The calendar screen and display settings

3-1Changing months and years, and the year view

The calendar screen has two views: the month view, which shows one month, and the year view, which gathers all twelve months on one screen. Tap the month and year title at the top center to switch between the two. The arrow next to the title appears flipped in the year view.

Changing months and years

How you move between months depends on the device.

If the table is wider than the screen, swipe sideways to see all of it.

• In decorating mode, swiping sideways does not change the month. On iPad and Mac, where the “Previous month” / “Next month” buttons appear, you can change the month with the buttons while decorating.
• With VoiceOver, the month and year title has the actions “Previous month” / “Next month” (“Previous year” / “Next year” in the year view). Swipe up or down to pick an action, then double-tap to move.

Going back to today

Tap “Go to today” to open the month that contains today, and the today cell flashes once. In the year view, it returns to the month view and opens this month. If you are already looking at this month, the today cell still flashes.

Year view

The year view shows the twelve months of a year side by side as small calendars. The number of months in a row is 3 on iPhone, 4 on iPad (or a landscape screen), and 6 in a wide Mac window. All twelve months fit on one screen without scrolling.

If the table is wider than the screen, swipe sideways to see all of it.

• Tap a small month to open that month in the month view.
• Only the events and decorations of the calendar you are viewing (My calendar or a shared calendar) are drawn.
• Weather is not drawn in the year view.
• The Upcoming strip is hidden in the year view.

3-2Gesture table

The same gesture does different things in view mode and decorating mode. View mode is the normal screen, and decorating mode is what you enter by tapping the brush button.

View mode

If the table is wider than the screen, swipe sideways to see all of it.

On iPhone, pinching and spreading change the view by one step only when your fingers move far enough. A small finger movement does not change the view. While you pinch or spread with two fingers, the month does not change.

Decorating mode

If the table is wider than the screen, swipe sideways to see all of it.

• When you zoom while decorating, a chip showing the current zoom, such as “2x · Original size”, appears near the top of the screen. Tap or click the chip to return to the original size. This is the same on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
• Decorating and drawing always start at the original size (1x) when you open them again.
• On iPhone, the first time you enter decorating mode, the hint “Spread two fingers to zoom in up to 3x. While zoomed in, drag to move around.” appears.

The control bar you use after selecting a sticker, and drawing, are covered in “Chapter 8 Decorating (Pro)”.

3-3The day sheet

The day sheet gathers everything you kept for a day in one place. It opens when you tap a date cell. It also opens in these ways:

• Tap the Upcoming strip to open the day sheet for that event.
• In the month view on iPhone, spread two fingers on a date.
• Long-press a date cell, then tap “See all events”.
• Tap a notification about the other person's activity in a shared calendar. When all the changed events are on the same day, the day sheet for that day opens.

The date line at the top

The date stays fixed at the top in large type. On a holiday, a middle dot (·) and the holiday name follow the date. If lunar dates are turned on, the lunar date appears in small type below the date (“3-6 Holidays, lunar dates, and weather”).

Order of cards

The day sheet stacks cards from top to bottom in this order. A card does not appear if there is nothing for it that day.

If the table is wider than the screen, swipe sideways to see all of it.

On a day with nothing kept, you see “Nothing recorded yet” instead of 1 to 6, and “To-dos for this day” stays below it.

On iPhone and iPad, if you turned on “Steps”, a card with that day's steps sits above the other cards. If the Health app has no steps for that day, the card does not appear.

Closing and adding

• iPhone and iPad: Close with “Close” at the top left. The + at the top right opens a menu with “Add an event” and “Write a diary entry” (and “Log your period” if you turned on cycle tracking).
• Mac: “Close” and the + button are at the bottom of the sheet. The Esc key works as “Close”, and the Return key works as the + button. While you are typing in the “To-dos for this day” input line, the Return key saves the to-do.
• In a view-only calendar, there is no + button.

The date line and cards in the day sheet belong to the calendar you are viewing. A day sheet opened from “My calendar” holds My calendar's events and to-dos, and a day sheet opened from a shared calendar holds that calendar's events and to-dos.

Anniversaries and D-day are covered in “4-3 All-day, lunar, anniversaries, and D-day” in “Chapter 4 Events”, “To-dos for this day” in “Chapter 5 To-dos”, and the diary in “Chapter 6 Diary”.

3-4The Upcoming strip

The Upcoming strip is a thin capsule floating near the bottom of the month view. It shows upcoming events one at a time, in turn.

What the strip shows

One line shows the event icon (or a color dot), a badge with the days left, the event title, and the date and time.

• The badge color depends on the days left: pink for today, mint for tomorrow, and lavender after that.
• Anniversaries that repeat every year show the number of days counted from the start date (D+). Other events show the number of days left until that day (D-).
• When an anniversary's next 100-day milestone (for example, day 1000) is coming up, the nearest one is added to the strip.
• Long titles that don't fit slide sideways. You set how fast they slide with “Title scroll speed” (“3-5 「Calendar display」 settings”).

Which events go in the strip

• Up to 8 events within 120 days from today, nearest first.
• For a repeating event, only the next occurrence goes in.
• Only events from the calendar you are viewing go in. If you are viewing selected categories, only events from those categories go in.
• The strip changes its item every 7 seconds. This interval has nothing to do with “Title scroll speed”.

When you tap the strip

Tap the strip to open the day sheet for the date of the event it is showing.

When the strip doesn't appear

• If there are no upcoming events within 120 days, there is no strip.
• The strip is hidden in decorating mode, drawing mode, and the year view.
• On an iPad held sideways and in a Mac window, an “Upcoming” list opens in the right-hand column instead of the strip, so you see several events at once. Tap or click a row in the list to open that day sheet, or long-press it (Mac: right-click) to open the “Open event” · “Copy” · “Delete” menu.

