Mar 2, 2026

How to Subscribe to a Calendar in Google Calendar (URL / .ics)

You found a calendar you want to follow — sunrise and sunset times, a sports schedule, a holiday calendar, your kid’s school events — and someone gave you a URL ending in .ics. Now you need to get it into Google Calendar so the events actually show up.

Google Calendar supports subscribing to external calendars by URL. Once you add one, it automatically pulls in new events without you doing anything. Here’s how to set it up.

Open Google Calendar on your computer
On the left sidebar, find Other calendars and click the + icon next to it
Select From URL
Paste the calendar URL (it should end in .ics)
Click Add calendar

That’s it. The events will start appearing on your calendar within a few minutes to a few hours. Google Calendar refreshes subscribed calendars periodically — usually every 12 to 24 hours — so new events may not show up instantly.

The Google Calendar mobile app doesn’t support adding calendars by URL directly. You have two options:

Option 1: Use your phone’s browser

Open Chrome (or any browser) on your phone
Go to calendar.google.com
If it loads the mobile version, tap the menu and select Desktop site
Follow the desktop steps above

Option 2: Do it on a computer

Add the calendar URL from any computer using the desktop steps. Since Google Calendar syncs across devices, the subscribed calendar will appear on your phone automatically.

Troubleshooting

Events aren’t showing up

Google Calendar can take up to 24 hours to fetch events from a new subscription. If nothing appears after a day, double-check the URL — make sure it ends in .ics and loads when you paste it directly into a browser.

Events are outdated

Google Calendar refreshes subscribed calendars on its own schedule (roughly every 12–24 hours). There’s no way to force a manual refresh. If you need faster updates, some calendar apps like Apple Calendar let you set a custom refresh interval.

The calendar disappeared

Look under Other calendars in the left sidebar. It may be there but unchecked. Click the checkbox next to it to make events visible again.

Any calendar published as an .ics feed works. Common examples:

Sunrise and sunset calendars — daily sunrise and sunset events for your city
Sports schedules — your team’s game times, updated as the season progresses
Holiday calendars — national or regional holidays
School calendars — academic schedules and events
Public event schedules — conferences, meetups, community events

The calendar owner maintains the feed, and your Google Calendar picks up changes automatically.