Is there ever to be .vcs/.ics support?

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Level 1

9 points

Is there ever to be .vcs/.ics support?

I get many appointment notifications via email, my business relies on it. With the email is a .vcs (vCal) attachment containing all the relevant information. Also attached is a .vcf (vCard) file with customer contact info.

iPhone Mail app opens imports the .vcF information flawlessly into Contacts with a mere touch of my finger. It has no idea what to do with the .vcS file; all it shows is a question mark. This limitation has been present since the first gen iPhone, and has survived OS upgrades 2, 3, and 4, despite "targeting business users" since OS2, and expanding attachment support in OS4.

Currently I have to go to my desktop, open Outlook (which understands the formats just fine, thank-you-very-much) to import said attachments into the calendar there, then have GoogleSync relay the additions to a Gmail calendar that updates the iPhone.

Changing the .vcs extension to .ics at least gives me an attachment that OS4 will allow me to view, but only as a text file; no option to import the event into Calendar exists. I did stumble across an iPhone app (Calendar Happy) that will convert the .ics to something usable for Calendar (via their servers), but it still requires me to download the .vcs file to my desktop computer, change the extension to .ics, then email it to the iPhone for processing by Happy Calendar; a "workaround" that is much more consuming than using Outlook.

My questions are these:

-Is there anyone out there with another workaround that eliminates the need for using my desktop computer?

-Is there anyone out there with knowledge that Apple is working on this? Similar threads abound on the Web (google "open .vcs with iPhone" or similar and grasp the enormity of the need)

-Is this a power play/struggle between Apple and Microsoft, similar to the Adobe/Flash broo-ha-ha (which was finally satisfactorily addressed by Jobs himself)?

The iPhone has radically changed the way I do business for the better, and I've long been a user, but this limitation is frustrating beyond words.
Any help/advice would be welcome.

3GS, iOS 4

Posted on Oct 8, 2010 7:54 PM

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Answer 1

celliott147

Level 6

11,883 points

Oct 8, 2010 9:31 PM in response to ainuke

if your work email is through exchange server, google apps, or OSX server, and it also has a calendar sync option, make sure it is set up on your iphone as an exchange account. you can then accept the invite via the calendar app.

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Answer 2

ainuke Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 9, 2010 7:03 PM in response to celliott147

Thank you for your reply.

I'm self-employed, so I don't have a corporate Exchange server to contend with. I'm running Win7 x64 & Office 2007.

I'm currently using Google calendar & Gmail exclusively for the appointment notifications, set up as an exchange in iPhone settings. When I open up Calendar on iPhone and touch the icon in the lower right corner (invites), there are no invitations, ever.

If I open the message in Gmail on my desktop computer, I can click on the attachment icon (paper clip) and get the option to add the event to my calendar. If I try the same series through Safari or the Google app on the iPhone, I'm never able to open the attachment. While I'd rather not rely on using Safari/Google combo for the workaround, it would get most of the functionality I want if I could add the event from there.

I've tried as many appropriate settings in Google calendar on my desktop, including the option to automatically add event invites to the calendar. No Dice.

If you have further expertise or suggestions on possible hidden settings on either iPhone or Google Calendar, I'd be grateful to hear some I haven't tried.

Peace.

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Answer 3

celliott147

Level 6

11,883 points

Oct 9, 2010 7:44 PM in response to ainuke

Have you enabled google sync? You must first enable it for the exchange functions to work correctly...

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Answer 4

ainuke Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 9, 2010 8:20 PM in response to celliott147

Can you clarify?

The only google sync I am aware of is installed on my desktop computer, to sync Outlook to my Google calendar. Does it have functionality beyond this, or is there somethin I'm missing?

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Answer 5

celliott147

Level 6

11,883 points

Oct 10, 2010 7:14 PM in response to ainuke

There should be a checkbox setting to enable google sync for mobile devices somewhere... I don't remember exactly where. Find that, make sure it's checked, and you should be good...

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Answer 6

ainuke Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 12, 2010 4:21 PM in response to celliott147

Thanks for the reply, celliot.

