Mysterious iCloud calendar on iPad does not appear on icloud.com
Greetings wise wizard of EE:
I'm helping a friend who runs a window-washing business completely on his iPad... he owns an iPhone, but no computer. He uses the Apple calendar on his iPad, and it is incredibly important to him. He would like to backup his calendar, but didn't know how. I assured him if he was using an iCloud calendar, it would be backed up on the iCloud servers and would be visible on icloud.com. I confirmed that he was signed into an iCloud account on his iPad, and that iCloud "calendar" was turned on. I then checked his default calendar under Settings, and it was set to his iCloud e-mail address... for privacy's sake, let's call it johndoe@gmail.com.
When I opened his Calendar app on his iPad, and tapped "calendars" at the bottom of the app, it showed that several calendars were available. There were FOUR calendars under iCloud: "Home", "Work" and TWO johndoe@gmail.com calendars (one colored red, the other blue). I'm not sure (and neither is my friend), how there were TWO johndoe@gmail.com calendars under the iCloud heading, but I assume these were custom calendars of some type, that he may have created by mistake. Here is where it gets really weird; I logged into icloud.com on my PC, using his johndoe@gmail.com as the user ID, with the correct password, but NEITHER of the johndoe@gmail.com calendars were visible on the icloud.com calendar.... just the Apple default Home and Work calendars.
I then set the "Work" calendar under iCloud as the default calendar for both his iPad and iPhone, and so from now on, all future calendar entries will appear on the iPad, iPhone and icloud.com (we tested this, and it worked). However, I don't know how to back up his current iPad calendar, as this mysterious johndoe@gmail.com red calendar ONLY appears on the iPad. I don't believe a cable sync to iTunes will back up the calendar, as the calendar is normally backed up on icloud.com. I did call Apple support, and the first tech intentionally hung up on me, as the issue was too complex. I called back and the second tech recommended that I upgrade to the latest version of the iOS (he is using version 10), but my friend recently tried this and upgraded to iOS 11, and to his dismay, it WIPED CLEAN his johndoe@gmail.com calendar, and the only way to get it back was via an iCloud backup.
Whew... here are my questions: does anyone have an explanation as the nature of the mysterious johndoe@gmail.com calendar, in that it does not appear on icloud.com or his iPhone, and why there are two johndoe@gmail.com calendars on his iPad iCloud calendar? Finally, is there a way to backup this mysterious calendar on the iPad?
Many thanks in advance and take care,
Zovoth
I'm helping a friend who runs a window-washing business completely on his iPad... he owns an iPhone, but no computer. He uses the Apple calendar on his iPad, and it is incredibly important to him. He would like to backup his calendar, but didn't know how. I assured him if he was using an iCloud calendar, it would be backed up on the iCloud servers and would be visible on icloud.com. I confirmed that he was signed into an iCloud account on his iPad, and that iCloud "calendar" was turned on. I then checked his default calendar under Settings, and it was set to his iCloud e-mail address... for privacy's sake, let's call it johndoe@gmail.com.
When I opened his Calendar app on his iPad, and tapped "calendars" at the bottom of the app, it showed that several calendars were available. There were FOUR calendars under iCloud: "Home", "Work" and TWO johndoe@gmail.com calendars (one colored red, the other blue). I'm not sure (and neither is my friend), how there were TWO johndoe@gmail.com calendars under the iCloud heading, but I assume these were custom calendars of some type, that he may have created by mistake. Here is where it gets really weird; I logged into icloud.com on my PC, using his johndoe@gmail.com as the user ID, with the correct password, but NEITHER of the johndoe@gmail.com calendars were visible on the icloud.com calendar.... just the Apple default Home and Work calendars.
I then set the "Work" calendar under iCloud as the default calendar for both his iPad and iPhone, and so from now on, all future calendar entries will appear on the iPad, iPhone and icloud.com (we tested this, and it worked). However, I don't know how to back up his current iPad calendar, as this mysterious johndoe@gmail.com red calendar ONLY appears on the iPad. I don't believe a cable sync to iTunes will back up the calendar, as the calendar is normally backed up on icloud.com. I did call Apple support, and the first tech intentionally hung up on me, as the issue was too complex. I called back and the second tech recommended that I upgrade to the latest version of the iOS (he is using version 10), but my friend recently tried this and upgraded to iOS 11, and to his dismay, it WIPED CLEAN his johndoe@gmail.com calendar, and the only way to get it back was via an iCloud backup.
Whew... here are my questions: does anyone have an explanation as the nature of the mysterious johndoe@gmail.com calendar, in that it does not appear on icloud.com or his iPhone, and why there are two johndoe@gmail.com calendars on his iPad iCloud calendar? Finally, is there a way to backup this mysterious calendar on the iPad?
Many thanks in advance and take care,
Zovoth
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ASKER
Greetings Qian:
Many thanks for chiming in and offering your help, I certainly do appreciate it. We have had no luck in researching the issue with Apple support (one phone tech simply hung up on us to avoid dealing with this mysterious issue, another recommended upgrading the iOS, which deleted all of the johndoe@gmail.com calendar entries... requiring an iCloud restore to retrieve them).
I have come to the conclusion, and I may be incorrect, that there is some manner of issue with my friend's johndoe@gmail iCloud account, and that Apple engineers would have to be involved to correct the johndoe@gmail iCloud calendar. Rather than pursue that arduous process, we simply decided to recreate any re-occurring calendar events under the iCloud default "Work" calendar, which is working without issue, and my friend will use this calendar exclusively from this day forward.
Thanks again for you offer of help, though this mystery will remain unsolved. Be well, and may the wind be at your back!
Zovoth
Many thanks for chiming in and offering your help, I certainly do appreciate it. We have had no luck in researching the issue with Apple support (one phone tech simply hung up on us to avoid dealing with this mysterious issue, another recommended upgrading the iOS, which deleted all of the johndoe@gmail.com calendar entries... requiring an iCloud restore to retrieve them).
I have come to the conclusion, and I may be incorrect, that there is some manner of issue with my friend's johndoe@gmail iCloud account, and that Apple engineers would have to be involved to correct the johndoe@gmail iCloud calendar. Rather than pursue that arduous process, we simply decided to recreate any re-occurring calendar events under the iCloud default "Work" calendar, which is working without issue, and my friend will use this calendar exclusively from this day forward.
Thanks again for you offer of help, though this mystery will remain unsolved. Be well, and may the wind be at your back!
Zovoth
ASKER
Many thanks for your response, I greatly appreciate it, as you are the sole wizard to chime in after a few days.
I did all what you suggest, including tapping on the little "I", and unfortunately it doesn't reveal any additional information... that is why this calendar is such a mystery... by all accounts it should appear in icloud.com, but does not.
I am speculating that perhaps it is an issue with his johndoe@gmail.com iCloud account... but I am unsure of that. My friend is reluctant to have Apple tinker with his account until all of his johndoe@gmail.com appointments have passed (4 weeks).
There you have it. I'm afraid I don't have much more info to give you, but I certainly do appreciate any suggestions you may have.
Zovoth