How to Stop (and Remove) iPhone Calendar Spam

How to prevent notifications

Preventing notifications is one of the best ways to minimize spam from invading your calendar. An important tactic is to change your calendar settings. “Make sure none of your devices (iPhone, Mac, Outlook) are set up to auto-accept calendar invites,” advises Steve Tcherchian, Chief Product Officer and CISO for XYPRO Technology, a cybersecurity analytics company. “Although this may be very convenient for busy people, this setting is being used as a vulnerability to insert unwanted entries that popup spam into your calendar.”

Since anyone with your email can send calendar invites, adds Hatter, “you can block their email address and/or report their invites as junk.” Another option? “Create a ‘burner’ email address for sharing that is not connected to your primary account so that spam will go there.”

How to delete iPhone calendar events

Removing unwanted or suspicious calendar events is simple and can be done in a few ways. One method is deleting each invite individually. All you have to do, Tcherchian says, is “open the calendar app, open the event, and click Delete Event, if it’s available. If you can’t delete it, just leave it and ignore it. Don’t click Decline and do not click on any links within the calendar.”

However, if your calendar is overrun with unsolicited invites, the easiest thing to do is to create a “new” calendar. You can move all the events into this calendar and eliminate all the junk invites in one fell swoop when you delete the recently created calendar. “If you are prompted to Delete and Don’t Notify, choose that [option] to ensure the spammers are not notified,” advises Hatter. Another option is removing the calendar app entirely. Just make sure you never delete an app without doing these four things first.

How to delete iPhone calendar completely

One of the best ways to handle invasive iPhone calendar spam is to delete your calendar completely. Beginning anew can be a logical and helpful way to untangle yourself from all the unsolicited events infiltrating your calendar. Removing calendars is easy with simple steps to follow. Here’s how to do it, says Tcherchian: “On iOS 14, go to Settings > Calendar > Accounts > Subscribed Calendars. Select the calendar you want to delete, and select Delete Account.” You can also opt for a different calendar entirely, instead of the built-in one, since many calendar apps are compatible with iPhones. After you decide what to do, learn these hidden iPhone hacks you probably don’t know about.

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