Calendar Feeds, iCloud and CalDAV

Not everyone runs their life in Google or Outlook. Some staff just want their bookings to show up in Apple Calendar on their phone, and some keep their personal plans in iCloud. This module covers both: a private feed that puts a staff member’s appointments into any calendar app, and iCloud or CalDAV busy checks that stop customers booking over their own plans.

Turn on Calendar feeds and iCloud in Bookings → Settings → Modules. Staff set things up in Bookings → Staff → My calendar; managers use Bookings → Settings → Calendar feeds.

Create a Private Calendar Feed

1. On My calendar, find Private calendar feed and click Create my feed address.
2. Click Subscribe in a calendar app to open it in Apple Calendar or Outlook, or click Copy address and paste it into your calendar app’s subscribe-by-address option.

The feed is read-only and needs no sign-in, so treat the address like a password. Anyone who has it can read that schedule.

• What’s in it: that staff member’s confirmed, completed and no-show appointments, from 30 days ago to 400 days ahead (up to 2,000). Cancelled, pending and other people’s bookings never appear.
• Each event: the service title, time, the service’s location text, the booking reference and a link to the appointment in the dashboard (which still asks for a login). A group session is one event with its total seats.
• Never in it: meeting links, so a leaked address can’t expose join links.
• Customer names: hidden unless a manager ticks Include customer names and seats in staff feeds and clicks Save feed settings.

The feed asks calendar apps to refresh every 15 minutes, but each app sets its own pace. Google Calendar, for example, can take many hours.

Replace or Turn Off a Feed

• Create a new address replaces the link. The old one stops working at once, so update the subscription afterwards.
• Turn off my feed deletes it.
• Managers see every feed with its creation and last-read dates, and can Revoke feed with a Reason. They never see the address itself.

Connect iCloud or Another CalDAV Calendar

For iCloud you need an app-specific password, not your Apple Account password. Create one at account.apple.com first.

1. On My calendar, open Apple iCloud or CalDAV calendar and expand Connect a calendar.
2. Leave CalDAV server address as https://caldav.icloud.com/ for iCloud, or enter your provider’s HTTPS CalDAV address.
3. Enter the Username (your Apple Account email for iCloud) and the App-specific password, then click Connect calendar.
4. Under Check availability on these calendars, keep up to ten ticked and click Save CalDAV calendars.

The password is encrypted and never shown again. Nothing is ever written to these calendars: they only block time. Events marked free (transparent) or cancelled don’t block, and all-day events block the whole day.

When the Calendar Can’t Be Read

A CalDAV connection is required once it exists, the same as Google. If the server rejects the password, the connection shows Reconnect required, and that person’s online availability pauses until they act:

• Reconnect or change account to enter a fresh app-specific password. The calendar choices are kept.
• Remove this calendar and use local availability to drop the connection and the requirement.
• Disconnect and pause online availability to remove the credentials and stay paused.
• Managers can Force disconnect any staff connection with a reason.

Recurring events usually work, because the server expands them. If a server sends back an unusual repeat rule that Core Bookings can’t safely expand, availability pauses with a message instead of guessing. Simplifying that event fixes it.

Limits

• Feeds are per staff member. There’s no team-wide feed, because it would show one person’s schedule to another.
• CalDAV servers must use HTTPS on the standard port and a public address. Private network addresses are refused.
• CalDAV calendars are read live on every availability check, with no cache, so a slow server slows that person’s times.
• Turning the module off stops CalDAV checks and serves no feeds. Turning it back on restores existing feed addresses.
• Need two-way sync with events written to the calendar? Use Google Calendar or Microsoft 365.