How to open downloaded .ICS calendar event file on iOS?

Question

How to open downloaded .ICS calendar event file on iOS?

I registered for an event on my computer and downloaded an .ICS file for the event. I could have opened my Google Calendar but I thought it would be easier to just send the .ICS file to my phone and open it from there. So I saved the ICS file on OneDrive and then was going to open the file from OneDrive on iPhone.

Fail.

iOS doesn't want to handle ICS files from any other application than a browser or apple mail client. I tried opening the file from OneDrive app and from the Files app on iPhone. It presented me with dozens of apps I could open the ICS file but nope, I couldn't open it in Apple Calendar app, nor in Google calendar app.

I had open mail on my iPhone and write myself an email. From the received email I was able to open and add the even to calendar.

Am I missing something?

Is it possible Apple made it so difficult to open ICS if it's not received by email or downloaded Apple mobile browser?

I don't like the file management on iOS overall (it's not even close to what Android allows to do for copying files between the device and 3rd party apps like Onedrive) .. but I haven't expected handling a single file could be so complex.

To wrap up my rant.. the Open In menu is truly unruly. A bit customization options what items I want to show there and what I don't need would be a tremendous benefit. But that's beside the point of this posting.

iPhone XS

Posted on Jul 1, 2021 1:26 PM

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Answer 1

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itoldusoandso Author

Level 1

23 points

Jul 11, 2021 3:38 PM in response to iW00

Thanks, will look into the shortcut suggestion it looks like a viable option.

I don't like to be logged into Google permanently and don't want to go through login just to add new event to calendar. Opening on iOS would require retyping the link (or QR scanning) or using Chrome etc to sync tabs...

It's easier to download ICS since all website offer that as standard. Downloading to Dropbox or sending to iOS device via Airdrop from Mac. I would naturally try to do that first before any other option.

I appreciate. Thanks for the tip.

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Answer 2

iW00

Level 6

8,488 points

Jul 1, 2021 1:35 PM in response to itoldusoandso

itoldusoandso wrote:

I could have opened my Google Calendar but I thought it would be easier to just send the .ICS file to my phone and open it from there.

You could just open the Google Calendar or open on iPhone the website where ICS file is store. Your “easier” option requires more work then any of other two.

And yes, ICS file cannot be imported directly from OneDrive. But there are some workarounds. One for instance involves Shortcuts app. Search the internet for ‘ICS To Calendar’ shortcut and you should be able to find few solutions.

To wrap up my rant..

Send your feedback to Apple through www.apple.com/feedback.

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How to open downloaded .ICS calendar event file on iOS?

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