iCal does not sync with iPhone via iTunes

I found this and it fixed the problem - it is resetting the sync

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1627

Thank you Z001!!! The suggestion of deleting the calendar cache files worked great! Whew!!

This worked for me too! My calendar was syncing very strangley. My wife & I both have iPhones and have some calendars that are shared between both phones and some that are only on one iPhone. Before deleting these files any events created on an iPhone would not show on the iMac, even though they would transfer THROUGH the iMac to the other iPhone!! Go figure!! And any events created on the iMac would show up with an alert for 15 hours before, regardless of what the iMac Calendar said for an alert setting. You could not change this on the iPhone because if you changed the alert on the iPhone and then synced with the iMac it would be changed back to 15 hours before for the alert. I was getting very frustrated with Apple over this and had not gotten any help from calling them.

Thanks!!

Like other commenters we do not want to use iCloud. When I first upgraded to Mountain Lion (the first day it was out) and started having this issue we tried switching everything over to iCloud but that just made it worse and duplicated EVERY event that was on a shared calendar since iCloud was picking up that it was on multiple devices, even though it was the same event. I much prefer syncing over wi-fi with iTunes. I don't like all this cloud push...and I work in IT...

Hello All,

I have tried all the above suggestions (and gone to the genius bar) and tried re-setting the sync, and I cannot make this work. My specific problem is that somtime recently, I stopped being able to sync new events that were entered via my iphone into iCal to my MacBook (OS Mountain Lion). I can sync all events from the MacBook to the iphone but not vice versa. Everything else works (creating new contacts on the iphone will then sync to the MacBook). Interestingly, it works just fine when I sync to a test use account on the same computer. It's specifically my user account that has problems syncing new events from iCal on my iphone to iCal on my MacBook. Like other users here, I really do not want to use the Cloud as it has caused me huge headaches in the past. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!! Thank you.

I fixed it! I noticed that there were also email cache files in the calendar folder. I then deleted those as well as everything else listed above plus "re-set" the sync again through Terminal, and it finally worked.

Deleting the plists solved the problem for me. Many thanks!

It is happening to me again! Please help. I do not know why this happens every so often. Has this recurred for anyone who originally fixed the problem? I've tried re-setting sync services and deleting everything that's been mentioned in the forum (which worked for me last time), but now it's not working. Any new events I put in iCal on iphone do not sync to my computer, but the reverse works. This is the first time I'm seriously considering not getting another iphone/Mac although I don't know what else I'd get as I hate PCs (and I especially don't like GoogleCalendar). Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Duplicate ****. Have tried deleting the caches as described and resetting the syncservices folder. From the moment I sync my MBPro '09 to my Touch 3G no less than 6 sets of duplicates appear in Calendar on my MB. And i've restored and rebooted. Sync also no longer works on my iphone 4S, even though I've unchecked the Calendar option in iCloud. I delete duplicates on each ios device then sync and they reappear. What a mess. Just like KatieHale, I hate PCs but I've never experienced difficulties like this and honestly would think hard before another ios as the whole reason of paying extra was because it was slick.

Lol, I found my problem (and yes its a bit silly)! I changed all my passwords the other day including my apple ID account password via my mac. This is what prevented me from syncing. Stupid thing is that the phone DIDN'T prompt me that the iCloud password was incorrect so I had to go and change it myself.

On your iPhone go:

Settings>Mail,Contacts,Calendars>iCloud>Account and NOW your phone will say... 'Oh, by the way, your password has been incorrect for the last few weeks and nothing has been syncing in your calendar, I only now just decided to tell you!'

Now you can input your correct password and syncing should take place when you open you calendar. Don't know why the incorrect password message message doesn't come up earlier... Apple.

Dear Babyhair, Dear Katie,

I can not help you because I did not have your specific problem. If you read this thread, you will see that others did not have your problem neither, that it might be too far away from what the original question was. I would encourage you to open a special thread with your special question. I hope there are others, that have the same problem too, and they might have found a solution to the problem.

BTW: It is hard, but Macs are PCs too. You can have those problems with Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android, whatever.

I was having problems with my Mac synching with icloud - my phone / pad all would update icloud - but not the mac. If I turned off Calendars in iCloud and turned them back on - all the new items would appear on my calendar and Reminders - but then would fail shortly thereafter.

I took removing caches a step further and deleted all the files (moved them to a new folder) in Library Calendars.

Then all my local calendar items were gone and when they sycnhed with icloud they updated fine and now work very fast!

where do you find these files? Through Finder?

The following is a summary of other posts: It helped some of us. Try it out!

1. Make a backup ( a) Time Machine, b) Export > Archive iCal) Close iCal

2. In Finder hold down alt-Key while choosing "Go to..." menu

3. Select Library

4. In the folder Calendar delete the files

Calendar Sync Changes

Calendar Cache

Email Cache.plist

5. In the folder Preferences delete the files

com.apple.CalendarAgent.plist

com.apple.iCal.helper.plist

com.apple.iCal.plist

com.apple.iCalExternalSync.plist

com.apple.syncserver.plist

(not sure which one is the bad guy, but it did not hurt to erase all of them)

6. Start iCal, it will update itself.

HTH, Patric

I couldn't get any of the above to work. Eventually I backed up my calendar and contacts, turned off iCloud and then signed back in. Works ok now.