4 Things You Didn’t Realize Your iPhone Calendar Could Do

The Calendar app on the iPhone is an integral part of any Apple user’s organization and productivity, which is why many iPhone users are pretty familiar with its basic functionality. Everyone knows how to add an event and set it for your desired time and date slots. If you’ve alreadyactivated Siri on your iPhone, you may even be familiar with how to edit appointments and add contacts to events just by talking to Siri.

However, there are even cooler things the Calendar app can do. Some of these features (such as Time to Leave) came with iOS 16, and you may have missed them as you were busy trying out the more exciting updates. Learning more about Calendar on iOS can boost your productivity and help you get more out of your schedule. So, we’ll help out by pointing out some features on the app you might have missed.

A hand holding an iPhone with a GPS on screen

Time to Leave and Travel Time notifications

Have you ever scheduled an event on your calendar and realized, upon leaving, that there’s too much traffic and you’re going to be late? Well, Apple has anticipated that for you and integrated the Time to Leave feature into Calendar.

It works in tandem with Apple Maps and will study the route to your destination. After watching the traffic in real-time, it will suggest via a notification when the best time to leave is so you can get to where you’re going in time.

A woman on a FaceTime call with a doctor

Here’s how to use it:

Now, you’ll be notified when your iPhone figures out the best time to leave.

A similar feature is Travel Time, which works out how long it will take for you to get to your destination. Check out our guide onhow to factor travel time on your Apple Calendarto see how to do it on your iPhone and Mac.

Subscribed Calendars in iPhone Settings

Attach documents and invite people to events

If you’re hosting something like a professional online meeting, Apple Calendar can serve as a great place to send out invites and give guests important event information. After you send out invites, the guests can see the documents you attach to the event. It’s a good way to ensure everyone in the meeting has access to meeting notes, spreadsheets, and any other important information that may not be in the event’s description.

Here’s how to send out invites and add attachments to events:

Graphic of a plane flying over a map with clocks representing time zones

You can add multiple attachments, so don’t feel restricted to one.

Subscribe to third-party calendars (it could also be used maliciously)

You may already be aware that you can add new calendars to your Calendar. When you tap Calendars on the home page of the Calendar app, you’ll see a page of all the calendars you currently have displayed on the app with their attributed color codes. Tap Add Calendar in the bottom-left corner to add a new calendar.

Following the instructions above will open up a menu that will display three options:

With the following results:

Use a different time zone when scheduling events

With more teams working online, time zones have become a very important part of planning events. It’s so fundamental that online work platforms like Slack have integrated provisions so that you can know what time it is for members of the team.

Apart from international teams, you may use the time zone features in calendars to schedule events if you have to travel to another country for that event. Apple has its own solution in Calendar, which you can use if you know how.

Here’s how to use a different time zone to schedule an event:

The event will show up in the accurate time slot for your current time zone, helping you plan for appointments that are hosted in other countries.