How to share a Google Calendar with your family
Last updated: 2026-09-23
In Google Calendar, open My calendars, click the three-dot menu next to your calendar, choose Settings and sharing, click Shared with, then Add people and groups, enter their email address, pick a permission level and click Send. For a family calendar the level you want is “Make changes and see event details” — anything less and the other person can look but not add. Everyone you share with needs their own Google Account.
The steps
Open the calendar's settings
In Google Calendar, find the calendar under My calendars, click the three-dot menu next to it, then choose Settings and sharing. Make a separate calendar for the family first if you do not want to share your own appointments.
Go to Shared with
In the settings panel, click Shared with on the left, then click Add people and groups.
Enter each person's email address
Type the email address of the person you want to add. This has to be the address attached to their Google Account — sharing to an address with no Google Account behind it does not give them an editable calendar.
Pick the permission level, then Send
Google offers five: See only free/busy (hide details); See event details; Make changes (see private events as free/busy); Make changes and see event details; and Make changes and manage sharing. For a family calendar pick “Make changes and see event details”. Then click Send.
Which of the five permissions a family actually wants
This is the step people get wrong, and the symptom is confusing: everyone can see the calendar, nobody can add to it, and it looks like a bug.
The two “see” levels — See only free/busy (hide details) and See event details — are read-only. They are for colleagues and schedulers. A family calendar where only one person can add events is a calendar that person maintains alone, which is usually the thing you were trying to stop doing.
Make changes and see event details is the family setting. Make changes and manage sharing additionally lets that person invite others and change permissions — reasonable for a second parent, unnecessary for everyone else.
The account requirement, and who it excludes
Google Calendar sharing is address-based, and the address has to belong to a Google Account. Most people have one without thinking about it, which is why this works more often than iCloud sharing does across mixed households.
It still fails in the same place: the relative who does not have a Google Account, or has one they have never signed into on their phone, or reads mail on a provider that is not Google. Sharing to that address puts an invitation in an inbox that leads to a sign-up form, and that is where the family calendar project quietly ends.
If the sign-up step is what keeps failing
We publish Family Magnet, so read this as the interested party: its calendar is joined with a six-digit code valid for seven days, and only the person who creates the family needs an email address. Everyone else types the code and can add events immediately — no account, no password, no app store. It works in a browser on any phone or tablet.
If everyone in your family already has and uses a Google Account, the steps above are the better answer — Google Calendar syncs with more things than anything we make.
Common questions
How do I share my Google Calendar with someone?
The same steps work for anyone, family or not: My calendars → three-dot menu next to the calendar → Settings and sharing → Shared with → Add people and groups, enter their email, choose a permission level, and click Send. Google's help page says the people you share with get an email, and they must click the link in it to add your calendar.
Is there a built-in Google family calendar?
Yes, if you use a Google family group. Google's Calendar help says that when you create a family on Google, a calendar called “Family” is created automatically. A family group holds at most six people — one family manager and up to five members — so a larger extended family needs the manual sharing steps above instead.
Why can my family see the Google Calendar but not add events?
They were given one of the read-only permissions — See only free/busy (hide details) or See event details. Change it to Make changes and see event details in Settings and sharing → Shared with.
Does everyone need a Google Account to share a Google Calendar?
For an editable shared calendar, yes — sharing is by email address and the address needs a Google Account behind it. You can publish a calendar publicly instead, but that is read-only.
What is the difference between the two 'Make changes' permissions?
Make changes and see event details lets someone add and edit events. Make changes and manage sharing does that and also lets them add other people and change permissions.
Can I share a Google Calendar with an iPhone user?
Yes. Sharing is between Google Accounts, not devices — an iPhone user with a Google Account can add the shared calendar to their phone. The account, not the platform, is what matters.
Sources
The steps above come from the vendor’s own documentation on the date shown, not from a third-party tutorial.
- Google — Share your calendar with someone — https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/37082 (checked 2026-09-23)
- Google — Family calendar created with a Google family group — https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/7157782 (checked 2026-09-23)
- Google — Family group limit (one manager and up to five members) — https://support.google.com/families/answer/6317858 (checked 2026-09-23)
More guides
- Best shared family calendar apps in 2026: what each free plan actually gives youPrices and free-plan limits for five shared family apps, each one taken from the vendor's own page and dated.
- Cozi alternatives in 2026: what the free plans give youWhat Cozi's free plan restricts, and which four apps give that part away — with the price of each paid tier.
- How to share a calendar on iPhoneApple's own steps, plus the requirement that stops most families: everyone you share with needs an iCloud account.
- Best shared calendar apps in 2026: which one fits who you are sharing withThe best shared calendar depends on who is on it: a partner, a whole family, or relatives who will not sign up. What each app gives free, sourced.
- TimeTree alternatives in 2026: when a shared calendar is not enoughTimeTree's free calendar is hard to beat; the alternatives are about what it does not do — lists, expenses, and relatives without accounts.
Specific questions, answered
- My parents won't create another account. How do they join our family board?
- Our family lives in three time zones. How do we share one calendar?
- Can one app handle both a shared shopping list and family expenses?
Family Magnet is a free shared board for one family — notes, calendar, shopping list and expenses in one place, in fifteen languages. See how it works, or read the product fact sheet.