Google Calendar notifications not working on iPhone: causes and fixes

Updated October 8, 2026

On iPhone, Google Calendar warns you with notifications, and only for events that have one. If nothing comes through, check the event itself first, then the app's permissions in Settings, then silent mode and Focus. Here are the causes in order, depending on the app you use, and how to get a real alarm.

First, which app is supposed to warn you?

There are two ways to have Google Calendar on an iPhone, and they don't warn you the same way.

• The Google Calendar app, installed from the App Store. It sends the notifications, based on the notification settings of your Google Account.
• Your Google Account added to Apple Calendar, through Settings, then Apps, then Calendar, then Calendar Accounts. Your Google events show up in Calendar, and Calendar is the app that warns you, with its own alerts.

If you have both, both apps may warn you, or neither, depending on their settings. Google recommends turning off notifications for one of them in the iPhone Settings.

With the Google Calendar app

1. The event has no notification

In Google Calendar, each calendar has default notifications, applied to new events. An event can also have its own. Without a notification, the event doesn't warn you.

Check the event: open it, tap Edit and look at the "Notifications" section. If there is none, tap "Add another notification", then Save. To give future events one by default: tap Menu at the top left, then Settings at the bottom, then the calendar, then "Add another notification". Do this for each calendar, and for each account if you have several.

2. The app isn't allowed to notify you

In Settings, then Notifications, then Google Calendar: "Allow Notifications" must be on, and so must Sounds. If the app is in the Scheduled Summary, its alerts arrive bundled at set times, too late for an appointment. Under Notification Delivery, choose "Deliver Immediately".

3. Your iPhone is in silent mode or in a Focus

A Google Calendar notification follows the same rules as every other one. In silent mode, your iPhone vibrates instead of ringing. With a Focus on, it is hidden unless the app is allowed. The alert volume and your Apple Watch matter too. Those settings are covered in Why you miss calendar alerts on iPhone.

4. The event hasn't reached your phone

An event created on your computer has to reach the app first. If you don't see it, Google suggests checking your internet connection, that the app is up to date and that the calendar is visible, then quitting the app and reopening it. An event that isn't on your phone can't warn you.

With Apple Calendar and your Google Account

5. The event has no alert in Calendar

Here, Calendar's alerts are what counts. An event that came from Google doesn't necessarily have one. Open the event, tap Edit, then Alert, and pick a time. For events you create on the iPhone, set "Default Alert Times" in Settings, then Apps, then Calendar.

6. Calendar isn't allowed to notify you

In Settings, then Notifications, then Calendar: "Allow Notifications" and Sounds must be on. In Settings, then Sounds & Haptics, "Calendar Alerts" must have a sound.

7. The account isn't updating

In Settings, then Apps, then Calendar, then Calendar Accounts, tap your Google Account and make sure Calendars is on. Then tap "Fetch New Data" and choose a fetch schedule: that is how often your iPhone goes to Google for events created elsewhere, and brings their alerts along.

What an alarm changes

Even set up right, a notification is still a notification: one sound, a banner, then silence. It gets through neither silent mode nor a Focus. An alarm does. It rings, shows up on the Lock Screen and waits for you to stop it or snooze it.

Tellendar is a calendar app for iPhone that only warns you with alarms, and it connects to Google Calendar. Your Google events show up in Tellendar, the ones you create in Tellendar go to Google, and you add alarms to either. The alarms stay on your phone: Tellendar writes no notification into Google and ignores the ones that are there.

1. Install Tellendar and allow alarms when the app asks.
2. In Tellendar's settings, open Google Calendar and tap "Connect Google Calendar". Choose the calendars to show.
3. Open an event that came from Google and add one or more alarms, for example the day before and one hour before.

If you later move the appointment in Google Calendar, the alarm follows. For that, Tellendar needs its own notifications, and the app tells you if they are off.

Frequently asked questions