Inviting people who will never install your calendar app
The fastest way to lose an invitation is to make accepting it a software decision. Most people will not install an app to find out when dinner is.
What most people assume
That sharing from a calendar app only works properly between two people using that same app.
A subscription is a standard, not a product
The link you send is an ICS feed, which is the format calendars have used to talk to each other for two decades. That is why it does not matter what the other person uses.
Apple Calendar subscribes to it. Google Calendar subscribes to it. Outlook subscribes to it. A colleague on a Windows laptop and a friend on a Pixel see the same event you do, from the same URL, without either of them choosing a side.
What the App Clip is for
The message also carries an App Clip. On an iPhone that opens the event immediately, with no install and no App Store trip, and offers the full app afterwards if the person wants it.
It exists to make the good case fast, not to make the other case impossible. Ignore it entirely and the link still works.
The numbers
| What it describes | Value |
|---|---|
| Random characters in the link | 22 |
| What it costs to send one | 0 |
What it looks like
What to do
- Send the link rather than a screenshot; a screenshot cannot update when the plan does.
- Tell the recipient it is a subscription, not an invite — some calendar apps put subscriptions in a different place from invitations.
- For a one-off, subscribing is overkill: many clients will let them import the single event and be done.