iLounge

By Charles Starrett

Senior Editor, iLounge
Published: Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Tip Category: iPad, iPhone, iPod

So you’d like to share a calendar with a family member or spouse, but that person doesn’t want to deal with the alarms you set for yourself. Signing into your account on the other person’s device sounds like an ideal solution, but unfortunately, you can’t turn off the alarms on an iOS device, so unless that other person doesn’t mind hearing an audible alert every time you’ve got a meeting, it’s not a workable solution.

There is a workaround, though. If you set the calendar in question to be shared publicly by visiting iCloud.com and hitting the small “broadcast” button next to the calendar, you’ll be given a highly obscure URL that the other person can use to subscribe in iCal, choosing “Remove Alarms” when they add it. If the other person isn’t a Mac user, they can subscribe to the URL directly from their iOS device by entering the URL in Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Add Accounts > Other > Add Subscribed Calendar, and choosing the “Remove Alarms” option. Once that’s done, they’ll have access to your complete calendar, but without the potential annoyance of unnecessary alarms.