Updated November 1st, 2022.
If the AOL calendar suddenly disappeared from your iPhone or iPad, or if you can’t figure out how to add it in the first place, this is the article for you.
The option to turn on the AOL calendar has disappeared
Note: I don’t know when this problem first came about, but it’s not tied to iOS 14. I see the same problem on an iPhone with iOS 12. Must be something that AOL changed at their end. All we know for sure is “the problem is here, now.”
In iOS 14, in the Settings app, if you go to Calendars, then Accounts, and then tap just about any non-AOL account (Yahoo, Google, iCloud) you’ll see a list of things you can turn on, including
- Contacts
- Calendars
- Reminders
- Notes
Here’s how it looks when you look at a Yahoo account. I don’t have the Yahoo calendar turned on, but at least I have the option.
But when you look at the options for an AOL account you only see Mail and Notes. Where’s the Calendar? (And while we’re at it, where are Contacts and Reminders?)
It doesn’t matter how you approach this– you can come in from Settings/Calendar/Accounts/AOL or from Settings/Mail/Accounts/AOL or from Settings/Contacts/Accounts/AOL and you’ll see the same thing: options for Mail and for Notes, but nothing else. (iOS 12 and iOS 13 users would go to Settings/Passwords & Accounts/AOL but they’d still be missing the option to turn on Calendars.)
How to get your AOL calendar onto your iPhone and iPad
The amount of mis-information on this topic is vast, and some of it comes from AOL itself. For example, their help page says:
AOL Calendar is only available on desktop web browsers and AOL Desktop Gold.
https://help.aol.com/articles/aol-calendar-faqs
Not true! (I’ll prove it to you in a moment– that’s the point of this article, after all).
You might think that deleting your AOL account from your iPhone and adding it again would solve things, but it won’t: if you delete your AOL account and add it again you’ll end up in the same place so don’t bother going through that exercise.
Here’s what really works.
- First, leave your AOL account on your iPhone (or iPad) alone. You don’t need to mess with that at all.
- Using a web browser, go to the Security section of your AOL Account settings and create “an app password.” More on that later.
- Go to Settings on your iPhone, then (for iOS 14 users) Calendar/Accounts/Add Account/Other (iOS 12 and 13 users follow a slightly different path: Settings/Passwords & Accounts/Add Account/Other. Whether you’re on iOS 14 or not, the next step is “Add CalDAV account.” More on that later too.
Here are the details. Step 1 (leave your AOL account alone): that’s easy, just leave it alone. Step 2 (create an app password) needs some explanation.
AOL has ideas about what’s a secure app and what’s not, and they’ve decided that the iPhone’s Calendar app is not secure. Apple obviously disagrees. I don’t know enough to break the tie but I do know I want my AOL calendar on my iPhone. Fortunately, AOL allows us to put our AOL calendars onto our iPhones and iPads, if we first make a special password for doing so. It sounds hard but it’s merely a little messy– and once done, you can forget about it.
Here’s how to do it.
First, go to the Account Security section of your AOL Account page. The only way I know to do this is to get on a web browser, sign into AOL.com, then click your name up at the top of the web page. That produces the Accounts page. Click where it says “Account Security.” If you want a shortcut, use this link.
You’ll see this:
The part we care about is outlined in red above. You want to add an app password. You can click just about anywhere in the area I’ve outlined in red and produce a box like this:
Then, choose an app from the menu in that box (I chose “iPhone Calendar”), then click Generate. You’ll get something like this:
Write down that password. You’ll use it in a moment. And save it somewhere, because you might need it again someday.
By The Way: generating an app password does not change your “real” AOL password. It’s used only for making a particular app work. If your AOL password is “mistersnuffleupugus” and you generate an app password that’s “abcd efgh ijkl mnop” you will still use “mistersnuffleupugus” for everything having to do with AOL, other than for this one specific app.
IMPORTANT: ignore AOL’s instructions about “How to use this app password.” Also important: despite the way the app password is presented to you, there are no spaces in it. When you go to enter the password (next step), do NOT enter spaces. Seriously.
