How to add birthdays to Google Calendar, and what it won’t do

Google Calendar has a built-in Birthdays calendar. It fills itself from the birthdays you save in Google Contacts, so this route is mostly about your contacts, not your calendar.

1. 1

   Add the birthday to the contact

   Open the Contacts app on Android, or contacts.google.com on a computer, pick the person and add their birthday. Make sure the contact is saved in your Google account, not only on the phone.
2. 2

   Turn on the Birthdays calendar

   In the Calendar app tap Menu and tick Birthdays. On a computer, open My calendars on the left and tick Birthdays.
3. 3

   Check Sync from Contacts

   Go to Settings, then Birthdays. Each Google account has its own Sync from Contacts switch; it is on by default, and switching it off removes those birthdays from the calendar again.

Edit or delete a date in Contacts, not in Calendar: a birthday you delete in the calendar stays on the contact and comes back.

Since late 2024 Google Calendar has a birthday event of its own, so you no longer need a fake contact or a yearly repeating event.

1. 1

   Tap Create, then Event

   In the Google Calendar app on Android or iPhone, tap the plus button at the bottom right. On a computer, click Create, if your account already has the Birthday option there.
2. 2

   Pick Birthday at the top

   Swipe through Event, Task and Birthday and choose Birthday.
3. 3

   Enter a name and a birth date, then save

   The birthday goes into your Birthdays calendar and repeats every year. You can give it its own color.

A birthday you create yourself comes with two notifications: one week before and on the day. Open the birthday to remove one with the Remove control or add another with Add notification, for example two days ahead.

Birthdays that come from your contacts work differently. On Android, the Contacts app can notify you about a contact’s birthday on the day or up to two weeks ahead; look for the birthday notification on the contact. Many people expect this in the calendar settings and give up, which is where “google calendar birthday notifications not working” comes from. If you want one overview of everyone, by email, without touching each contact, see birthday reminders without an app.

• The Birthdays calendar is unticked. Tick it under My calendars (computer) or in the app menu.
• Sync from Contacts is off for that Google account. Check Settings, then Birthdays.
• The contact lives on your phone, your SIM or in iCloud, not in your Google account. Only Google Contacts sync to Google Calendar. On an iPhone, birthdays from Apple Contacts show in the Google Calendar app on that phone, but not on the web or on Android.
• The contact has no birthday field filled in. Nothing to sync, nothing to show.
• Birthdays show twice: the person is in two accounts, or in your contacts and as a birthday you created. Keep one.

Not the built-in one. The Birthdays calendar is generated from your contacts and has no sharing option, so your partner or your family can’t see it. The workaround is to create a new calendar, share it with edit rights, and ask everyone to add their own birthday as a yearly event. That works for a group that all has a Google account and remembers to do it. In practice it leaves one person chasing the rest.

A shared birthday calendar takes the other direction: you share one link in the group chat and everyone adds their own birthday, with or without a Google account.

Google Calendar is a fine place for the birthdays you already know. These are the gaps, so you can decide what to put next to it.

Hoera is the shared layer on top: a free birthday calendar where you share one link and each person adds their own name, birthday and, if they like, their age. Parents add their kids. Everyone gets a weekly email with who is up next, on iPhone, Android and the computer, next to the Google Calendar you keep for yourself. The wider comparison, with your phone, a spreadsheet and Facebook, is on how to keep track of birthdays.