Calendar troubleshooting

Plain-language fixes for the ways shared calendars, feeds, and ICS files actually break. No account needed; these pages exist because we hit these problems too.

• Why your Google Calendar subscription isn't updatingSubscribed calendars in Google Calendar can take 24 hours or more to refresh. What controls the refresh rate, what you can and cannot speed up, and how to check the feed itself.
• Shared calendar not syncing on your iPhoneWhen a shared or subscribed calendar won't sync on an iPhone, it's usually the account it was added under, fetch settings, or a stale subscription. The fixes, in order of likelihood.
• Your webcal link isn't workingwebcal:// is just https:// with a hint to open your calendar app. When a webcal link does nothing or errors, it's the handler app, the underlying URL, or the platform. The fixes.
• That .ics file won't open (or lands in the wrong place)When an .ics file won't open, imports into the wrong calendar, or shows no events: default app problems, malformed files, and the file-vs-feed confusion, with fixes.
• Your Outlook calendar subscription isn't updatingOutlook refreshes internet calendar subscriptions on its own schedule, differently in new Outlook, classic Outlook, and Outlook.com. What controls it and what to check.
• Removing a subscribed calendar from an iPhoneSubscribed calendars hide in different places on iOS depending on how they were added: Calendar accounts, profile settings, or a synced Google account. Where to look, in order.