SimplePractice offers a 1-way calendar sync that you can use to view SimplePractice appointments in your personal calendar through Apple Calendar or Outlook.

Note: The 1-way calendar sync only syncs in one direction: from SimplePractice to your external calendars.

With 1-way calendar sync, you won’t be able to create or modify appointments within your SimplePractice account from your personal calendar. Additionally, it won't allow you to display your external calendar inside of your SimplePractice calendar. If you’re interested in these features, see  Getting started with the 2-way Google Calendar sync.

In this guide, we’ll cover:

• Enabling 1-way calendar sync
• Syncing your calendar on macOS
• Syncing your calendar on iPhone with version 11.4 or later
• Syncing your calendar on iPhone or iPad with versions prior to 11.4
• Setting up a sync with Outlook

Note: Our calendar sync feature is only available on the Plus plan. To learn more about our subscription plans, see Which subscription plan is right for me?

Enabling 1-way calendar sync

To begin using 1-way calendar sync, you'll generate a calendar URL. To do this:

• Navigate to Settings > Calendar
• Toggle the Calendar Sync to On

This will generate a secure calendar URL that you can use to sync with external calendar apps following the steps in the sections below.

Note: In a group practice, only your specific calendar will sync. It won’t include appointments for other clinicians in your group.

Important: All appointments entered in your SimplePractice calendar, 30 days prior to the date of the sync and onwards, will be published to your Apple or Outlook Calendar once you authorize the connection. Any SimplePractice events that are more than 30 days old will be removed from your Apple or Outlook Calendar each time it’s synced.

For steps on how to resolve calendar sync issues, see Troubleshooting calendar sync issues.

Syncing your calendar on macOS

If you’re using an Apple computer, you can sync your calendar using the Calendar application on your desktop. To do this:

• Open Calendar
• Click File from the menu at the top of the screen
• Select New Calendar Subscription in the drop-down menu
• Paste your calendar URL from SimplePractice into the Calendar URL field
• Click Subscribe

• From the Location dropdown, you can either select:
  • iCloud if you’d like the calendar subscription to sync to your other Apple devices, or
  • On My Mac if you’d prefer the SimplePractice calendar to remain only on your Mac computer
• Select Every 5 minutes from the Auto-refresh dropdown menu

• Click OK

Syncing your calendar on iPhone with version 11.4 or later

To sync your SimplePractice calendar on an iPhone using version 11.4 or later:

• Copy the link that you generated from your SimplePractice account
  • We recommend copying the calendar URL from SimplePractice and texting or emailing it to yourself to copy the link on your mobile
• Go to Settings from the home screen on your iPhone
• Tap Calendar > Accounts > Add Account > Other > Add Subscribed Calendar
• Paste the link in the Server field

• Tap Next
• Make sure that Use SSL is on
  • Username and password fields are optional

• Tap Save

Syncing your calendar on iPhone or iPad with versions prior to 11.4

To sync your SimplePractice calendar on an iPhone or iPad with a version prior to 11.4:

• Copy the link that you generated from your SimplePractice account
• Tap Settings from the home screen
• Scroll down and tap Accounts > Add Account
• Select Other, then tap Add Subscribed Calendar
• Enter your secure calendar URL in the Server field
• Tap Next > Save

You’ll then see SimplePractice listed under your Subscribed Calendars on the Accounts page.

Setting up a sync with Outlook

Note: Microsoft's calendar subscription functionality is currently limited in capacity. While the Outlook subscribed calendar can sync with SimplePractice, we’ve found that the Outlook API doesn’t consistently fetch updates correctly. We’ve confirmed that this is consistent with other calendar subscription softwares when utilized specifically with Outlook, and is currently expected behavior. 

You can set up calendar sync using Outlook on your desktop. To do this:

• Open Outlook
• From the calendar page, click Add Calendar
• Select Subscribe from web
• Paste the calendar URL from SimplePractice in the blank URL field

• Enter the calendar name as “SimplePractice Calendar”, or another preferred description
• Click Import

After the calendar is updated, it’ll display under Other calendars on the calendar page in Outlook.