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Why does Google Calendar keep adding alarms to my events?

If alarms keep appearing on your events — even after you've turned off default alarms in both BusyCal and Apple Calendar — the most likely cause is Google Calendar's own per-calendar default notification setting. Google applies these notifications on the server side, so every time an event is created or modified, Google silently attaches its default alarm. BusyCal then syncs the event back and picks up the alarm that Google added.

How to fix it​

Remove the default notification in Google Calendar's web settings:

  1. Open calendar.google.com in a web browser.
  2. Click the gear icon in the top-right corner, then choose Settings.
  3. In the left sidebar under Settings for my calendars, select the calendar that has the unwanted alarms (e.g. "Health", "Work", etc.).
  4. Scroll to the Event notifications section and click the X next to any default notification listed there to remove it.
  5. If there is also an All-day event notifications section with a default, remove that as well.
  6. Repeat for any other Google calendars that are affected.
tip

After removing the Google-side defaults, you may also want to open one of the affected events in Google Calendar on the web, remove the alarm from that specific event, and save it. This clears the alarm that was already written to the event.

Why this happens​

Google Calendar allows each calendar to have its own default notification (for example, "30 minutes before"). This is a Google server-side setting that lives outside of BusyCal and Apple Calendar. When an event is created or changed — whether from BusyCal, Apple Calendar, or any other app — Google's server automatically stamps the default notification onto the event. The next time BusyCal syncs, it sees the alarm that Google added and displays it.

Because this is a server-side behavior, turning off default alarms in BusyCal or Apple Calendar alone will not prevent it. The setting must be changed in Google Calendar's web interface.

Checklist​

If you're still seeing unwanted alarms after following the steps above, verify the following:

  • BusyCal default alarms are off: Go to BusyCal > Settings > Alarms and make sure the "Add a default alarm to new timed Events" and "Add a default alarm to new all-day Events" checkboxes are unchecked (or set to the values you actually want).
  • Apple Calendar default alarms are off: Open Calendar > Settings > Alerts (macOS) or Settings > Apps > Calendar > Default Alert Times (iOS) and set all alert times to None.
  • Google Calendar default notifications are removed per-calendar as described above.

See Also​

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