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How to export your iPhone or iCloud calendar as an .ics file (to move it to Google Calendar or Outlook)

By Blink Brief · Updated  · How pages are made

The iPhone has no export button for a calendar. On a Mac, click the calendar in Calendar's list and choose File › Export › Export, which saves it as an .ics file. With no Mac, turn on Public Calendar for that iCloud calendar, copy its link, change webcal:// at the start to https://, and open it in a browser on a computer: the .ics file downloads. Then turn Public Calendar off, because anyone with the link can read every event while it's on.

Short answer

  • With a Mac: Calendar › click the calendar › File › Export › Export.
  • With no Mac: Public Calendar on › Share Link (iPhone) or Copy (iCloud.com) › change webcal to https › open it in a browser › the .ics downloads › Public Calendar off.
  • Then: import the file in Google Calendar on a computer (Settings › Import & Export) or in Outlook (Add calendar › Upload from file).

Why the iPhone can't export a calendar file

Calendar on iPhone can share an iCloud calendar and subscribe to one, but it has no command that saves a calendar as a file. Apple's export steps are for Calendar on a Mac. So the file has to come from a Mac, or from iCloud through the calendar's public link.

First check which account the calendar belongs to. Your iPhone also shows Google and Outlook calendars: in Calendar, tap Calendars at the bottom and look at the heading the calendar sits under. A calendar under Gmail or Outlook already lives there, so export or share it from Google or Outlook instead. The steps below are for calendars under iCloud.

On a Mac: File › Export

Use a Mac where your iCloud calendars show in Calendar. Apple's steps:

  1. In Calendar, click the calendar's name in the calendar list.
  2. Choose File › Export › Export.
  3. Choose where to save it, then click Export.

Apple notes that "the events can be exported to a calendar (.ics) file only". Do this once per calendar. Don't use File › Export › Calendar Archive to move calendars to Google or Outlook: it saves all your calendars as one .icbu archive, and Apple warns that importing an archive "replaces all of your current calendar information and data". Google Calendar imports files that end in .ics or .csv.

Making the calendar public gives it a link that anyone can read. You'll use that link once to download the file, then switch it off.

On the iPhone

  1. In Calendar, tap Calendars, then the Info button (ⓘ) next to the iCloud calendar.
  2. Turn on Public Calendar, then tap Share Link.
  3. Send the link to yourself by Mail or Messages, so you can open it on the computer where you'll import the file. Google Calendar imports files only on a computer.

On iCloud.com

Apple's note: "You need to be on a tablet or computer to use Calendar on iCloud.com." This works on a Windows PC or a Chromebook too.

  1. Sign in at icloud.com and open Calendar.
  2. Hold the pointer over the calendar in the sidebar, then select the Calendar Information button.
  3. Turn on Public Calendar, then select Copy.

The link starts with webcal://, which tells a computer to subscribe in a calendar app. Apple doesn't document a download, so we tested it on 2026-11-03 with 33 public iCloud calendar links found online. With https:// in place of webcal:// and the rest unchanged, 17 of the 33 downloaded the calendar file with no sign-in; the other 16 returned an error instead (400, 404 or 503). The ones that worked came from servers such as p113-caldav.icloud.com and p38-calendars.icloud.com, so the server name in the link doesn't need changing. In our test with the browser engines behind Chrome and Safari, the file downloaded with a long name made of the code at the end of the link, ending in .ics.

  1. Paste the link into the address bar of a browser on your computer.
  2. Replace webcal at the very start with https, and press Enter.
  3. Rename the downloaded file to something you'll recognize, such as family-calendar.ics.
  4. Turn Public Calendar off: on the iPhone, in the same Info screen; on iCloud.com, turn it off and select Save.

Make the download link, then check the file

To do it by hand:

  1. Paste the link into the address bar of a browser on a computer.
  2. Change webcal at the start to https, keep the rest, and press Enter. The file downloads.
  3. Open the file in a text editor. It should start with BEGIN:VCALENDAR, and each event starts with BEGIN:VEVENT.

If the browser shows an error instead of downloading, or the check says the file is a web page or is empty, the link may have been copied wrong, or the calendar may no longer be public. Check that Public Calendar is on, copy a fresh link, and repeat.

Import the file into Google Calendar or Outlook

Importing makes a copy of the events. Later changes on your iPhone won't follow; for that, see the last section.

Google Calendar

Google says: "You can import with ICS and CSV files on a computer." Its phone apps send you to a computer for this.

  1. In Google Calendar, click Settings (the gear), then Settings.
  2. In the menu on the left, click Import & Export.
  3. Click Select file from your computer and pick the .ics file.
  4. Choose which calendar to add the events to. Google's default is your primary calendar, so create an empty calendar first if you may want to remove the whole import later.
  5. Click Import.

Google notes that "guests and conference data for that event are not imported".

New Outlook, Outlook on the web and Outlook.com

  1. In Calendar, select Add calendar.
  2. Select Upload from file, then Browse, and pick the .ics file.
  3. Choose the calendar to import into, then select Import.

In new Outlook for Windows, Microsoft says "importing events from an .ics file is only supported for Microsoft 365 Exchange accounts".

Show only "busy" instead of the details

If you want a work calendar to block the times of your personal events without showing what they are, don't import the full file. Make a busy-only copy first with the free Busy Calendar tool: it reads the .ics in your browser and gives back a copy where every title is "Busy" and the notes, locations, attendees, links and reminders are gone. Events marked Free, such as birthdays, are left out unless you keep them. Import that copy into the work calendar.

The copy is a snapshot: when your plans change, make a new one. iCloud has no busy-only setting of its own; How to show “busy” across your Google, Outlook and iCloud calendars covers what Google and Outlook offer instead.

Google Calendar and Outlook can also subscribe to the public link, so changes on your iPhone show up there after a delay. The catch: the calendar has to stay public for as long as you subscribe, and everyone who gets the link can read it. If that's acceptable, the subscribe steps for Google and Outlook are in How to show “busy” across your Google, Outlook and iCloud calendars. If you're moving away from iCloud for good, import the file instead. To move a calendar out of new Outlook, see How to export your calendar from new Outlook.

Questions

Can you export an iPhone calendar?

Not from the iPhone itself: Calendar on iPhone can share and subscribe, but it has no command that saves a calendar as a file. Export it from Calendar on a Mac (File › Export › Export), or make the iCloud calendar public and download the .ics from its link.

How do I export my iCloud calendar to Google Calendar?

Get the .ics file first, on a Mac or through the public link. Then, in Google Calendar on a computer, click Settings, then Import & Export, then Select file from your computer, choose the calendar to add the events to, and click Import. Google's phone apps can't import a file.

How do I download my Apple calendar as an .ics file?

On a Mac: click the calendar in Calendar's list, then File › Export › Export. Without a Mac: turn on Public Calendar, copy the link, replace webcal:// at its start with https://, and open it in a browser on a computer. The file downloads with a long name that ends in .ics.

Can I export an iCloud calendar on Windows?

Yes, through the browser. Sign in at iCloud.com on the PC, turn on Public Calendar for the calendar and select Copy, then paste the link into the address bar with https:// in place of webcal://. The .ics file downloads. Turn Public Calendar off afterwards.

Is a public iCloud calendar link safe?

Only while few people have it. Apple's iPhone guide files Public Calendar under "Share a read-only calendar with anyone": nobody can change your events, but anyone with the link can read them. In our test, public links downloaded the calendar file with no sign-in. Turn Public Calendar off as soon as you have the file.

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