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How to add an .ics file to Google Calendar on your phone (Android and iPhone)

By Blink Brief · Updated  · How pages are made

You can't add an .ics file in the Google Calendar app on Android or iPhone. Google's help page, on both its Android and its iPhone tab, says only: "To import events, open Google Calendar on your computer." So open calendar.google.com on a computer, click Settings, then Import & Export, choose the file and the calendar, and click Import. The events then show in the app on your phone. If you were sent a link instead of a file, subscribe to it rather than importing.

Short answer

  • A file (.ics): on a computer, calendar.google.com › Settings › Import & Export › Select file from your computer › choose the calendar › Import. Files must be 1 MB or smaller.
  • A link (webcal:// or https://…ics): on a computer, Add other calendars › From URL. The app can't subscribe either.
  • Only an iPhone: Apple's Calendar app can subscribe to a link on the phone; see adding an .ics file to the iPhone Calendar for files.

Why the Google Calendar app won't open the file

Import isn't in the app. Google's page "Import events to Google Calendar" has three tabs: Computer, Android phone & tablet, and iPhone & iPad. The two phone tabs carry no steps of their own, only the line "To import events, open Google Calendar on your computer." Its step-by-step section starts the same way: "You can import with ICS and CSV files on a computer."

The same holds for the fixes. Google's troubleshooting page for imports says: "You can only follow these troubleshooting steps on a computer, not on a phone or tablet." And for links: "You can't subscribe to a calendar in the Google Calendar app for Android, iPhone, or iPad."

So when you tap an .ics file on your phone and nothing useful happens, the file is usually fine. The app simply has no way to take it in.

Import it from a computer: Settings › Import & Export

Send the file to yourself by email, or save it where a computer can reach it, then follow Google's steps:

  1. Open Google Calendar at calendar.google.com, signed in to the same Google account as your phone.
  2. In the top right, click Settings (the gear), then Settings.
  3. In the menu on the left, click Import & Export.
  4. Click Select file from your computer and choose the file. Google: "The file should end in ".ics" or ".csv.""
  5. Choose which calendar to add the events to. Google: "By default, events are imported into your primary calendar."
  6. Click Import.

Open the Google Calendar app on your phone afterwards; the imported events show there with the rest of that calendar. Two limits from Google's pages: "Google Calendar works with files that are one megabyte (1MB) or smaller", and "When you import an event, guests and conference data for that event are not imported."

Any computer signed in to your Google account will do, at home, at work or in a library: the events reach your phone through the account, not through the computer. Google documents no way to import from a phone, in the app or in a phone's browser.

A calendar link stays connected: when the owner changes an event, your copy changes too. An imported file is a snapshot. Google's steps to add a public calendar by link, on a computer:

  1. On the left, next to "Other calendars", click Add other calendars › From URL.
  2. Enter the calendar's link.
  3. Click Add calendar. It shows on the left under "Other calendars", and in the app.

Google: "You can only add a calendar with a link if the other person's calendar is public." If the link opens a web page that asks you to sign in, ask its owner for the public or iCal link.

Only a phone: what Google and Apple document

  • Ask for a link instead of a file. Schools, clubs and booking sites often publish the same calendar as a webcal:// or https:// link. A link can be subscribed to, and it keeps updating, which a file never does. Subscribing in Google Calendar needs a computer once too (above): Google says "You can't subscribe to a calendar in the Google Calendar app for Android, iPhone, or iPad."
  • On an iPhone, use Apple's Calendar app. Apple's guide for iOS 26: in Calendar, tap the Calendars button, then Add Calendar › Add Subscription Calendar, enter the link and tap Find. Apple adds: "You can also subscribe to an iCalendar (.ics) calendar by tapping a link to it." For a file rather than a link, see how to add an .ics file to the iPhone Calendar.
  • On Android: Google's pages give no phone route into Google Calendar, for a file or a link. The import above, on any computer, is the documented way.

One event or a whole calendar? Check the file first

Before you import 300 events into your main calendar, see what the file holds. A fixture list for a season, a school year and a single appointment all arrive as the same kind of .ics file.

Check the .ics file before you import it

To check it by hand:

  1. On a computer, open the file in a text editor, such as Notepad or TextEdit.
  2. It should start with BEGIN:VCALENDAR. Each event starts with BEGIN:VEVENT; count those lines to count the events.
  3. The SUMMARY: lines hold the titles and the DTSTART: lines the start dates.

If the check says the file is a web page, or has no events, importing it won't work either: ask the sender for the file again. If it's larger than 1 MB, Google won't take it in one go; Google suggests exporting a shorter date range from the original app.

Import into the right calendar, and how to undo an import

Google Calendar has no undo for an import, so pick the calendar before you click Import. For anything bigger than a handful of events, create a calendar just for the file first. Google's steps, on a computer:

  1. On the left, next to "Other calendars", click Add other calendars › Create new calendar.
  2. Give it a name, such as "School 2026–27", and click Create calendar.
  3. Import the file into that calendar with the steps above.

Google notes: "You can only create new calendars from a browser. After you create a calendar, you can find it on your browser and in the Calendar app." To undo the import later, delete that calendar: Settings, click the calendar's name on the left, then Remove calendar › Delete › Delete permanently. Its events go with it.

If the events went into your primary calendar, there is no one-step undo. Google lets you delete all events in the primary calendar, but that removes every event, not just the imported ones. Delete the imported events one by one instead.

If the file is someone else's diary and you only need to block the time, make a copy with only "Busy" titles first: the free Busy Calendar tool keeps each event's time and repeats, removes titles, notes, locations, attendees and links, and gives you a new .ics file to import. It runs in your browser; the file isn't uploaded.

Moving a calendar from another app? Export an iPhone or iCloud calendar as an .ics file and export from new Outlook cover getting the file out, and calendar sync tools compared covers keeping two calendars in step.

Questions

Can I import an ICS file into Google Calendar on my phone?

Not in the Google Calendar app. Google's import page gives Android and iPhone users one line: "To import events, open Google Calendar on your computer." Import the file at calendar.google.com on a computer, and the events then show in the app on your phone.

Why can't Google Calendar import my ICS file?

Google's troubleshooting page names the usual causes: a file over 1 MB ("Google Calendar is temporarily unavailable"), events it can't read ("Processed x of y events"), or pressing Import twice ("Processed zero events" on the second click). A file that doesn't start with BEGIN:VCALENDAR isn't a calendar file at all; the check on this page tells you which it is.

How do I undo an ICS import in Google Calendar?

Google Calendar has no undo for an import. If you imported into a calendar you created for the file, delete that calendar: Settings, click its name, then Remove calendar › Delete › Delete permanently. Events imported into your main calendar have to be deleted one by one, unless you clear every event in it.

Should I import or subscribe?

Subscribe when you were given a link and the events will change, such as a school or team calendar: Google Calendar on a computer › Add other calendars › From URL. Import when you have a file and the events won't change. An imported file is a copy and doesn't update.

Sources

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