Sync a Mac calendar with an Android phone: Google both ways, iCloud one way

Make Google Calendar the calendar that both devices use. Add your Google account on the Mac in System Settings, Internet Accounts, with Calendars turned on, and the Mac's Calendar app shows and edits the same calendar as the Google Calendar app on the phone. That is free, built in, and two-way. The other way round is weaker: an iCloud calendar reaches an Android phone only as a published, read-only link, and Apple says Calendar on iCloud.com needs a tablet or computer, so a phone's browser is out.

Which calendar should be the shared one?

If your events are in iCloud because the Mac defaulted to it, move them to Google Calendar. Everything below assumes that.

How do I add Google Calendar to the Mac?

Apple's guide Add calendars and calendar accounts on Mac says you can add calendars from "iCloud, Google, or another CalDAV account" and see them all in one place. From the Calendar app:

1. Choose Calendar > Add Account.
2. Select Google as the provider, click Continue, and follow the sign-in steps on screen.
3. Each account you add "is listed separately in the sidebar". If the sidebar is hidden, choose View > Show Calendar List.

Or do it from System Settings. Apple's internet accounts guide says to click Internet Accounts, then Add Account, enter your email address or pick Google, sign in, and tick the apps to use with the account. Tick Calendars. Contacts and Mail are in the same dialog; the contacts side is in syncing Android contacts with a Mac.

Google's page Add Google Calendar events to Apple Calendar describes the same setup from Google's side and adds three details:

• Refresh interval. In the account settings, Google says to use "Refresh Calendars" to choose how often Apple Calendar and Google Calendar sync.
• Which calendars come across. Google says calendars under "My Calendars" and Birthdays sync automatically. To add others, including calendars shared with you, visit Google's Calendar sync page in a browser, tick the names, and save.
• What does not work. Google lists "Email notifications for events", "Create new Google calendars", and "Room Scheduler". Apple's guide agrees on the second: "to create a Google calendar, go to google.com." Create the calendar on the web, then it appears on the Mac and the phone.

Check it worked with the five-minute test at the end.

What about the phone side?

Nothing to install. The Google Calendar app on the phone shows the same account. If an event made on the Mac does not appear, Google's page Fix sync problems with the Google Calendar app says to check that the calendar is ticked in the app's menu, that the event was added to a calendar on your Google Account and not a local one, and that account sync is on: open the phone's Settings, tap Passwords, passkeys & accounts (Google says some steps need Android 9 or later and that "settings can vary by phone"), choose the Google Account, tap Account sync, and make sure Calendar is on. The same page notes that "the Calendar app only syncs past events up to one year", so older events are only on calendar.google.com.

Can I see an iCloud calendar on Android?

Only read-only, and only through a link. There is no iCloud Calendar app for Android, and Apple's page Share a calendar on iCloud.com carries this note: "You need to be on a tablet or computer to use Calendar on iCloud.com." So the phone's browser is not a way in either.

What Apple does offer is a public calendar. The same page says that when you share a calendar publicly, "an invitee doesn't need to be an iCloud user to accept an invitation to view a shared public calendar", and that "only the calendar's owner can share and make changes to a public calendar". The steps:

1. On the Mac, go to icloud.com/calendar and sign in.
2. Hold the pointer over the calendar in the sidebar and select the share control.
3. Turn on Public Calendar, then select Copy to copy the link.

Then add that link to Google Calendar. Google's page Subscribe to someone else's calendar says: "You can only add a calendar with a link if the other person's calendar is public." On a computer, open Google Calendar, next to "Other calendars" click Add other calendars, then From URL, paste the link, and click Add calendar. Google says it then shows under "Other calendars", and that subscribing has to be done in a browser, not in the phone app. After that it appears in the Google Calendar app on the phone.

The limits are in those quotes. The phone can view the iCloud calendar and cannot edit it. Neither page says how often a subscribed calendar refreshes, so do not expect a change on the Mac to show on the phone immediately. If you need to edit from both devices, the calendar has to live in Google.

Apple's private sharing is no help here: the page says invitees "must have an Apple Account and use iCloud in order to use the calendar", which rules out the Google Calendar app on the phone.

Where does The Relay fit?

It does not. The Relay does not sync calendars, and this is a job that Google and Apple cover between them at no cost. The Relay handles the things a Mac does with an iPhone and not with an Android phone: clipboard sync, file transfer, incoming texts and login codes, notifications, incoming calls, link handoff, and the phone as a webcam. The closest it comes to a calendar is that a calendar reminder on the phone is a notification, and its notifications feature shows the phone's notifications on the Mac. Since the Mac's own Calendar app will already be alerting you about the same event, that is a reason to trim what you mirror, as described in choosing which Android notifications reach your Mac.

How do I test the sync in five minutes?

1. On the Mac, create an event in the Google calendar for tomorrow. Open the Google Calendar app on the phone and pull down to refresh. Google's page says Menu, then Refresh, forces a sync.
2. On the phone, create an event and check the Mac. Apple's guide says the Calendar app refreshes on the interval you set, so wait for it or choose View > Refresh Calendars.
3. Edit the event's time on the Mac and confirm the phone follows.
4. If you added an iCloud calendar by link, change an event on the Mac and note how long the phone takes to show it.

Questions people ask

Can I sync the Mac's Calendar app with an Android phone without Google?

Apple's guide supports other CalDAV accounts in Calendar, so a provider that offers CalDAV and has an Android app or account integration can be the middle. Google is the one both Apple and Google document step by step, which is why this guide uses it.

Why do events I create on the Mac not show on the phone?

Google's sync page says to check which calendar the event was added to. If the Mac's default calendar is iCloud or On My Mac, the event never reached Google. In Calendar on the Mac, make a Google calendar the default and try again.

Does this work with a Samsung Galaxy?

Yes. The Google account on the phone is what matters, not the brand. If your Galaxy uses Samsung's own calendar app, its menus differ from Google's instructions, so check Samsung's support page for them.