Calendar sync depends on third-party APIs and authentication tokens that occasionally break. This article covers the most common issues.
How Google Calendar sync works
- From Google to MoveMentors: events on your Google Calendar block the same times on MoveMentors, so clients can't book you then. We check every 15 minutes, and straight away when you click Sync now.
- From MoveMentors to Google: only confirmed bookings on online classes set to Google Meet are added to your Google Calendar, each with its Meet link. In-person classes and Zoom classes aren't added.
How Apple Calendar sync works
- From iCloud to MoveMentors: events on your iCloud calendars (for example Home and Work) block the same times on MoveMentors. We check every 15 minutes, and straight away when you click Sync now in the Busy times from Apple Calendar panel.
- From MoveMentors to iCloud: nothing. Apple Calendar is read only.
If we can't reach iCloud, the busy times you already have stay in place until the next sync that works.
My events are not appearing
MoveMentors only adds bookings on online classes set to Google Meet to your Google Calendar. To see your whole teaching schedule in a calendar app, use Export Calendar on the Connections page.
1. Check the connection
/mentor/settings/connections shows the status of your connected calendars.
- Connected: a green dot, and Connected as with your Google account.
- Not connected: no green dot, and a Connect Google button. Click it and allow access again.
If Google is connected but events are missing, move on.
2. Check you're looking at the right calendar
MoveMentors adds events to the calendar named on the Google row. If you have several Google accounts or calendars, make sure that one is ticked (visible) in the left sidebar of Google Calendar.
Apple Calendar is read only: MoveMentors never adds events to iCloud.
3. The event is added when a booking confirms
The Meet event is created when a booking confirms, not when you create the class or add a session. For a free class that's straight away; for a paid class it's when the card payment goes through.
If a booking confirmed a while ago and the event is still not there, move on.
4. What Sync now does
The Sync now button in the Busy times from Google Calendar panel brings your busy times in from Google. It doesn't send or re-send your bookings to Google.
If a Meet event is missing for a confirmed booking, the student still has the join link in their confirmation email and on their booking page, and you can find it on your session page. If it keeps happening, disconnect Google and connect it again, then email support.
If Sync now fails, you'll see a message saying we couldn't reach Google Calendar. Try again, or disconnect and reconnect Google if it keeps failing.
A Google or Apple event isn't blocking my slot
If clients can still book a time you've marked busy in Google Calendar or Apple Calendar, check:
- The event isn't marked Free. In Google Calendar, open the event and check "Show as" is set to Busy. In Apple Calendar, check the event's "Show As" isn't set to Free. Events shown as Free don't block.
- It isn't an all-day event. All-day events (holidays, birthdays, a day off) don't block. To block a day, give the event a start and end time.
- It's on a calendar we read. For Google, only events on the calendar named on the Google row count. Other calendars in your Google account, including shared or subscribed ones, don't block. For Apple, we read every iCloud calendar that holds events, and the Apple panel lists them ("Reading your iCloud calendars: Home, Work"). Subscribed calendars, Reminders lists and calendars that aren't stored in iCloud (for example ones under "On My Mac") aren't read.
- Give it a moment. We check every 15 minutes. To check right away, click Sync now in the Google or Apple panel on /mentor/settings/connections. The panel lists your next few busy times, so you can see whether the event is there.
We read 30 days ahead, so events further out are picked up as they get closer. A busy time stops new bookings only: anyone who booked that time before you added the event stays booked.
Events are appearing at the wrong time
Most common cause: timezone mismatch.
The class's timezone is set when you created the class (default is your profile's timezone). The event's start time is anchored to that timezone. When your calendar app shows the event, it converts to your calendar's local timezone.
If you have travelled and your calendar app now shows a different timezone than your home, events from before the travel still show in their original timezone, converted to your current display timezone. This is correct behaviour but confusing.
To verify: open the event in Google Calendar. The event details should show the original timezone (e.g. "11am Berlin time, 5am New York time"). If it does not show that, the original class timezone is wrong; edit the class on MoveMentors and fix it. Events already on your calendar don't change, so correct or delete those in your calendar.
