My Apple ID is my Gmail address. I also use Google Calendar as my main calendar. But, when someone sends me a calendar invite from their Apple Calendar app, I don't get an email in Gmail, and it there's no invite on my Google Calendar. Instead, it gets added to the built in iCloud Calendar that I never use. This causes me to miss events that I need to be added to.
I tested this on my own, and "invited" another Gmail account I have from the Apple Calendar app – it sent an email invite to that Gmail, which I could open, click add to calendar, and have on that calendar. This is what I want to happen when someone else with an iPhone and iCloud Calendar invites my main Gmail to a meeting.
This never used to be an issue for me in the past when I didn't utilize an iPhone (but still had the same Apple ID), but now I am unable to receive any invite from an Apple user to that specific Gmail. It appears as though Apple recognizes the email address when someone tries to invite me, and instead of sending the invite to the email, just adds it to the iCloud calendar.
Is there a way to turn off this iCloud calendar from accepting invites, so that these invites can be sent to my Gmail as a normal email invite?
Unfortunately, switching to using the iCloud calendar is not an option. I know I can subscribe to my Google Calendar in the Apple Calendar app, and to my iCloud Calendar on Google Calendar, but I need these events to actually populate on my Google Calendar itself, not just subscribe so that I can "see them all in once place".
Thank you!
Best Answer
If your Apple ID is a Gmail email address, and someone sends you an invitation from an Apple device, your Gmail account won't get the invitation, but it will be added automatically to your iCloud calendar.
Why? Because your Gmail email address is recognized as an Apple ID, and that takes precedence: the invitation is added to your iCloud calendar instead of being delivered per email.
That's the default behavior, but fortunately, it can be changed to behave the way you want, as explained in this thread on Apple Communities:
Log in to https://www.icloud.com with your Apple ID.
Open Calendar:
Select Preferences from the gear icon:
Select the Advanced tab and, under Invitations, check "Receive event invitations as: Email to <your Gmail address>":
Save the settings.
Now you should receive invites per email instead of being automatically added to your iCloud calendar.