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Calendar colors keep changing

I haven't seen a question about this posted since iOS 5 came out (and most seem to come from the last decade).

I'm running iOS 5 on my iPhone 4 and my iPad 2. I use both iCloud calendars and I subscribe to a number of Google calendars, as well. This problem only manifests itself with the subscribed calendars. I'm glad that you can finally customize the color of a subscribed calendar, but your choices don't stick. I want my work calendar to be red, my travel calendar to be blue, my personal calendar to be green, and a fourth orange. I have set these by clicking on the Calendars tab at the top to show the list of calendars, then tapping Edit, and then setting the colors.

I don't know when it does this, but it will always change the colors to something else. And it's not consistent between the iPhone and iPad. So, for example, the work calendar, which I had set as red, is now purple on my iPad. It's green on my iPhone. I realize the color might not sync between devices, but if I set it as red on both, why is it changing them to something else?

Only thing I can tell is perhaps it happened when the iPad's screen shut off, or maybe when it synced.

Is this a known issue? Is there a workaround?

Posted on Oct 27, 2011 8:19 AM

Best reply

seanlun

Level 1

0 points

Posted on Nov 1, 2011 10:55 PM

I have five subscribed calendars on my iPad, and four of them are on my iPhone as well. And since updating to iOS 5, I have been having the same issue. This does not happen with any of my iCloud calendars, just the subscribed ones. Unfortunately, I don't have a fix either. I was here looking for one myself. But I thought I'd chime in just to say I'm dealing with the same thing.

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101 replies

theGeode

Level 1

10 points

Oct 9, 2013 4:58 PM in response to edwardaggie98

Definitely happening to many users, myself included. This is the second time - the first was a few weeks ago, and it was definitely determined to be an iCloud "feature". Apple was supposed to have fixed the issue, but it seemed to have come back with the recent 10.8.5 Mountain Lion update. The color change has propagated across all my devices.

MBP Retina, with OS X 10.8.5

iPhone 5S, with iOS 7.0.2

iPad Mini, with iOS 6.1.3

BusyCal 2.5.2

FWIW...

Oct 9, 2013 5:18 PM in response to Ed is Confused

Hi Ed. Just to be clear, you are NOT deleting the calendar with all the info in it. You highlight the problem calendar in the list (upper left on iCal). Then export it to the desktop. All the info is now safely in the file on your desktop. Now you are Deleting the calendar from the list. (Restart computer) Then you recreate the calendar name (and correct color) in the list again. And import all your data from the desktop file (by dragging the desktop file to the calendar in the list), back into the new calendar on the list. It takes a few minutes for all the data to copy back into the calendar. I really hope this works for you!

Oct 9, 2013 6:13 PM in response to edwardaggie98

All calendars keep turning purple. APPLE- PLEASE FIX!!!!

zwfan

Level 1

0 points

Oct 9, 2013 7:51 PM in response to edwardaggie98

This worked for me.

Exported the whole calendar out from iCal and saved it as a ".ics" file and then I reimported it back into iCal. Change your colour and it should stick.

Hopefully it helps!

Oct 9, 2013 9:09 PM in response to edwardaggie98

As of Oct 9, the same happened to my iphone. Default calendar keeps changing to light purple from the red that I've designated for it. I can change it on my iphone, but it quickly changes back to light purple. Found out that there's a problem in the calendar in iCloud. I just could not reset that light puple to red no matter how many times I try. I have now disconnected my iphone from iCloud calendar, change the colour back to red, sync through itunes to my Mac, and it's working fine. But it means that I can no longer use iCloud calendar for backup or syncing.

Please help!

Oct 9, 2013 11:26 PM in response to emokyeeling

Find my reply from Carole322.The explanation of how to fix it is there.

Oct 9, 2013 11:38 PM in response to emokyeeling

Hey all try this out cause this is what worked out for me

I have been having my "work" ical switch back and forth between green and purple and it was annoying so here is what I did.

I turned off my icloud from my iphone, "deleting" everything in my ical on my phone. THIS IS A CRUCIAL STEP. It will prevent your phone or pad from constantly updating and making sure your faulty calendar is still available.

Next I went to my ical on my laptop and EXPORT my "Work" ical to my desktop. I created a "New Calendar" titled "Work1" and then IMPORTED my "Work" ical into "Work1." I now have BOTH "Work" and "Work1" on my ical loading up to icloud AFTER you REFRESH by right clicking on your calendars and selecting REFRESH. Next you need to go to https://www.icloud.com/#calendar and LOGIN. You will now have acess to your icloud and fiddle around with it. BOTH "Work" and "Work1" should be present now. Now in the bottom left it says EDIT. Click and then DELETE your "Work" ical. You can then EDIT the name of "Work1" to be "Work." IT should now be updated and your faulty "Work" or whatever is now removed.

