for saving me from the terrible frustration.

Thank you for this. I'm sure by posting, you've saved countless hours of frustration. This is poor on Google's part. This inattention to detail makes me worry about their longevity.

You are a star!!! Thank you so much for this link. I was wasting so much time looking on how to sync a shared calendar and your link had it done in 2 steps!!! You've made my day.

Wow! Bravo, you've improved all our lives slightly. :D

You saved me ALL of the time. Google is really pushing the gsuite which makes sense why they don't let you know about this option.

Worked great for me. Thanks! (Would NEVER have figured it out on my own!)

You're amazing. I was anticipating a fruitless search to only realize it's not possible... but you saved me the time and found a solution! Thank you.

Omg thank you. I have spent so long trying to do this and once I found your page it took me two seconds.

Unbelievable that this is still so hard to figure out with out some outside support - Jeff THANK YOU so much for posting this on your blog and helping so many over the years. I've been trying to figure this out for a while and just stumbled across your blog today. Google should pay you for your service!!!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Such an easy fix after hours of searching!
Apple should add this to their help menu!

Thank you so much, this will save me hours of work.

Thanks. It's very helpful. Thanks for spending time posting it

Posting in 2019. I wasted a monumental amount of time searching for how to do this, trying different links, all to no avail. It is listed nowhere in Google or Apple’s help docs which is insane. I even contacted support directly and they had no idea. Your solution is the ONLY one I’ve found that works. THANK YOU for sharing!

Ditto to all the other thanks. Really, Apple and Google, neither of you could even come close to making this clear? Shakes my faith in the IT civilization.

Thanks a lot- tried everything and nothing worked. Finally I understand why...

Thank you!! That just saved me a few hours!

Blessed be the name of Jeff Geerling for finding (and sharing) this ancient arcana with us.

It still works, even if the linked page is _literally_ a decade old.

Thanks a lot! Saved me from headaches. How can these tick boxes be not included in the Google Agenda sharing settings? Weird!

Thank you a lot, like a lot. Worked instantly!

Thank so much for this post!!!!! ;)
Really useful.

A

I wholeheartedly agree with Dave and second his blessing. This still works even after upgrading to macOS Catalina.

"Blessed be the name of Jeff Geerling for finding (and sharing) this ancient arcana with us. It still works, even if the linked page is _literally_ a decade old."

Thank you so much!
I spent a hours for resolve this issue

Thank you!! I spent so long trying to figure this out and your link worked perfectly.

Hi there - apparently it's still true.

I have a problem I'm still not able to address like this: Calendars subscribed like that affect availability in Apple Calendar. I tried to use the delegation method but then they're read only. Have you been digging deeper?

Thanks

Jeff you're a legend. This page made my day, especially the 2018/2019 updates.

Still relevant - thanks for this!
I couldn’t even find that iCal option while looking at the google cal settings on my iPad in desktop viewing mode. It’s really hidden!