Set up calendars on your iPhone and iPad

Time organizing has got a new ally if you happen to have one of the new iPhones or iPads. It’s called the Calendar app. It will help you set your schedule and it’s great on a user basis, although lacks some stuff in the corporate area.

Setting it up

To set calendars up you need to go to the Settings app and tap on Mail, Contacts and Calendar. It depends on the service that you are currently using on how the app will display things to you. The setup part may be different depending on this factor. Configuring the settings should be easy enough for everyone but just in case we have provided you with detailed steps you need to take. See below.

Setup with iCloud

One of the easiest ways to configure your Calendar app is by using Apple’s very own iCloud service. You will only have to provide the settings screen with your Apple ID and Apple Password. Next you will be asked to turn on or off a set of features such as Contacts, Mail, Calendars and Reminders, Notes, Photo Stream, Bookmarks, Find My iPhone, Documents and Data, Storage and Backup. If you only want to sync your Calendar part of the app you can turn off the rest of them.

Setup with Exchange

Some email and calendar providers use the Exchange service. You will have to go through certain steps before you will be able to complete the settings. Enter your Name, enter your Email account an password, set a description for the account. You might also be asked to enter a domain and this is based on the provider you have chosen. In the next step you will be prompted to enter a Server. Exchange servers may be modified and customized and they will be different depending on the company that hosts them. See below a table of examples; this is how you should configure your Exchange account when using some of the well-known Exchange providers:

Provider Server Domain
Gmail m.google.com [blank]
Live/Hotmail m.hotmail.com [blank]
Mailstreet mobile.collaborationhost.net [blank]

Setup with Yahoo!

Using an iDevice is easy to set up a Yahoo! Calendars account. Tap Add Account and then select Yahoo! from the screen right under Mail, Contacts and Calendars. Enter your full name, enter your email, Password, add a description for the said account. In the next step you will be able to turn off some of the services you don’t need, such as Contacts, Mail, Reminders and Notes. Yahoo! uses Fetch to search for new events and changes in your calendar and will do so on a time basis. The mos common time to set up is 15 minutes. Push doesn’t work on Yahoo! so trying to turn it On won’t have any effect. Also, keep in mind that the shorter the time period you set for the Fetch technology, the more rapidly your battery life will drain.

Setup with GMail

There IS an Add Account option from Mail, Contacts and Calendar but we advise you to setup your GMail account through the above Exchange option. This will let your iPad or iPhone deliver new calendar changes and events the moment they are received by the server. Even more so because this technology uses less battery juice than the Fetch option.
To use your GMail account with Exchange you should choose Exchange, enter your full name, email and password then add a description for the account. When you will be prompted to enter a server you should type m.google.com and you then will be able to sync your Contacts, Mail and Calendar. Should you choose to sync only Calendars, toggle the rest to the Off position.
Setting up your calendar may imply that you will have to set up the mail as well, since the two services go hand in hand. In the last part of the configuration you will be given some options from the Settings app of Calendars. These options are displayed below:

Using Calendar

Calendar is one of the very few iOS apps that have an icon that constantly changes according to the date. This means that you just have to look at your screen and know the date judging by the icon of the app.

Use Multiple Calendars

You can have and use multiple calendars on your iPod Touch, iPad or iPhone. You can – for example – have a work calendar and a home calendar. A calendar for special events and a calendar for your work projects. You can link all these with your other iOS devices. These Calendars can also be toggle on or off individually.
Pressing the Calendars icon will bring you to a screen from which you can choose one of your many calendars that you have previously set up. If you press on the calendars there will be a check mark next to it meaning the calendar is visible or hidden (if the check mark dissappears) Calendars also have color codes that will help you to better distinguish between them.

How To View Your Calendar

You can view your calendar in many ways. For example they can display data on a monthly basis or on a day by day basis. Both views can be use, depending on your tastes. The List, Day and Month buttons are visible on the center part of the screen. List will show you a scrolling list of events and meetings you should attend, all coming up. You can easily search for events by using this List view. The Day view mode will show you events one day at a time while also displaying how much of the day has remained. The Month view will show you the whole month so you can see at a glance which meetings will take place when i the following days and weeks. And speaking of weeks, sadly there is no ”Week View”.

Invitations

When you have a meeting request iOS will alert you via a badge once you have configured your Calendar app. This is similar to when you get alerts from other iOS apps. To access these you will have to launch the Calendar App and find the button with the arrow and a bucket near the bottom-right part of the screen.
Individual meetings are listed here. The status of the meeting will be shown to you if this meeting request was rejected or accepted. Otherwise tapping on the meeting will pop up a screen that has the following fields:

1. Location, Title, Date and Time.
2. Invitation and from whom this invitation is.
3. The list of invitees.
4. Alert Info.
5. Availability (you can push to see a full list).
6. Buttons for Accept, Maybe and Decline.

Once you have reviewed the text of the meeting you can choose to accept or decline it using the buttons at number 6 above. The availability option will permit one to choose a status for during that meeting.

Create Meetings

Tap the plus sign in the Calendar app to create a meeting. You will have to fill out the following fields:

1. Location, Title, Date and Time.
2. Repeat Options.
3. The list of invitees.
4. Alert Info.
5. Calendar.
6. Availability.
7. Description and notes for the meeting.

The option for Repeat will allow one to pick Every Day, Every Week, Every Two Weeks, Every Month or Every Year as options. If you have recurring meetings this will come in handy. The list of Invitees will pull contacts from other apps as well from online sources (for example company databases), as well as from the Mail, Contacts and Calendar apps.