CalCollapse

Setting it up

Nine screens if you connect Google, fewer if you paste a webcal or upload an .ics file instead. The one that takes longest is the second, and only because it happens on Apple’s site rather than ours. Google is optional: after iCloud you can skip those two screens and paste a subscription URL or upload a file.

  1. Sign in with Apple

    This only identifies you. It gives us no access to your calendars at all — that comes later, and separately.

    The CalCollapse sign-in page, with a single Sign in with Apple button.

  2. Open Sign-In & Security at account.apple.com

    In a second tab, sign in to your Apple Account and find App-Specific Passwords at the bottom of the Sign-In & Security page.

    Apple's Sign-In and Security page, showing the App-Specific Passwords panel.

  3. Generate one, and name it CalCollapse

    The name is only a label for your own records. It is what you will look for later if you decide to revoke it.

    Apple's Generate App-Specific Password dialog with the name CalCollapse typed in.

  4. Copy the password Apple shows you

    Four groups of four letters. Apple shows it once and never again, so copy it before closing the dialog.

    Apple's dialog showing a newly generated app-specific password, blurred out.

  5. Connect iCloud

    Back on CalCollapse, enter your Apple ID and paste the app-specific password. Your normal Apple ID password will not work here, which is the point of the other one.

    The CalCollapse iCloud page, with the Apple ID and app-specific password filled in.

  6. Connect a Google account

    Optional. Connect as many as you like, or skip this and paste a webcal URL on the next screen instead. Each Google account is a separate authorization, and you can disconnect any of them without touching the others.

    The CalCollapse Google accounts page, with a Connect a Google account button.

  7. Give Google’s consent screen read access

    The one permission asked for is reading your calendars. There is no box here that would let us write to Google, and we never do.

    Google's consent screen, granting CalCollapse read access to Google Calendar.

  8. Pair a calendar with an iCloud one

    Choose a Google calendar, paste a webcal URL, or upload an .ics file, and pick which of your existing iCloud calendars its events should land in. Several sources can share the same destination. Events arrive labelled with the calendar’s own name, in front of every title — [Work] Team standup — so you can tell where each one came from once they are all in one place.

    The CalCollapse Add a calendar form, pairing a Google calendar with the Home calendar on iCloud.

  9. That is setup

    The first sync runs immediately, and after that within a minute of any change. The run log underneath tells you what each one moved.

    The CalCollapse dashboard, showing one synced calendar pair and two entries in the run log.

Still deciding? The questions cover what flows where, what we store, and how to take access back.