LASTLY, go back to your iPhone or iPad and TURN ON your iCloud. Your iCal will restore and no more faulty changing colors. Best of luck!

Oct 10, 2013 3:26 AM in response to carole322

Hi Carole,

This has just started happening to me today, on both my iPad and my iPhone 4S. I haven't upgraded to iOS7. Is there a fix for these devices? (I don't have a Mac). Any help greatly appreciated.

Oct 10, 2013 3:41 AM in response to spartan2424

I called Apple last night. It is a problem with the iCloud. They are working on the problem.

I am having this problem but it isn't with my defult calendar. That one doesn't change. It is with two secondary calendars. I change the colours back to what they should be in icloud and immediately they turn back to the purple. (There are two calendars changing~One to purple and the defult calendar to blue) This is the same on my iPhone and iPad.

spartan2424: Whould you suggest taking it offline on both of those?

Oct 10, 2013 6:57 AM in response to spartan2424

I recommend taking BOTH OFFLINE. Completely off from your iCloud. This is how I resolved the issue, because the glitch remains in iCloud and if any of your devices are still uploading to iCloud this permits it to correct what is deleted or at least in my case. This is why I created a "copy" of my calendar and then went into icloud.com and deleted the problem one from there. I'm happy to say that this fully resolved my issues for now until my other calendars start to act up.

Oct 10, 2013 7:01 AM in response to spartan2424

Thank you! I posted a question about this today, and this worked for me. Fingers crossed everything stays the way it should be. I'm going to bookmark this page, though, in case things go funny again...

jadehc

Level 1

0 points

Oct 10, 2013 7:24 AM in response to markpeters1941

I hate purple! I purchase Apple products because of their design and the fact that I think visual appeal is important. If I can change the color in settings, why can't my colors selections stay that way for more than 10 seconds? I concur...Apple, please fix this bug.

NKNViola

Level 1

0 points

Oct 10, 2013 1:56 PM in response to edwardaggie98

Previous posts are correct about the iCloud & Mtn Lion 10.8.5 issues... I have only an iPad2 & an iMac, and syncing thru iCloud was fine til my son updated Mtn Lion a couple days ago. Affected only my default calendar, "Home", kept turning it from purple to a "custom" color, light turquoise.

I stumbled into what was an easy fix (or so I hope-- so far it's not changing back on either iMac or iPad!). Started to try carole322's fix: on the iMac, exported the Home.ics, then deleted it from Calendar. But, creating a new calendar would've been in iCloud (I didn't turn it off on either device), so instead I tried Importing Home.ics, then changed color to Purple. It of course reverted to light turquoise, so I logged into iCloud & opened the Calendar there. And poof, the Home cal in iCloud was again Purple, without me doing anything. And it synced back to the iMac & the iPad in purple, & appears to be sticking. GO FIGURE.

logib

Level 1

0 points

Oct 10, 2013 2:44 PM in response to jadehc

Just wait it out guys, will be fixed soon...

http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/528777/_barbie_dreamhouse_bug_changes_ma c_iphone_calendar_gaudy_colors/

mdd770

Level 1

9 points

Oct 10, 2013 2:56 PM in response to carole322

THIS!!!! This worked for me. 😎

"The fix (for me): Go to your list of calendars. Highlight the one that's giving you problems. Go to File at the top, go to Export, and Export that single calendar (Work, Family, Kids - whichever is refusing to be the color you want it to be) to your desktop. Then DELETE the problem calendar. (don't freak out - the content is saved on your desktop). Now restart your computer. Now go to the + sign and Add the calendar back into your list, and assign it the color you want it to have. Now DRAG the single calendar file from your desktop, to the newly created calendar. All of your events should copy back into your new calendar, and remain the color that you want it to be. When you are done (and this has worked), drag that file on your desktop to the trash."

carole322 wrote:

The fix (for me): Go to your list of calendars. Highlight the one that's giving you problems. Go to File at the top, go to Export, and Export that single calendar (Work, Family, Kids - whichever is refusing to be the color you want it to be) to your desktop. Then DELETE the problem calendar. (don't freak out - the content is saved on your desktop). Now restart your computer. Now go to the + sign and Add the calendar back into your list, and assign it the color you want it to have. Now DRAG the single calendar file from your desktop, to the newly created calendar. All of your events should copy back into your new calendar, and remain the color that you want it to be. When you are done (and this has worked), drag that file on your desktop to the trash.

Calendar colors keep changing