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My Google Calendar mobile app does not sync with my desktop Google Calendar

One of the main advantages of Google Calendar is how you can enter an event via the web interface and within seconds it is visible on your phone – or vice versa: add an event on your phone and woosh, there it is on Google Calendar on your computer.

Unfortunately, for some people that last situation doesn’t always occur – you add an event on your phone but it doesn’t appear on Google Calendar on your computer. Yet events that are added via Google Calendar on the computer are still showing up on the phone – so what on earth is going on?

What this usually means is you’re associating mobile events with the in-built calendar that came with your phone, rather than with Google Calendar. The only phone that comes with Google Calendar built-in, is the Pixel phone from Google. Every other phone has it’s own in-built calendar app and by default any events that you create on your phone, even if you’re using the Google Calendar mobile app, will remain in that phone-only database.

Very annoying, but luckily there’s a quick and simple fix to the problem.

Establish a link between Google Calendar on your mobile and Google Calendar on your PC

  • Create a dummy event on your phone
  • In the edit screen make sure the calendar icon Event says Events. If you don’t see that, tap the Event Calendar icon to switch to the correct calendar. The screenshot shows a meeting that has been properly linked to the Google Calendar.
screenshot of what is required to sync an event from mobile Google Calendar to PC Google Calendar
  • Save the event and confirm that it has synced to your PC. Once you’ve confirmed that, you can delete the dummy event.

What about all the events I already created? Do I have to re-create them manually to sync them to my PC?

Thankfully no, you won’t have to re-create your events. Do a search in either the Google Play or App Store for ‘export calendar events’ and you’ll find many different apps that will allow you to export your previously created items.

Once you’ve exported them, follow the import instructions in the Google Calendar help centre to add them to your Google Calendar on your PC.

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Comments

40 responses to “My Google Calendar mobile app does not sync with my desktop Google Calendar”

  1. I’m not seeing my reminders or tasks in my Google calendar – what’s going on?

    […] version?If it is the mobile app then check this article for Google Task issues and this article for Google Keep issues.If this is happening on the desktop/laptop then keep reading for the quick and easy (I promise!) […]

    Reply
    1. richard laroche Avatar
      richard laroche

      Bingo, worked perfectly everything got synced … thks a bunch

      Reply
  2. Al Todd Avatar
    Al Todd

    Tried every step you have mentioned for my Google Calendar on my Samsung S21 and it still won’t sync with my PC Google Calendar. MY PC Google Calendar does sync with my phone but not vice versa.

    Reply
    1. priya Avatar
      priya

      Hi Al,
      If you’re able to sync from the PC to the phone but not vice versa, then it usually means the events are being created on the Samsung calendar (called My Calendar). Can you try creating an event on the PC, and then editing it on your phone? If the changes come back through to the PC then you may not be associating new events with the Google Calendar when you create them on your phone. Check that the ‘Events’ calendar is selected in the details screen when you create your event on the phone.

      Reply
    2. Kimberly Wood Avatar
      Kimberly Wood

      Hi Al,

      I’m having the EXACT same problem as you. Were you able to resolve the issue? Is so, any help is appreciated!!

      my Google Calendar on my Samsung S21 will NOT sync with my PC Google Calendar. MY PC Google Calendar DOES sync with my phone but not vice versa.

      Reply
      1. priya Avatar
        priya

        Hi Kimberly, please try the following:
        1. Create an event on your computer
        2. Open the event on your phone and check what calendar name is listed there
        3. Create an event on your phone and make sure the same calendar name is listed when you create that event.
        Let me know if that newly created event syncs to your PC Google Calendar.

        Reply
      2. nik Avatar
        nik

        after creating the event, I have to tap it and change the Events email – don’t select “pc sync” option. Hope that helps

        Reply
        1. Rob Avatar
          Rob

          After days upon days – this helped me and solved it! Thanks from The Philippines

          Reply
    3. DJ Somers Avatar
      DJ Somers

      Same here, with my Galaxy s10 and Tab s4. I place all of my events into my s10 phone. That calendar syncs to my Google calendar on the s10 and the Tab s4. I need for all these events to sync to the Google calendar on my HP laptop. Surely there is a way to do this.

      Reply
  3. Margaret McGregor Avatar
    Margaret McGregor

    FAB FAB FAB – so simple and works for my phone to PC
    Thank you from Scotland

    Reply
    1. Priya Avatar
      Priya

      So glad it worked for you Margaret – hi from Australia!

      Reply
  4. Andrew Endean Avatar
    Andrew Endean

    I have imported my iPhone calendar to my google calendar app, but the imported entries do not show in my desktop google calendar. Can anyone help?

    Reply
    1. Priya Avatar
      Priya

      Hi Andrew, if the events are still assigned to your in-built Apple calendar then they won’t show up on the desktop Google Calendar. You’ll need to manually amend each event so that it is assigned to the ‘Events’ calendar.

      Reply
      1. Meg Avatar
        Meg

        how do we do that? same problem-all events show up on the app but not desktop google cal

        Reply
  5. Priya Avatar
    Priya

    So pleased it has helped you Ryan

    Reply
  6. Priya Avatar
    Priya

    Woo hoo – thanks for the raise recommendation; I’ll let my boss know :). Seriously though, glad i’ve been able to help

    Reply
  7. Priya Avatar
    Priya

    Glad you’ve got it working now Ken!

