Setting Up Calendars

How do calendars work in Timepage?

There are a few layers to this, so let’s break it down.

1. You have a Bonobo account which stores things like your subscription, preferences, Actions and Flow documents. But what about your calendar events, you ask? Read on!
2. Your calendar events are stored in your Calendar Accounts. These are services like iCloud, Google, Microsoft Exchange, Outlook or whatever other calendars you have connected to your Apple device. This means you can use Timepage alongside any other calendar system (like a work or family computer).
3. Each Calendar Account can contain multiple Calendars. For example, you might add your iCloud Calendar Account, which has a Home and Family calendar, each with its own events. In addition, you may add a Google Calendar which has School and Work calendars.
4. Event syncing is automatic. When you edit an event in Timepage, it syncs changes across any device connected to your Calendar Accounts. When you edit an event in a separate app, Timepage will sync the updates. Usually this is almost instant but sometimes it may take a moment depending on your setup.
5. Each device needs the same Calendar Accounts. If you want to use Timepage across multiple devices (iPhone, iPad, and Mac), each one needs to have the same Calendar Accounts set up. Apple Watch automatically uses your iPhone settings.
6. Timepage requires permission to access your calendars. Without permission, we can’t display your events.

In a nutshell:

• Timepage does not store your events in your Bonobo account, they are stored by your Calendar Accounts
• You can enter and edit events and they will sync across any device that has your Calendar Accounts setup
• We do store your Actions and Flow documents in your Bonobo account and you will need to be signed in on all devices to see them in Timepage

How to show a calendar account on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch

Here’s how to make sure Timepage has all the events you want to see:

1. On your iPhone or iPad, go to the Settings App > Apps > Calendar.
2. Tap Accounts > Add Account.
3. Do one of the following:

• Choose a service: Tap a service—for example, iCloud or Microsoft Exchange—then enter your account information.
• Add a calendar account: Tap Other, tap Add CalDAV Account, then enter your server and account information.
• Subscribe to iCal (.ics) calendars: Tap Other, tap Add Subscribed Calendar, then enter the URL of the .ics file to subscribe to; or import an .ics file from Mail.

Hot tip: If your account is already in this list check to see if your Calendars are turned off. To turn them back on:

1. Tap on the account
2. Switch Calendars On

How to set up Timepage Calendars on Apple Watch

Apple Watch will show anything you have set up for your iPhone, so you do not need to do any separate setup.

How to show a calendar account on Mac

1. Open System Settings (macOS Ventura and later) or System Preferences (earlier versions).
2. Navigate to Internet Accounts.
3. Select an existing account and enable Calendars or click Add Account to connect a new calendar service.
4. Choose Google, iCloud, Exchange, Outlook, or Other.
5. Sign in and enable Calendars.

How to show which calendars are visible

Once your Calendar Accounts are set up on each of your devices, Timepage will be able to see the list of calendars for each account.

On iPhone and iPad

1. In Timepage go to the Menu (tap … from Timeline screen)
2. Tap Calendars > Setup Calendars
3. Tap a Calendar name to show (tick) or hide (untick)
4. Only Calendars that are visible will show their events

On Mac

1. In Timepage, go to Settings > Calendars
2. Tap the checkbox on each calendar you wish to show

Choose a Default Calendar

Tap the Default Calendar to choose a different one from the list. You can only choose from visible calendars. When you create a new event in Timepage, it will save it to this calendar unless you change it.

Calendar Colour Setup

1. Tap the colored circle next to the Calendar name to choose a new color.
2. Choose from different palettes (Mono, Vivid, Pastel, Muted, Dark)
3. Confirm your selected color by tapping the tick button, or tap Back to retain the existing color.

Tip: You can match colors that have been set somewhere else to the closest color in Timepage by turning on “Auto match colors to Timepage colors”.

Troubleshooting sync between devices

If you are seeing different calendar events across your devices, here are the things to check:

Calendar Accounts need to be identical

If you are using multiple devices (e.g. an iPhone and iPad), each device needs to have an identical Calendar Accounts setup. For example, if you have your Google Calendar Account set up on your iPhone, you also need to set it up on your iPad to get seamless device syncing.

The easiest way to check this is to open the Settings App > Apps > Calendar > Calendar Accounts on all of your devices side-by-side and check they are identical. Make sure you tap on each account you want to use and make sure Calendars is turned On.

Make sure Visible Calendars are the same on every device

If you’ve confirmed your Calendar Accounts are identical between devices, you can then check that your Visible Calendars are also the same.

Put your devices next to each other and open Timepage > Menu > Calendars > Setup Calendars. Make sure the list of ticked (visible) calendars is identical between your devices.

Sync time

Timepage syncs your data as often as your device does. iCloud and Google are usually near instant but Exchange or other services may take a few minutes.

Sometimes, if your devices sync at different intervals, it may take a few minutes for everything to match. Here is how you can check how often your device fetches new data:

1. On your iPhone or iPad, go to the Settings App > Apps > Calendar > Calendar Accounts > Fetch New Data
2. Where possible, set each account to ‘Push’ as this is fastest.
3. Set the ‘Fetch’ schedule to choose how often data is synced.

Some services (like iCloud and Gmail) support Push for near-instant updates, but some accounts (like certain Outlook/Exchange configurations) only allow Fetch.

If ‘Push’ is unavailable for your account, your device will check for updates at the interval you set in ‘Fetch New Data.’

Allow System Permission

Timepage requires your permission to access calendars on each device that you use. When you first open Timepage we’ll ask for this permission and hopefully you said yes, however if you accidentally said no…let’s fix it!

iPhone and iPad

1. Go to the Settings App > Privacy & Security > Calendars
2. Tap Timepage then select Full Access

Mac

1. Go to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Calendars.
2. Find Timepage and enable calendar access.
3. If set to Add Only Access, tap Options and select Full Access

Can Timepage be used without giving this permission?

This is a bit of a deal-breaker. Timepage is a calendar app, so we need to see your calendar. Remember, your calendar data is stored by your Calendar Account provider (such as iCloud) so this permission is just for us to be able to show your events on-device, they aren’t sent to our servers.

Filtering out birthday calendar duplicates

You can tell Timepage what your birthday calendars are called so it can automatically hide duplicates, so your day isn’t cluttered with several reminders of the same person’s birthday. Go to Timepage > Menu > Calendars > Birthday Calendars then tap the default word “Birthdays” to change it. For example, your birthday calendar may be called ‘Bdays’ instead.