Now we’re ready for Step 3 (adding a calendar account).
Go to Settings, and if you’re on iOS 14, go to Calendar, and then Accounts. (iOS 12 and 13 users: go to Settings, then Passwords & Accounts.) Scroll to the bottom of the Accounts and tap “Add Account.” Then– this is where the magic happens– don’t tap “Aol.” Instead, tap “Other.”
We’re adding a calendar-type account, so go to to the Calendars section and tap “Add CalDAV Account.”
In the Server box, type “caldav.aol.com” as shown in the image above. For User Name, put in your AOL address (including the “@aol.com” part). In the Password box put in the App Password you generated (and wrote down). No spaces, remember? In the Description box you can leave it as is, or write “AOL Calendar” or anything else you want. The Description is just for you, so you can find it in the list of accounts someday.
Now tap “Next” at the top right corner. If you got everything right you’ll get a nice check mark next to everything, like so:
Then you can turn on the Calendars switch (if it’s not on already) and then click Save and you are D-U-N done. Enjoy having your AOL calendar on your iPhone (or iPad).
Why this works
AOL uses a standard calendar data format called “CalDAV.” CalDAV isn’t an AOL format; it’s a format used industry-wide. Fortunately, the iPhone and iPad know how to handle CalDAV, and fortunately we know how to add such a thing.
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Thank you so much!!!! I had literally spent hours trying to figure this out. I so wish I had found your article first. I had it fixed in five minutes. I so appreciate your knowledge. Thanks again!!
As it happens, I wrote the article today, thanks to someone sending in a question, so it would have been hard to read my article first!
It took ME a while to figure out how to get the calendars into the iPhone. Didn’t help that AOL’s documentation says it can’t be done.
Glad you have the calendar working. Your comment made my day.
I cannot get mine to connect. It fails every time. I get Unable to verify account information.
Give me some details and I’ll try to help you.
Hi Christian – I’m also having trouble. After a few seconds of ‘verifying’, I get a screen back that says: “Cannot connect using SSL. Do you want me to try setting up the account without SSL?” “Cancel” or “Continue”. I am reluctant to have a connection that is not SSL?
Hi Rick. Did you delete the AOL account from your iPhone, and then start over? Or… ?
I follow your instructions to the letter. I have tried both leaving the generated password up and finishing on AOL, and then set up the caldav account on my phone (iphone SE). I first get the screen “Cannot Connect Using SSL” “Do you want to try setting up the account without SSL” “Cancel” or “Connect”. Of course I choose “Connect”, and then I get the screen “Calendar Account” CalDAV account verification failed”. I have tried to regenerate the password, and get the same. I have tried turning of my WiFi and just use cellular data, but get the same.
Thanks,
Ashley
Have you tried deleting the account from your iPhone, and adding it again?
I did. Several times…hahaha
Several times…hahaha
Hmmmm.This shouldn’t be so hard. Delete the AOL account from the iPhone, go to aol.com and create an app password, add the account back to the iPhone and use the app password you just made. If I understand correctly this is what you did. Is that right? Any other details– such as, you have it working on your Mac, or on your iPad, but not on the iPhone?
Yes, that is what I did. I don’t have a Mac or iPad, so I cannot test it on anything else. Sorry.
Let’s work this out together. We can do a Zoom call and share your iPhone screen. Possibly this week.
My very simple thought is thank goodness for people like you that can help after AOL gave me the run around through many different reps. Bless you, thank you and……………………………..keep fighting the good fight:).
Wow, you made my day with this. Thank you.
Is the verification failed issue solved?
Depends on why one gets a “verification failed” message. You probably won’t make the AOL calendar work with a very old macOS. You might make it work with a less-old one if you delete and reinstall the AOL account, and you use an app-specific password.
I did exactly what you described and everything worked (got the check marks). But unlike you said, it changed my AOL password for my email and now my email doesn’t work.
Very interesting. I see we have an appointment tomorrow — we will sort it out then.
I did this. Thanks so much. I have been going crazy trying to figure this out. So now if someone sent me invites will they have to send again?
