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Cannot import LDS calendars

Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2018 11:12 pm
by sebastian.buck
Hi,

it's really frustrating. I spent hours and hours without luck figuring out how to import and integrate LDS calendars into CalDAV clients. Yes, Google calendars are supported as are Outlook calendars. Those two clients work just fine.

IPhone import was impossible - at least if I followed the instruction given on lds.org.

The problem as it seems to me is that lds.org does not provide a link pointing to a proper ics file. The usual http://www.lds.org/church-calendar/serv ... oer4r32423... will redirect to an ics file but does not point directly toward it. This confuses many CalDAV clients and even services and programs which are able to process ics files without problems.

I spoke with LDS support about it. They couldn't really come up with a better solution. So I'm stuck with no real way to integrate LDS calendars into my smartphone's calendar or any webmail service which offers calendar functions that work fine with any ics or CalDAV address,

Does anybody has an idea?
And@LDS: Why not offer a simple standard conforming ics link?

Re: Cannot import LDS calendars

Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2018 7:08 pm
by bcchristensen
I followed the instructions on LDS.org to add my Church calendars to my iPhone and it has been working beautifully for a few years now. Here are the instructions I followed, taken from the Sync page under the Apple Calendar tab:

To one-way sync your Church calendar to your Apple Calendar calendar:
1. Copy the following URL:
<your personal calendar link will be displayed here>
(This URL is provided for your own personal use. It should not be shared with anyone else.)
2. Do the following on your iOS device.
3. Open the Settings application.
4. Select Mail, Contacts, Calendars. A list of existing accounts will display. <NOTE: On iOS 12 the option is “Passwords and Accounts” rather than “Mail, Contacts, Calendars”>
5. In the Accounts section tap Add Account. A list of account types will display.
6. Tap Other.
7. In the Calendars section tap Add Subscribed Calendar.
8. In the Server field paste in the URL displayed above and tap Next.
9. Once the URL has been verified change the Description to LDS Church Calendar. No other settings need to be changed.
10. Tap Save.
11. Open the Calendar application.
12. Tap on the Calendars. A list of calendars will be displayed.
13. Wait for the LDS Church Calendar to be displayed. It may take a little time to appear.
14. You can toggle the calendar display by adding or removing the check mark.
15. When finished tap Done.

I don’t know if this approach works for CalDAV clients, but it works for iPhones and iPads.

Re: Cannot import LDS calendars

Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2018 10:17 pm
by sebastian.buck
Thanks for the instructions. I had two people with iPhones try it and it worked in neither device. Don't know why the church makes it so difficult. I mean, a simple standard conforming .ics. file link should work with almost every device there is (except with Android which has no built-in CalDAV support, so you will need an additional app for it).

Re: Cannot import LDS calendars

Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2018 1:23 am
by russellhltn
I'd imagine the fact that it's not a static file, but something dyamic that created "on demand" has something to do with it. I'm sure it worked with iPhones at one time or we would have heard about it.