How to Add Birthdays to Your iPhone's Calendar

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How to remember birthdays with your iPhone calendar
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This wikiHow teaches you how to see your contacts' birthdays in the iPhone Calendar app.

Adding Birthdays to Calendar (iPhone)

  1. Open your iPhone's Contacts app.
  2. Tap a contact and tap Edit on their page.
  3. Tap + add birthday .
  4. Select the person's birthday and tap Done .
  5. Open your iPhone's Calendar app.
  6. Tap Calendars at the bottom of the screen.
  7. Add a checkmark next to Birthdays and tap Done .
Section 1 of 3:

Via the Contacts App

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  1. You can add new birthdays to your calendar in your iPhone's Contacts app. Start by tapping the gray address book icon with multicolored tabs. You'll usually find it on the home screen.
  2. Tap the contact whose birthday you want to add. This opens the contact's details. [1]
    • If the person is not one of your phone contacts, you'll have to add them first . You can add someone as a contact even if you don't have their contact info.
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  3. You'll see Edit at the top-right corner. Now you can edit all details of the contact. [2]
  4. The date scroll will appear at the bottom of the screen. [3]
  5. Select the person's birth date from the scrolls. Swipe down on the day, month, and year until the correct date appears in black at the center of the scroll.
  6. Tap Done at the top-right corner. This saves this contact's birthday. [4]
  7. Return to the home screen and open the Calendar. It's the white icon with the current date inside.
  8. If the Birthdays calendar isn't enabled, you won't see your contacts' birthdays. To enable the calendar:
    • Tap Calendars at the bottom.
    • Add a checkmark next to "Birthdays." If there's a check mark in its radio button, that means your contacts' birthdays are set to appear in the calendar. If not, tap the radio button to add one. [5]
  9. Tap Done at the top-right corner. The contact's birthday now appears on the calendar. You can verify by going to the date in the calendar—there will be a little present icon to indicate that it's the person's birthday.
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Section 2 of 3:

Via the Calendar

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  1. You can add a birthday to your iPhone calendar just like adding any event. However, these birthdays won't show up in the "Birthdays" calendar in the Calendar app. That's because the Birthdays calendar pulls specifically from your Contacts app. However, your phone can still notify you about these birthday events if you set them up that way.
  2. By default, when you open the Calendar app, it will show the current month. You can either scroll to find the date you want, or tap the year button in the upper-left corner, then tap on the month you want to add the birthday event in.
  3. This will expand that day and show you any other events on that day.
  4. This will open the form to create a new event.
  5. Type your event title in the "Title" field. You can name it whatever you want, but something like "[name]'s Birthday" is a good option.
  6. If you give the event a time, it will only appear in your calendar during that time. For a general birthday reminder, the All-day option is best.
  7. This will make sure that the birthday event shows up in your iPhone calendar every year until you choose to remove it.
  8. If you like, you can skip this step to simply create the birthday event in your calendar. However, you can add additional info, such as switching which calendar the event is in, adding invitees, setting an alert, or typing a note.
  9. The event will be added to your calendar and you'll see it in your events every year on that day.
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Section 3 of 3:

FAQ

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  1. 1
    Why do I only see a February 29th birthday once every four years? Unfortunately, iPhones don't have the ability to adjust a Leap Day birthday depending on the year. It's best to set that contact's birthday as February 28th so you don't miss it.
  2. 2
    Why isn't the birthday event I created added to the Birthdays calendar? The Birthdays calendar pulls the birthday information from your Contacts list. If you want to add the birthday of someone who isn't in your contacts list, you can make a contact for that person and only input their birthday (no contact information is required).
  3. 3
    Why aren't birthdays showing up in my iPhone calendar? You may need to enable the Birthdays calendar. To do this, tap Calendars at the bottom of the Calendars app screen, then make sure the "Birthdays" calendar is selected.
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      References

      1. ↑ https://youtu.be/-c54Uw1iv8Q?t=34
      2. ↑ https://youtu.be/-c54Uw1iv8Q?t=45
      3. ↑ https://youtu.be/-c54Uw1iv8Q?t=49
      4. ↑ https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/add-and-use-contact-information-iph3e0ca2db/ios
      5. ↑ https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/use-multiple-calendars-iph3d1110d4/ios

      About This Article

      Article Summary X

      1. Open Contacts .
      2. Tap a Contact .
      3. Tap Edit .
      4. Tap + add birthday .
      5. Enter the date and tap Done .
      6. Open the Calendar .
      7. Tap Calendars .
      8. Select Birthdays and tap Done .

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