Cancellations are not removing events
MoveMentors doesn't change or delete Google Calendar events automatically. When a booking is cancelled or a session moves, update or delete the event in your calendar yourself. Zoom meetings work the same way: they stay on your Zoom account until you delete them.
It works the other way round too: deleting a Meet event in Google doesn't cancel the booking. To cancel, do it from your bookings on MoveMentors.
My calendar is full of duplicate events
MoveMentors adds one event per confirmed booking, each with its own Meet link. A class with five bookings shows five events at the same time. That's expected.
If you see the same booking twice:
- Delete the extra events in Google Calendar.
- If duplicates keep appearing, email support with the booking details.
Google Calendar: "Cannot access your calendar"
Google's OAuth token may have expired or been revoked.
To fix:
- On /mentor/settings/connections, click Disconnect on the Google row. This also removes MoveMentors' access from your Google account and clears the busy times imported from Google.
- Click Connect Google and allow access again. Your busy times are read again straight after you reconnect.
You can also remove the access from Google's side, for example if MoveMentors still shows up in your Google account after you disconnect:
- Go to myaccount.google.com/security.
- Find "Third-party apps with account access".
- If MoveMentors is still listed, remove its access.
- Back on MoveMentors, click Connect Google and allow access again.
Apple Calendar: "Authentication failed"
Apple's app-specific password may have changed or your two-factor auth setup may have refreshed.
To fix:
- Go to appleid.apple.com, then "App-Specific Passwords", and delete the old MoveMentors password.
- Generate a new app-specific password.
- Back to MoveMentors. On /mentor/settings/connections, click Disconnect on the Apple row, then Connect Apple and enter the new password.
Until you reconnect, syncing with iCloud is paused: the busy times already imported stay as they are, but new or changed iCloud events aren't picked up. Your busy times are read again straight after you reconnect.
What syncs, and in which direction
- Your Google and iCloud events block your MoveMentors times. Add, move or delete an event in Google or iCloud and the busy time follows at the next sync.
- Your MoveMentors classes don't follow Google. Moving or deleting a Meet event in Google doesn't move or cancel the booking.
- To change a session time, edit it in MoveMentors. The event already in your Google Calendar doesn't move with it, so update it there too.
Students did not get my schedule changes
Calendar sync is between MoveMentors and your calendar app. It does not affect what students see.
If you change a session time:
- The class detail page updates immediately.
- Students booked on the affected session get an email about the change.
- Their .ics calendar files (already in their personal calendars) do NOT auto-update; they would have to re-download.
We are working on student-side calendar subscription (a webcal:// URL they can subscribe to so changes flow automatically). Not yet live.
Why does my calendar show "Unknown organizer" for MoveMentors events
Event organiser fields are sometimes blank or generic depending on your calendar setup. The event still works (correct times, Meet link, etc); the organiser display is a quirk of how Google renders events added by other apps.
You can manually edit the event to set yourself as the organiser if it bothers you, but the events MoveMentors adds have a generic organiser.
Common questions
Can I use Outlook calendar? Not directly. Use Export Calendar on the Connections page and import the file into Outlook. Outlook events don't block times on MoveMentors; only events on your connected Google calendar and your iCloud calendars do.
My phone shows events; my desktop calendar does not. Likely the calendar is hidden on desktop. Check the calendar list in the left sidebar and toggle visibility.
Sync stops working after a few weeks. Most often Google's access expired or was revoked. On the Connections page, click Disconnect on the Google row, then Connect Google again. For Apple, the app-specific password was probably revoked, for example because you changed your Apple ID password. Create a new one, then click Disconnect and Connect Apple again.
Events are missing for one specific class but present for others. Check the class is online and set to Google Meet. Zoom classes get a Zoom meeting instead of a Google Calendar event, and in-person classes are never added to Google Calendar.
Next steps
- Calendar sync for mentors: setup walkthrough.
- Schedules and recurring: how class schedules work.