    Reply
  8. Neil Avatar
    Neil

    Thank you so much for your advice.
    Fortunately I found this problem early on with my new Realme 7 5G.
    Your fix worked brilliantly!
    Thank you!

    Reply
  9. Larry Avatar
    Larry

    How do I display and search All events on a mobile Android device beyond one year?

    Reply
    1. Priya Avatar
      Priya

      Hi Larry, unfortunately that’s not possible using the Google Calendar mobile app. You’d need to access your Google Calendar via the mobile browser and then search from there.

      Reply
  10. Bill Avatar
    Bill

    Thanks so much!!! Tried about 25 different websites with a variety of instructions and tips… none of which worked.

    This was perfect

    Reply
  11. Jim Avatar
    Jim

    Thanks,
    Like many others I tried a bunch of different recommendations. Only yours worked.

    Reply
  12. Mr Nigel Neat Avatar
    Mr Nigel Neat

    Hi Priya,

    My issue is similar to the issues above except my PC Google Calendar is fine in that I have events going back to 2016 but the Google calendar app on my phone is only showing events from May 2020. Tapping ‘sync now’ on hte phone app or PC version makes no difference.

    Reply
    1. Priya Avatar
      Priya

      Hi Nigel – for some reason (probably related to a time when mobile phone memory was at a premium) the Google Calendar mobile app only shows events up to 1 year in the past or 1 year in the future. If you want to see older events you’ll need to use the mobile browser to visit calendar.google.com

      Reply
      1. Mr Nigel Neat Avatar
        Mr Nigel Neat

        That explains it then! Many thanks for your help Priya

        Reply
  13. Geddy Avatar
    Geddy

    I’m using an email app (Nine) for work email and calendar events. It syncs with the Google calendar app locally on my phone so that I can use Google calendar to see my work and personal events together. Unfortunately, it does not sync with my Google calendar on a desktop, which is kind of a pain. Your method works to show the work events in my Google desktop calendar (thanks for the very clear instructions). Since this is an exported file and not a link, I assume that I’ll need to keep updating it manually like this to incorporate any new events or changes down the road for my work calendar to show up on the desktop calendar?

    Reply
    1. Priya Avatar
      Priya

      Hi Geddy, unfortunately yes, if you don’t have a link to the work calendar then you’ll have to keep doing these steps. However, if there’s an online version with a URL that you can access you should be able to add that calendar to your Google Calendar desktop version – then it will show both there and on your mobile app.

      Reply
  14. Kara Avatar
    Kara

    I have been sitting here for like 20 minutes trying to figure this out. You have saved me. THANK YOU SO MUCH.

    Reply
  15. Dave Avatar
    Dave

    These Steps Worked Perfectly on my Samsung S20 Ultra. I went from no Android Phone to PC Google Synching to real-time synching – with the simple change outlined in this article. 5 Stars! 5 Stars! 5 Stars!

    Reply
  16. Jayne Avatar
    Jayne

    Worked perfectly, thanks.

    Reply
  17. kathleen Avatar
    kathleen

    thank you! That fixed it 🙂

    Reply
  18. Megan Avatar
    Megan

    Thank you so much! Out of all the things I tried today yours was the only one that actually fixed the problem! As a busy mom my calendar is my lifeline… I need it to be correct on the go and at home. Thank you again!

    Reply
  19. Pamela Meadows Avatar
    Pamela Meadows

    Thank you so much from London. This finally enabled me to track down the problem. Mine was made worse as I do my entries in ACalendar+ rather than directly in the Google Calendar app (essentially Samsung calendar had hijacked the default for entries via ACalendar+). I was able to manually copy the missing items to Events in Google Calendar app, and they then appeared in desktop. Deleted the My Calendar events, so no longer duplicates in the Google Calendar app. then reset ACalendar+ to treat Google Calendar as primary calendar, entered dummy event. Boom! All now good.

    Reply
    1. Priya Avatar
      Priya

      Excellent news Pamela – I’m so glad it’s all working for you now!

      Reply
  20. sarah ash Avatar
    sarah ash

    Hi, i can’t seem to figure out how to sync already created events on the google calender app on my iPhone to the google calender on my desktop…

    Reply
    1. Priya Avatar
      Priya

      Hi Sarah, if these events are associated with the in-built Apple calendar, then you’ll need to re-create them either in the mobile app (making sure you associate them with the Google ‘Events’ calendar) or on the desktop. Then you’ll need to delete the original events.

      Reply
  21. Meg Avatar
    Meg

    Hi, is there any way to fix icloud calendar not showing up on google calendar desktop? (it shows up on google app on my iphone)

    Reply
  22. Tom Munsch Avatar
    Tom Munsch

    The suggested fix did not work for me but I had recently changed my Google photo on my PC and I noticed that it had not changed on my Samsung google account. I deleted the Samsung account and then recreated it. It then had the right photo and the fix works. I started working with computers in 1968 and my boss warned me that when you change something on a computer “it will probably bite you in the ass”. It’s now 55 years later and the warning is still true”

    Reply
  23. Megan Avatar
    Megan

    Im back 🙁 This worked for me in Dec but now it’s acting up again and not syncing either way (pc to phone OR phone to pc). I had to do a phone update so that probably messed it up but I can’t figure out what is stopping the sync. It shows my gmail address and im fairly sure i have all the samsung stuff off. HELP!

    Reply
    1. Priya Avatar
      Priya

      Hi Megan, if calendar isn’t syncing either way then there’s probably a problem with the phone sync overall. Are all your other Google products syncing ok?

      Reply

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