Fantastic! Maybe you’ll see the calendar invitations in the Calendar’s toolbar (a number in a red circle). Click that, if you see it.
Sir, you are a genius. Thank you. I’m saving your site. I need you I’ll buzz…
Once the AOL CALENDAR is set up on iPhone and iPad, are they synced to any AOL CALENDAR on any device?
That’s how it’s supposed to work! Technically, synced to the AOL server, which then pushes the calendar stuff down to the other devices.
Hello Christian, I followed the steps but on my iPhone it says “password Incorrect” I tried the new password for the specific app and also my regular password and none of them work.
If your iPhone is fairly new you don’t need the app-specific password. Which system is your iPhone on? And, if you DO need the app-specific password, you have to put it in without the spaces. So if the app-specific password is “abcd efgh ijkl mnop” you’d enter “abcdefghijklmnop”. Also, you have to generate an app-specific password for the Mail app on EACH device you have– you can’t use the same app-specific password on two devices.
Followed the steps and adding the account using your steps, worked. But this I mean, no errors. But, appointments on my AOL calendar are not appearing on the iPhone.
I tried adding an appointment to my AOL calendar from my windows machine, and one from my iPhone. (same AOL account). But neither appointment is appearing on the other device.
Thoughts?
See if this article helps.
https://christianboyce.com/add-aol-calendar-iphone-ipad/
Dear Mr Boyce,
Like most of the other users who followed your terrific instructions to obtain their AOL calendars on their iPhones, I too would like to sincerely thank you.
I followed all of the instructions successfully, and now have the caldav.aol.com server, my username, and my AOL-generated password configured as my “AOL iPhone Calendar“.
Stupidly, however, I can’t figure out how to locate the calendar on my iPhone. It doesn’t show up in the AOL app, and the generic Calendar app on the iPhone is the same one as before. I went into Settings, then Calendar, and then set Default Calendar as the AOL iPhone Calendar that, again, I believe is correctly configured – the screen shows that calendar with a green check-mark.
I’m sure there’s some simple manoeuvre that I’m not clever enough to figure out in order to access the AOL calendar on my iPhone.
Many thanks again for your help – it’s refreshing to find information so clear and useful as yours.
Kind regards,
JK
You need to do one more thing: go to the Calendar app on your iPhone, then tap “Calendars” at the bottom of the screen, then turn on the AOL calendar that you created.
Thank you! I’m switching from a PC to a Mac & trying to get all my calendar entries to sync. Zoom meeting invited that went to my MacBook were through an AOL Calendar, and they wouldn’t sync to my iPad and Iphone. Your article, with clear and complete steps, saved the day! Everything links now.
Fantastic!
I did all these steps! Thank you btw! I was wondering how long it takes to show up or syync with Outlook i lCloud calendar or if there is another step after these that I must take?
Hi Christine. Is the AOL calendar showing up in Outlook yet? If not, let’s figure out what needs to be done.
Hi Christian! It is! I got an error message the next day that iCloud add-in was disabled due to slow start up for Outlook and it asked if I wanted it enabled. I did and voila! Everything repopulated back to 2000! Thank you so much for the information on how to add the dummy AOL account with the calendar. I had to do that several years back and could not remember how it was done! You were a life saver! Please enjoy a coffee on me!
That’s awesome! Thank you for the coffee!
I’ve seen that “slow startup” message before and you did the right thing by enabling it.
Hello
I followed your steps and it works on iPhone but not iPad. OS 15.4.1
I tried using the same password and two different ones. On my iPad native calendar app, it says. Unable to connect to account. Under Caldav.aol.com
Did you make a separate app-specific password for the iPad? I don’t think you can use the same one for two devices. Keep me posted.
Hi Cristian, You helped me back in February restore my AOL calendar to my iphone and ipad and Outlook. Something happened and my Outlook stopped updating. I followed the steps again and although I can see my calendar on my iphone, it is no longer syncing with my Outlook 2019. Can you give me any advice?
I’d delete the calendar from your Outlook and add it again. This might mean deleting it in System Preferences/Internet Accounts first. As long as you know how to sign into the account there’s no harm in deleting and re-adding.