3-5“Calendar display” settings

In Settings ▸ Calendar display, you set how the calendar looks. On the first Settings screen, “Week start, lunar, holidays, solar terms, weather, steps” is written under the row (Mac has no steps).

What's on this screen

If the table is wider than the screen, swipe sideways to see all of it.

On iPhone, these items are in order on one screen. On iPad and Mac, “Lunar dates” · “How often to show it” · “Holiday region” · the holiday color switch · “Solar terms” are grouped into one “Lunar dates, holidays, solar terms” row (“Lunar dates and holidays” in languages without solar terms). Tap or click that row to open a screen with these items.

First day of the week

“First day of the week” sets which weekday the calendar's first column starts on. At the bottom of the screen, it says “Choose which weekday your calendar starts on. A new install follows what's standard for your region.”

1. Tap Settings ▸ Calendar display ▸ “First day of the week”.

2. Choose Sunday, Monday, or Saturday.

3. In the “Change the first day of the week?” confirmation, tap “Change”.

The first day of the week applies to both the app and the calendars in Home Screen widgets.

Holiday color switch

Turn on “Show Sundays and holidays in red, Saturdays in blue”, and whichever theme you use, the date numbers of Sundays and holidays appear in red, and Saturdays in blue. Below the switch, it says “Applies to every theme. If your theme has its own Sunday, Saturday or holiday colors, those are used.”

If the table is wider than the screen, swipe sideways to see all of it.

• The starting value is off. When it is off, the calendar looks as the theme sets it. If you turn it on and then off, the theme's original look comes back.
• It applies to the calendar screen, Home Screen widgets, and the previews of decorated months in the year view.
• It is free.
• It applies to this device only. On another device, turn it on separately in that device's Settings ▸ Calendar display.

How to pick a theme's colors yourself is covered in “Chapter 9 Themes, fonts, and icons”.

Title scroll speed

“Title scroll speed” is “How fast event titles that don't fit slide sideways. Off keeps them still.”

• The starting value is “Medium”.
• Choose “Off”, and long titles don't slide; their ends are cut off with “…”.
• It applies to both the event bars in calendar cells and long titles in the Upcoming strip.
• The Upcoming strip changing to the next event every 7 seconds has nothing to do with this setting.

Calendar to open first

“Calendar to open first” in the “Opening the app” group sets which calendar appears first when you open the app. This item appears only when you have at least one shared calendar.

If the table is wider than the screen, swipe sideways to see all of it.

• At the bottom of the screen, it says “Choose which calendar opens first, on this device only. For Home Screen widgets, press and hold each widget to pick its calendar.”
• You set this separately on each device. For example, iPhone can open to My calendar and iPad to “Our Summer”.

3-6Holidays, lunar dates, and weather

Besides events, calendar cells also show holidays, lunar dates, solar terms, and weather. Holidays always appear, and you turn on the rest in Settings ▸ Calendar display.

Holidays

• On a holiday, the holiday name appears below the date.
• If your theme colors Sundays red, or you turned on “Show Sundays and holidays in red, Saturdays in blue”, holiday date numbers also appear in red (the holiday color you picked in the theme), whether the holiday is a weekday or a Saturday.
• Substitute holidays appear as well.
• Holiday names appear in the app's language.
• There is no switch to turn off holidays. You only choose the country.
• Holidays also appear in red in Home Screen widgets, on Apple Watch, and in the previews of decorated months in the year view.

The holiday country is first set from your device's region. To change it:

1. Open Settings ▸ Calendar display. On iPad and Mac, tap or click the “Lunar dates, holidays, solar terms” row inside it.

2. Tap “Holiday region”.

3. Choose one of the 49 countries.

The description below the section includes the name of the country you chose. If you choose Korea, the description says the holidays are checked against data from the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI), including substitute holidays. If you choose another country, it says substitute holidays are shown too.

Lunar dates

Change “Lunar dates” to “Korean lunar” or “Chinese lunar”, and the lunar date appears in small type below the date. The starting value is “Don't show”.

If the table is wider than the screen, swipe sideways to see all of it.

When you turn on lunar dates, the “How often to show it” item appears. Choose “1st and 15th only” (the starting value) or “Every day”. With “1st and 15th only”, the lunar date appears only on the 1st and 15th of the lunar month, so the calendar is less crowded.

That day's lunar date also appears below the date line in the day sheet. How to create an event on a lunar date is covered in “4-3 All-day, lunar, anniversaries, and D-day” in “Chapter 4 Events”.

Solar terms

Turn on “Solar terms”, and the 24 solar terms, such as Ipchun and Soseo, are written on the calendar. A solar term takes up one event line on that day. The starting value is off. This item is only on Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and Vietnamese screens.

Weather

Turn on “Weather”, and a small picture of that day's weather appears at the top right of the date number. The switch description is “Off by default · Ten-day forecast; past dates keep saved weather”.

1. Turn on Settings ▸ Calendar display ▸ “Weather”.

2. In the “Show weather on your calendar?” prompt, tap “Continue”. The prompt says “Calliary shows each day's weather on your calendar. It uses only your approximate location to look it up.”

3. In the device's location permission prompt that follows, allow access.

• Weather comes from Apple Weather. At the bottom of the screen, it says “Weather comes from Apple Weather using only your approximate, city-level location. It's free to use.”
• Weather is drawn only in the month view of the calendar screen. Widgets and the year view have no weather.

When the switch is on, a line below it shows the current status.

If the table is wider than the screen, swipe sideways to see all of it.