I haven't found any specific checkbox for "enable google sync for mobile devices", although I ran across references to it regarding Google Apps (which implied that it was for institutions/corporate/multi-user. Every iPhone description simply has it being set up using the MSExchange option during iPhone setup, which I re-did again to make sure I hadn't messed something up the first time. I don't have any function or link that's specifically "Google Apps", just the links to docs, calendar, etc. from the google home page and mobile versions.

I appreciate your help thus far, but I feel like this may be a dead end.

So I ask my original question again:
Does anybody know if .vcs/.ics will be supported anytime from the Mail or Calendar apps (.ics is an iCalendar format, is it not? And .vcs is used by Lotus, Outlook, and Palm. It's not like I'm asking if they're going to support DOS)?

Peace.

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Answer 7

ainuke Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 12, 2010 6:52 PM in response to ainuke

Forgot to say, I did go into the notifications tab of my G-Cal and added my device as an authorized device.
No noticable difference in behavior.

Peace.

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Answer 8

ainuke Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 12, 2010 7:32 PM in response to ainuke

I'm not even sure the .vcs attachments I receive qualify as "invitations"

Peace.

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Answer 9

jfculat

Level 1

7 points

Oct 13, 2010 12:04 AM in response to ainuke

I have the same problem.
Some friends sent me a calendars invitation from a mac, but on iPhone I have a mail with ics file and it's not possible to accept or refuse. I have to go to my mac to charge the ics file in calendars.

When Apple will support his own file?

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Answer 10

ainuke Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 13, 2010 9:47 PM in response to jfculat

It's especially frustrating when an .ics file attachment has a calendar icon associated with it!

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Answer 11

ainuke Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 17, 2010 6:10 AM in response to ainuke

I'm marking this as answered due to the fact that I've found an acceptable work-around until Apple gets with the program.

In my initial post I mentioned that an app (Calendar Happy) would convert .ics to a usable iPhone-friendly format, but not .vcs. Well, I emailed them and asked that they look at supporting .vcs in addition, since the two files are so similar and widespread. They asked me to forward a sample to work with, and while I was generating one, I got another email from them saying that their service had been updated to accept .vcs, and that an update to the app had been submitted to Apple for approval. Not even 24 hours!!
Now THAT'S customer service!
Apple, please take notice.

While this workaround involves forwarding my email to them, then opening the reply attachment with their app, I commend them for devising a thoroughly workable solution to iphone's deficiency. Their reply email takes every bit of 5-10 seconds to come back, making it a virtually immediate event.

Obviously, Apple is not ignoring the .ics/.vcs omission due to hardware/OS limitations, as Calendar Happy proves that the solution is easily attainable. Maybe iOS5 will fix it on the native level. But I don't have to hold my breath anymore.

Thanks to all of you who tried to help.

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Answer 12

Oct 26, 2010 5:32 AM in response to ainuke

It's pretty amazing it's taken this long, but I think we'll finally be able to import attached .ics invites in 4.2.

On the iOS Wiki entry, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOSversionhistory#future, see: "Import .ics calendar files directly for events"

Now, when will we be able to create calendar invites directly from the Calendar.app? God knows.

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Answer 13

ainuke Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 26, 2010 8:52 PM in response to bripab007

@bripab007:
Thanks for the info. It is certainly a long time coming.

As for adding invitees, there appears to be such a function in the add event screen in Calendar. Although I've never used it and don't know how far it goes.

I find it fascinating that Apple can be at once thoroughly brilliant in usability, and totally perplexing with it's shortcomings...

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Answer 14

ainuke Author

Level 1

9 points

Nov 27, 2010 10:33 AM in response to ainuke

Installed iOS 4.2.
Still waiting for .vcs support from Apple........

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Answer 15

ainuke Author

Level 1

9 points

Dec 3, 2010 8:31 PM in response to ainuke

Just tested renaming .vcs to .ics and opening it as an email attachment in iPhone Mail (iOS 4.2)

No dice.
iPhone assigns it a calendar icon, but then doesn't do anything with it.
Lovely.

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