Lost all calendar events on iPhone after iOS 18.5 update

I had this issue after updating to 18.5 but was able to get all my calendar events back by doing this:

settings - apps - calendar - calendar accounts - iCloud - iCloud calendar - use on this iPhone toggle off and back on.

right after doing so, all my old events populated again.

go to settings, apps, calendar

check sync setting,

somehow mine changed to 3 months at the update which hid previous events, but can be set for as recent as two weeks hiding all but recent 2 weeks.

This just happened to me too and there are simply too many posts to wade through in my current state of mind...

HOWEVER....if you have a MacBook, you may be able to retrieve your calendar that way.

When I tried pulling info up on my phone, I changed from "All Events" to a month back....and that was all I got...the month back. None of the upcoming stuff.

I NEVER use the calendar on my MacBook, just my iPhone, but the info was all there in my iCloud on my laptop!

On my MacBook, I went to iCloud and hit the Backups button. My calendar backup was actually turned off, so I hit the toggle just to see what happened.

When I went back to the MacBook calendar, it was all there!! Woohoo! The days I need to take my sister to chemo, upcoming appts of my own, etc. And past info was there as well.

The problem now is that when I try to add those events back into my phone, they show up in the laptop calendar again...so the laptop calendar show duplicates.

I tried to export it to my iPhone and it prompted me to save it as "Siri Suggestions" on my MacBook desktop. I assume it came up as that because I enter 90% of my calendar events in via Siri.

I tried adding the Siri Suggestions calendar on my iPhone settings, but it didn't help.

I screenshotted the upcoming 3-4 months of events on my MacBook in case this happens again... what a huge pain.

On top of everything, I've also found that my iPhone locked me out of my main Gmail account (in the Apple Mail app) and wouldn't let me back in. I deleted the account, thinking I'd reenter it...and now not only does it loop me in authentication screens for 20 minutes, it's now also deleted the inbox to my other Gmail account, that was still on the phone.

HUGE HUGE HUGE failure APPLE!!!

ValHolmes1 wrote:

I just opened my calendar to verify an appointment time I know I have this Friday and all of my calendar is gone! This is devastating! Looks like I’ll be changing to a different/more reliable application. This is extremely disappointing.

Go to Settings>Apps>Calendar>Accounts. Is the account you use for your calendar there? If not, add it back. If it is there, double-check to make sure that Calendar is turned on.

for MillsMjohn: iOS-18 made improvements to calendar and it was after 18.5 that I had my moment of calendar "fear" when noticing events over 3 months old (or was it 6?) were no longer displayed, which had me believing all my old events were gone, forever. The solution found was that by making a change in settings for calendar, all the old info was displayed again, it was never lost. Actions like "Restore iPhone" and "restore backup" have a place in fixing problems when applied correctly for the right situation, but restoring the same setting causing the situation as I experienced was not going to work, the setting had to be changed.

There is just no way to wipe calendar clean by accident or update without a user's misstep. I was slow to discover the need to change a setting and maybe that is your situation. You don't say whether the calendar is completely gone, or remains and no events are shown, or whether some events are shown. When the situation is explained completely in cool terms, a path forward can be found and hopefully misguided recovery efforts have not made recovery impossible.

Hello Zwano: Solutions have been posted for those having only most recent events displayed, like a few months (changing a setting preference for the calendar app will show all). If that does not work for you, it's possible some innocent action deleted. Pocket calls are an example of an innocent action.

Zwyno: My "Home" calendar is in iCloud and is viewable and synchs to my iPhone and to my desktop. Is that your arrangement?

What about your desktop calendar? Are you saying those appointments are gone from there too? In my experience when I could not find on my iPhone, they all were on my desktop computer which is what lead me to discover the settings change on the iPhone. If you don't use/have a desktop Mac (or laptop), then your calendar was only on your iPhone, maybe in iCloud if you backup to iCloud. On the other hand, if appointment actions were done on your desktop, those affect your iPhone calendar too (via iCloud). That goes for any iPad calendar too. And you can have multiple calendars, make sure you have the right one selected for what you are looking for. Good intentions may have inadvertently removed or hidden what you are looking for.

So I posted back in September 2025. All my calendar entries from around March 2023 disappeared. I tried every fix and spoke with apple support on the phone. They were stumped. Nothing worked. So I started to use a different calendar app. Just checked my icalendar and everything from 2023 - 2025 is back. No reason. Didn’t do anything. All just reappeared. However I’m now too nervous to rely on iCal. First time in 14 years of Apple use I’ve considered getting an android phone!

Same thing happened to me. I sync my calendar to my iCloud, yet when I tried to restore an older backup, it didn’t show any. This happened to me several years ago as well. I freaking hate apple right now!! They need to stop rushing all these updates.

Correct. Syncing to iCloud and restoring from iCloud backup are two different things. You can still sync your calendar and reminders to the iCloud (to share across different devices using the same iCloud account) and also still have the option to restore your phone from an older backup with all of that synced calendar and reminder information included in those older backups. My older backups are gone. I didn’t delete them, yet they are all gone.

I have also updated to 18.5 and noticed all my events that I have catalogued in my calendar have all gone! I have also followed the information online to try to get them back. I have also looked on iCloud to restore but they are all gone from there too, just like others have experienced.

This has all my appointments on there! How else can I get these back as I cannot possibly remember everything that was in there (which is the whole idea of a calendar)!!!

Wife has a iPhone 15. Noticed this on the iOS 18.6 update. Could have been before.. not sure. Her entire iCloud Calendar wiped.... She is not one that tweaks her settings. They stay the same. I just bought a 17 (in the past week), not sure how it would be relevant or not, but I have no issues with my calendar. So far, only Calendar issues.

I just had the same issue when I checked my calendar tonight. Is there any solution to this? I’ve tried everything posted about in this sub and nothing has helped. My calendar has been completely wiped. I had years of events and months in advance of appointments, events, work/work-related scheduling, so I really don’t want to have to comb through my life to put my calendar back together.

I too am shocked and very frustrated by this happening. I just found this support page! Thank heavens! Ive been talking to Apple Support and even to my local Apple troubleshooter to rectify all of my information from the past years!! To NO AVAIL!!! I only have 6 months of backup now and have not had any success in retrieving my history. Im so angry. Apple has done us ALL a terrible disservice doing this!! What is my recourse? HELP PLEASE!!!