Adding your Switchdays calendar

Switchdays gives you a private link — a calendar “feed” — that you add to the calendar app you already use. Add it once and your days show up as their own calendar, keeping themselves up to date in the background. Nothing ever lands in your inbox, and there’s nothing to install.

i.

It’s read-only.

Your days appear automatically. You can’t edit them from inside your calendar app — you make changes in Switchdays, and they flow out to every calendar you’ve added the link to.

ii.

It’s its own calendar.

It arrives separately from your work and personal calendars, so you can give it a colour or hide it whenever you like.

iii.

It updates on your provider’s schedule.

Once added, the feed refreshes by itself — but how often is decided by your calendar app, not by us (see the questions below).

Add it to your calendar app

Pick your app and follow the steps — you only need to do it once.

Have your link to hand before you start. In Switchdays, go to Settings → Calendar delivery and use Copy link — or Open in default calendar on an iPhone or Mac.
Google Calendar

You’ll need to do this once on a computer — the Google Calendar phone app can’t add a calendar by link. Once added, it syncs to your phone automatically.

  1. On a computer, open Google Calendar.
  2. In the left sidebar, next to Other calendars, click the +, then choose From URL.
  3. Paste your Switchdays link (use Copy link in Switchdays).
  4. Click Add calendar.

Your days now appear under Other calendars, and show up on your phone within a few minutes.

Heads-up about Google’s timing

Google decides how often to check the feed for changes — often only once every several hours, sometimes up to a day — and there’s no “refresh now” button. If you change something in Switchdays, give Google time to catch up. This is a Google limitation, not a Switchdays one.

Apple Calendar iPhone & iPad

The quickest way: tap Open in default calendar in Switchdays and confirm the subscription. To add it by hand instead:

  1. Open the Calendar app and tap Calendars at the bottom of the screen.
  2. Tap Add Calendar, then Add Subscription Calendar.
  3. Paste your Switchdays link and tap Subscribe.
  4. Give it a name and colour, set Account to iCloud, then tap Add.

Tip: setting the account to iCloud means it shows up on all your Apple devices. Adding it on a Mac (below) does the same thing.

Apple Calendar Mac
  1. Open the Calendar app.
  2. In the menu bar, choose File → New Calendar Subscription.
  3. Paste your Switchdays link and click Subscribe.
  4. Give it a name and colour, choose how often it should refresh (every hour is a good choice), then click OK.

Tip: leave Location set to iCloud so the calendar appears on your iPhone and iPad too.

Outlook.com / Microsoft 365
  1. Open Outlook calendar in your web browser and sign in.
  2. In the left sidebar, click Add calendar.
  3. Choose Subscribe from web.
  4. Paste your Switchdays link, give it a name and colour, then click Import.

Your days appear under Other calendars and sync to the Outlook app on your phone automatically.

The Outlook phone app can’t add a calendar by link — add it on the web (above) and it’ll appear on your phone. New changes can take a few hours to show up.

Outlook for Windows desktop

New Outlook for Windows

It uses the same setup as Outlook on the web — follow the Outlook.com / Microsoft 365 steps above, and the calendar will appear in your desktop app.

Classic Outlook

  1. Go to File → Account Settings → Account Settings.
  2. Open the Internet Calendars tab and click New.
  3. Paste your Switchdays link and click Add.
  4. Give it a name and click OK.

Common questions

Why don’t my changes show up straight away?

Your calendar app refreshes the feed on its own schedule, and that timing is set by the app, not by Switchdays. Apple Calendar and Outlook usually update within a few hours; Google can take up to a day. The feed itself is always current the moment you make a change — it’s just a question of when your app next checks it.

Can I edit these events in my calendar app?

No — the feed is one-way and read-only, on purpose. It keeps Switchdays as the single source of truth, so the same accurate schedule reaches every device and every calendar you’ve added the link to. To change something, edit it in Switchdays and it’ll flow back out.

What’s the difference between the two links?

They point at the same calendar — only the start differs. The https:// link works everywhere: copy it and paste it in. The webcal:// link tells your device “open this in my calendar app”, which is what Open in default calendar uses — handy on iPhone and Mac. If one doesn’t work in your app, try the other.

Is my link private?

Treat it like a password. Anyone who has the link can see your schedule, so don’t post it anywhere public or share it with people you don’t trust. If a link is ever exposed, delete the feed in Settings and create a new one — the old link then stops working.

How do I remove it later?

Delete the subscribed calendar in your calendar app — the same place you’d remove any other calendar. Removing it there doesn’t change anything in Switchdays; you can always add the link again.