So I found our previous emails and followed what I could remember. I removed the icloud add in and then went into my icloud account and unchecked and rechecked the calendar, mail box. Went back in to Outlook at reactivated the add in and it repopulated. In case any one asks you for a fix in the future . . .
Wouldn’t verify for me, after deleting the AOL account and trying again. Tried all fixes below, but still won’t verify…
Did your problem have to do with not being able to generate an app password? That seems to be the issue for everyone now.
I wonder: did you have to make an “App Password” and if so, how did you do it? The “make an App Password” mechanism at AOL seems to be broken.
I followed your directions, and the CalDAV now shows up and the Calendar Toggle is ON. Everything seemed to work fine, but I cannot locate the actual Calendar App anywhere on the iPhone, and it’s not showing up within the AOL App. Is there somewhere else where it will appear ?
You may have hidden it, or even deleted it. Go to the App Store and download it again (it’s the one from Apple, not anything else). Use this link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/calendar/id1108185179.
Worked! Thanks!
I followed the above steps and it worked…but now I cannot find the Calendar anywhere….?
On the iPhone or the iPad, go to the Calendar app, then look for “Calendars” (it’s at bottom center on the iPhone) and then look for AOL and put a check mark next to it.
Thank you for the response! It is checked….but there is just the blank iPhone app calendar. None of my data that is in my calendar on my laptop….
Now we need to see things from the Mac side. I’m sure we can make this work. Send me an email directly and let’s do it.
I don’t use a Mac. But yes I’ll try to connect w you. I’m recently laid off and it’s killing me to not have a calendar on my phone! Thank you for being so proactively helpful.
This worked like a charm–thank you! The chance of me figuring this out without this easy step-by-step guidance is about the same as the chance that I’d buy my wife a dress that she would ever wear.
Fantastic! That’s just great.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! 🙏
You’re welcome, you’re welcome, you’re welcome!
Hi Christian
I lost access to my calendar on my iphone and tried the following:
deleted the caldav.aol.com from my iphone and rebooted my iphone
followed your instructions and am having an issue synching my calendar
I can enter events on my iphone and they sync to my calendar ok, but i can’t get the events on my AOL calendar to sync to my iphone.
Thoughts??
I am also seeing that. Events made on AOL.com do not show up in the iPhone’s Calendar app. However… they DO show up in the iPhone app “Fantastical.” So, you have a solution (use Fantastical), and you also have hope that it will work with Calendar because if Fantastical works, there’s nothing keeping Apple from making Calendar work also.
thank you for your answe
As if by magic, my AOL calendar started synching with my iPhone Calendar app again today! How about for you?
yes, mine did too…..
Super. I wonder what was going on. That’s a good reminder that a problem that shows up out of the blue might be caused by someone other than you, and is someone else’s issue to fix!
I am having the same problem with integrating my calendar with the IPhone but my problem (which I did not see in prior comments) is that I am a customer with Verizon, which transferred its email customers to Aol some years ago, so I continue to have a Verizon.net email address but get my service through aol.com. I tried your suggestion using both my verizon.net address and using an aol.com address, but neither works. Any suggestions, or am I out of luck?
Have you tried the “app-specific password” with your account?
Hello. I’ve tried your suggestions a number of times. Created the “special app password” many times. Used caldav.aol.com. Have had AOL from the beginning and my desktop calendar events always showed up on my Iphone calendar. But as of about 10 days ago when New AOL mail showed up new format for setting events on my desktop but Iphone calendar nada nada nada. I’ve tried every possible suggestion and anything else from my brain. I will investigate Fantastical.And BTW, the sync function on the calendar is useless.
For me, it worked, then it didn’t for a few days, then it did again. Seems as if it’s something at AOL’s end. I hope it’s working for you now too.
I went through all these steps and it logged in, but then I got multiple invites for spam calendar events. Any idea why or how to fix that? I deleted it after the invites kept popping up.
Interesting. So, thanks to someone sending you spam calendar invitations, you can’t use your synced calendar at all. Not good! Hopefully those invitations would stop someday…