Importing .ics files requires receiving the file as an attachment in Mail

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Level 1

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Importing .ics files requires receiving the file as an attachment in Mail

This seems like a big miss: I downloaded an .ics file from a web site (in this case, it was information about my COVID vaccination appointment), and apparently if you do that, the only thing you can do is email the file to yourself and open the email in the Mail app.

This seems pretty dumb. I mean, did nobody consider the possibility that someone might get an .ics file a different way? There's a million ways you can get a file onto the phone (it shows in the Files app, and when you open it it shows the event information).

Apparently there was an option pre-iOS 10 in Calendar that you could open the .ics files with, but that's been removed, and I can't understand why.

Is this really what's going on? Is there really no way to import an .ics event into Calendar other than emailing the file to yourself? Why?

iPhone 7

Posted on Apr 29, 2021 7:00 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

iW00

Level 6

8,518 points

Apr 30, 2021 2:40 PM in response to zburnham

There is. Using Shortcuts app. Search the internet for ‘ICS To Calendar’ shortcut and you should be able to find few solutions.

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Answer 2

zburnham Author

Level 1

12 points

Apr 30, 2021 5:23 PM in response to Cheryl_I1

It does not. This event did not come from Safari or Messages, or any other app on the phone. It was downloaded from a web page. Why does Apple think nobody would ever receive an .ics file from, say, Dropbox, or iCloud storage, or any of a million other ways? Why do I need to get a Shortcut from some rando on the web to import an event? And why was this functionality removed back in iOS 10?

Also, you are at least the fifth Apple-affiliated tech I have spoken with about this, and not a one of you has understood what I was trying to do. I got pasted solutions to problems I didn’t have, I had techs ignore what I was saying because it didn’t fit into a box they were familiar with, I got transferred without warning, ignored, hung up on, and generally made to feel like I didn’t actually have a problem.

Get your act together, Apple. This kind of nonsense is why people have to defend their use of your products.

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Answer 3

Cheryl_I1

Community Specialist

Apr 30, 2021 2:16 PM in response to zburnham

Hi there zburnham,

Thanks for using Apple Support Communities. It sounds like you want to add a calendar event for your Covid vaccination and want to know how to add it from a .ics file. Your iPhone is able to automatically find events from other apps, like Safari or Messages and add them to your calendar just by tapping the underlined even. Learn more here: Create and edit events in Calendar on iPhone.

We hope this helps!

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Answer 4

Apr 30, 2021 5:29 PM in response to zburnham

I download ics files regularly to my phone. They go directly to my calendar.

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Answer 5

zburnham Author

Level 1

12 points

Apr 30, 2021 5:28 PM in response to iW00

Thank you for this. Why Apple couldn’t have made this functionality available (or even understood what I was trying to do) is beyond me. Hope you don’t mind me calling you “rando” in my other reply.

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Importing .ics files requires receiving the file as an attachment in Mail

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