Syncing the Family Calendar to Your Phone

FamilyHub uses Radicale, a self-hosted CalDAV server, as the single source of truth for the family calendar. This means it speaks standard CalDAV — the same protocol used by Apple Calendar, Android, and every major calendar application. There are two ways to connect your phone:

1. CalDAV account — full read/write access. Events you add on your phone appear in FamilyHub and vice versa.
2. ICS subscription — read-only overlay. Family events appear inside your existing personal calendar app.

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Option 1: CalDAV (Recommended)

iOS (iPhone / iPad)

1. Open Settings → Calendar → Accounts → Add Account
2. Choose Other → Add CalDAV Account
3. Enter your FamilyHub server address, username, and password
4. Tap Next — iOS will auto-discover the calendar
5. Make sure Calendars is toggled on, then tap Save

Family events now appear in the Calendar app alongside your personal calendars. Events you add there sync back to FamilyHub instantly.

Android (via DAVx5)

1. Install DAVx5 from the Play Store (paid, approx. $6.49 USD, open source)
2. Open DAVx5 → tap + → Login with URL
3. Enter the CalDAV base URL and your credentials
4. DAVx5 discovers your calendars automatically — select the family calendar and tap Refresh
5. Open the Android Calendar app — the family calendar appears as a new account

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Option 2: ICS Subscription (Read-Only Overlay)

If you only want to see family events inside your existing personal calendar without full sync, use the ICS feed. This is useful for Proton Calendar or Google Calendar where you want a read-only overlay of family events.

Note: ICS subscriptions update on the calendar provider's schedule — Proton refreshes every 8-16 hours, Google roughly every 12 hours. For real-time updates, use the CalDAV option above.

Finding the ICS URL

Your family admin can find the ICS subscription URL in Admin > Services > CalDAV > Subscription. The URL includes a unique token for authentication — Proton and Google Calendar can't send custom HTTP headers, so the token is embedded in the path. If the token is compromised, a family admin can regenerate it.

Proton Calendar

1. In Proton Calendar, go to Settings → Calendars → Other calendars → Add calendar from link
2. Paste your FamilyHub ICS URL
3. Give it a name (e.g., "Familie") and choose a color
4. Click Add — family events appear as a read-only layer

Google Calendar

1. Open Google Calendar on desktop → click + next to "Other calendars" → From URL
2. Paste your FamilyHub ICS URL
3. Click Add calendar
4. The calendar appears under "Other calendars" in the left sidebar

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Which should I use?

	CalDAV	ICS Subscription
Add events from phone	Yes	No
See events in phone app	Yes	Yes
Update speed	Real-time	8-16 hours
Setup complexity	Moderate	Simple

For parents who actively manage the family calendar, CalDAV is the right choice. ICS subscriptions are great for seeing family events as an overlay inside Proton Calendar or Google Calendar without switching apps.

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Self-Hosting Note

The CalDAV server address is the URL of your Radicale instance (configured in the CalDAV service settings via Admin > Services, or via the CALDAV_URL environment variable). The included Docker Compose setup starts Radicale automatically and creates the initial calendar collection.