Work more efficiently with the iPhone calendar
Adjust the settings
In the Calendar section in the iOS Settings, you can adjust a couple of useful settings for your calendar. For instance, it’s possible to have Week Numbers appear in your calendar - this is convenient when you have someone on the phone who suggests “delivery in week 33” .
Tip. By default, appointments are synchronised one month back. You can change this via Sync to three or six months, or even All - it’s the latter option that we recommend. The Default Alert Times option is also very useful: it lets you configure whether you will receive a notification or an alert for new events. If you don’t want to receive any notifications, set this option to None (for Birthdays, Events as well as All-day Events) - you can always set an alert manually when creating a new appointment.
Share calendars with your family
If multiple iOS devices are used in your family, it can come in handy to activate the Share Calendars option in Family Sharing .
Tip. You activate Calendar Sharing via Settings ; [Your Name]; Set Up Family Sharing . Go to Get Started and follow the instructions (in older versions of iOS, Family Sharing is available in Settings ; iCloud ). A Family Sharing Calendar will be created automatically where every member of the family can view, edit or add events.
Tip. The Calendars button in your calendar app lets you specify which calendars are to be shown on your iPhone or iPad. Each one is given a different colour, and you can choose the appropriate calendar for each event. You can also disable or enable the Birthdays calendar here, one that is filled automatically with the birthdays of all your contacts.
Handy tips and tricks for the app
Rotate your iPhone horizontally in order to produce the week view automatically. You can easily move an event by selecting it first (long tap) and then dragging it to another time slot in your calendar.
Tip. You can control even more elements by editing the event and changing its properties manually. You can also share your calendar with others. Tap on Calendars , select your calendar and tap the i symbol. You can now add one or more people. However, this only works with iCloud calendars and other iCloud users. Still, if you use Office 365 or Exchange Server, you can also share calendars with others.
Use another app
As a Google user, you can use the Google Calendar app ( https://www.google.com/intl/en-GB/calendar/about ). This calendar lets you share calendars with other Google users. In addition, there are many good alternatives, such as the excellent Fantastical 2 ( http://www.flexibits.com/fantastical-iphone - £4.99). It lets you add events in a natural language, for instance “Lunch with Peter tomorrow” . You can set geofence alerts, so that you receive a notification for a meeting when you’ve entered a specific geographical zone. The app also supports iCloud, Google and Exchange. For a free alternative, check out Tiny Calendar ( http://www.appxy.com ), which comes with a lot of useful features, including push notifications and e-mail and text alerts.
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