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Birthdays and Anniversaries in BusyCal for iOS

BusyCal can display the birthdays and anniversaries from the iOS Contacts app in your calendar.

Go to Settings > Show in Calendar and turn on “Birthdays” and/or “Anniversaries” switches.

With these settings enabled, a Birthdays calendar and an Anniversaries calendar appear under the Other heading in the Calendar List, and any contacts with birthdays or anniversaries in their Contacts records are displayed as all-day events in the calendar.

Add an Anniversary​

  1. Edit the person's contact in the iOS Contacts app.
  2. Add or select a date field and choose the built-in anniversary label from its label menu.
  3. Enter the original date and save the contact. BusyCal repeats the anniversary every year.
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Choose anniversary from the label menu. Custom labels such as Wedding, Wedding Anniversary, or Other are not included in BusyCal's Anniversaries calendar.

For birthdays, use the contact's birthday field.

The Birthdays calendar and Anniversaries calendar are read-only and cannot be edited in BusyCal. If you want to change or remove a birthdate or anniversary, you must make the change in Contacts.

The Birthdays and Anniversaries calendars appear only in BusyCal and do not sync to other services like iCloud and Google; however, the Calendar app in iOS and macOS has a similar option for displaying a Birthdays calendar.

Setting up Birthday & Anniversary Alarms​

To receive notifications for upcoming birthdays and anniversaries, you can set default alarms that will automatically be applied to all birthday and anniversary events:

  1. Open BusyCal Settings from the top left corner
  2. Tap New Event Defaults > Alarm Defaults
  3. Tap For Birthdays & Anniversaries

You can configure up to 3 different alarms with various timing options (such as on the day of, 1 day before, 1 week before, etc.). Once configured, birthday and anniversary events will automatically alert you at your chosen times.

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If the alarm times do not appear on existing birthday events after making these changes, try turning off Birthdays and Anniversaries under Settings > Show in Calendar > Birthdays, then turn them back on to refresh the calendar data.

⚠️ Troubleshooting iOS Birthday and Anniversary Issues​

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BusyCal requires access to the Apple Contacts app for displaying Birthdays and Anniversaries on your iPhone or iPad. Please open iOS System Settings > Privacy & Security > Contacts, tap BusyCal and give it Full Access. Without this permission, BusyCal will not be able to fetch birthdays or anniversaries from your contacts. Rest assured your privacy and data is protected, learn more..

iPhone or iPad Birthdays Not Showing​

If you're having issues with birthdays or anniversaries not appearing in your BusyCal iOS calendar, try the following steps:

  1. Check Contacts Permission

    • Open iOS Settings app
    • Navigate to Privacy & Security > Contacts
    • Make sure BusyCal is listed and has permission
    • If denied, toggle it on and restart BusyCal

  2. Check the Contact's Date Label

    • Open the contact in the iOS Contacts app
    • For an anniversary, choose the built-in anniversary label from the date's label menu
    • For a birthday, use the birthday field
    • Save the contact after making changes

  3. Force Reset Birthday Calendar

    • Open BusyCal Settings > Show In Calendar
    • Uncheck Birthdays and Anniversaries
    • Close Settings and wait a moment
    • Now repeat the process and re-enable the settings
    • Close settings and wait for sync to complete

  4. Restart Your Device

    • Sometimes a simple device restart can resolve sync issues
    • After restarting, open BusyCal and check if birthdays appear

If you're still experiencing issues after trying these steps, check if birthdays appear in the native iOS Calendar app. If they show there but not in BusyCal, please contact our support team for further assistance.

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