How to Create Events and Send Invites with the Calendar App on iPhone

Sharing events on your iPhone calendar with contacts can increase productivity at work, make get-togethers with friends easier to plan, and consolidate your upcoming events on your iPhone calendar for easy access. Follow the steps below to send an iPhone calendar invite to a group of contacts using your iPhone calendar app. You can easily share calendar events with all your contacts after you first create an event with your iPhone calendar. iPhone makes sharing events with contacts easy once you master event creation on your iPhone calendar. Here’s how to create events and invite groups using your iPhone calendar.

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When you create a group invite on your iPhone, you can add contacts from other email accounts such as Gmail. You can also specify a time, place, or mode of transportation, and create alerts using event creation on your iPhone calendar. By using our method for creating group invites, you’ll be able to share your iPhone calendar with all the contacts on your contact list.

How to Create Events with iPhone Calendar

• First, open your iPhone calendar.
• Next, make sure you are in the monthly calendar view (it’s easy to find a specific date if you're viewing the entire month). Tap once to select the date of your event, then tap the plus icon on the upper right hand corner.

• Now you’re ready to create your event. Enter the name of your event and location.
• Select the start and end times of the event.
• You can also include how long it will take to get to your location by selecting Travel Time. Toggle the Travel Time button to green and select your approximate travel time.

• Set an alarm for your event by tapping Alert. From there, you can select how far in advance you want your alarm to go off.
• To complete event creation, tap Add in the upper right hand corner.

How to Share Calendar Event via iCloud

When creating a new calendar event, you can add contacts. Doing so will share the calendar event with the contacts you’ve added. It’s good to note that adding contacts is how you invite them to your event; they will receive an email asking them to RSVP. Once they’ve tapped Accept or Decline, you’ll receive a notification. You can view responses by opening the event on your calendar. If they don’t respond, you may want to send a reminder email via your Mail app.

• When you are creating a new event, tap Invitees.
• Tap the plus sign in the upper right-hand corner to see a list of all your iCloud contacts. You can type in a specific name or scroll through your contacts. You can add as many Invitees as you want.

• To finish adding Invitees to your event, tap Done in the upper right-hand corner and return to New Event.
• Finally, tap Add in the upper right-hand corner.

Pro-Tip: If you are adding Invitees to a previously created event, navigate to your Calendar and select the date of your event. Then:

• Locate your event and tap.
• Tap Edit in the upper right-hand corner.
• Scroll down to Invitees and tap.
• Add your contacts as normal.

How to Add Gmail Contacts to an Event

To add contacts from Gmail you will first need to grant your iPhone access to your Gmail account. You can follow these steps for any email account you have to add all of your contacts. These steps will also allow you to share the event on your Gmail Calendars, as well as post the event to your personal iPhone calendar. To add a new email account to your iPhone:

• Open the Settings app.
• Scroll down and select Contacts. (If you’re running an iOS earlier than iOS 10, select Mail, Contacts, Calendars.)
• Under Accounts, tap Add Account.

• You can select iCloud, Exchange, Google, Yahoo, AOL, or Outlook, or enter your unique address manually. For this tutorial, we’ll set up your Gmail account.

• Tap Google. Enter your email address, and tap Next.
• Enter your password, and tap Next.
• Make sure that Mail, Contacts, and Calendars are all toggled to Green.
• Finally, tap Save in the upper right-hand corner.

Now all of your contacts from that email are available on your iPhone. You can return to your previously created event and add additional Invitees by following the steps previously described in How To Share Calendar Event via iCloud.

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