Office365 Shared Calendars on Phones/Tablets

[TLARWise]

We are starting to look in to using shared calendars with office365 however keep coming up against the major stumbling block of not being able to see them on users phones/tablets (both IOS and Android). We have a basic school calendar setup in Google which can be viewed on tablets with no problem, but currently this seems impossible to do with Office365, am I missing something? We are currently still on the old version of Office365 has anything changed in the new blue version that will allow this? If not is this purely Microsoft's fault or does some blame need to be thrown elsewhere aswell and do we know if a fix is being actively sought for this much needed function?

[Michael]

It's a question I've asked before and no one seems to know the answer! It's the same with the new Office 365 too. You can view your own calendar, but not shared calendars which is just plain stupid in my opinion!

 

I think there isn't a shared calendar format all companies can write code to tap into, just as there is with a single calendar format.

[IKWeb]

Hi

 

Nope you cant do this though the default mail / Calendar app on the Ipad or iPhone.. You can tho get paid apps which will allow your users to view shared calendars and contacts tho but these have a cost, and its weather or not the school can afford them.

 

Its just one of many limitations of ISO.

[AngryTechnician]

It's a holdover from poor Shared Calendar support in Exchange OWA. Microsoft largely abandoned shared calendars a couple of years ago and want us to do it all in SharePoint calendars instead, which is a ridiculous stance given that even in SharePoint 2013 the calendars are still pretty basic compared to Exchange.

 

Meanwhile, calendaring just works in Google Apps, and has CalDAV and ICS support. We now export our whole-school shared calendar to Google Calendar so that staff and parents can at least have a read-only copy on their phones.

Edited May 10, 2013 by AngryTechnician

[EduTech]

Currently, it’s not available to view the shared calendar in ActiveSync client, like Email application in iPhone. Only the calendar which owned by the user will be synchronized to these kind mobile devices.

 

Accentually, this is a compatibility problem. To sync shared calendar to iPhone, the email client of iPhone needs to work with MS ActiveSync together. However, there is some compatibility problems between them.

 

Currently, the workaround way is checking the shared calendar in OWA instead of iPhone's e-mail client. In other words, the user could open safari to access OWA and check the shared calendar. Which is obviously inconvenient and not what any of you are after but that is how it stands at this moment in time.

 

Regards,

James.

[Michael]

Has anyone tried an iPhone/iPad app to get around this problem? I've searched online, but all are for Exchange 2007 or Exchange 2010. Because calendars have changed a little in Exchange 2013, they may not work!

[IKWeb]

Have you tried CalendarONE, you can find it on the App Store, worked fine for me with Exchange 2010, but I havent tested it yet with Exchange 2013 which office 365 is moving too... Maybe worth a try tho!

[IKWeb]

Found this youtube vid of the CalendarONE app in action from the developer, looks like from the App it should have no issues running with Exchange 2013, and from the demo given this should also work with Office 365... :-)

[IKWeb]

Would help if i linked the youtube vid lol

 

[Michael]

I can confirm this works with Office 365 Exchange 2013. Once the CalendarOne app is installed, navigate to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars.

 

Add the Exchange account itself which hosts the shared calendars. Call it 'Shared Calendars' for example.

 

Now return to the built-in iPad Calendar app and you should see the sub heading 'Shared Calendars' and all the calendars below it.

 

Although you can add appointments on the iPhone or iPad, it won't sync back. If you add an appointment on a PC it will continue syncing as normal. Definitely worth the £4.99 price tag!

[IKWeb]

Glad it was of help!