What is CalDAV and how does it connect your calendar to your phone?
Updated
Quick answer
CalDAV is an open internet standard for storing and syncing calendars on a server. It lets the calendar apps on your phone, your computer and your browser show the same events. LAWD Calendar uses CalDAV on the mail.lawd.me server with an app password, and CardDAV does the same for contacts.
CalDAV is the technical name for something you probably use without noticing: it's what makes your phone's calendar and your computer's calendar show the same appointments. This article explains what it is, what it's for and how LAWD Calendar uses it.
What is CalDAV?
CalDAV is an open internet standard for storing calendars on a server and syncing them across devices. The name combines "Calendar" and "WebDAV", the web file technology it builds on. Because it's open, no company owns it: any calendar app that speaks CalDAV can talk to any server that does too.
In practice, your events live in one place, the server. Your phone, computer and browser read from it and write to it. Created an event on your iPhone? It goes to the server and shows up in the browser. Deleted it in the browser? It disappears from the iPhone.
What it's good for
- One calendar everywhere, without copying events one by one.
- Using the calendar app you like, instead of being locked into the service's own app.
- Switching phones without losing anything: events live on the server, not the device.
- Combining calendars from different services in one phone app, each with its own color.
CalDAV vs CardDAV: what's the difference?
| Standard | What it syncs | At LAWD |
|---|---|---|
| CalDAV | Calendars and events | https://mail.lawd.me/dav/cal |
| CardDAV | Contacts (name, email, phone, company) | https://mail.lawd.me/dav/card |
Both work the same way: a server address, a username and a password. Many apps only ask for the server (mail.lawd.me) and discover the rest on their own.
Email invites are not CalDAV
A common mix-up: the meeting invite you get by email uses a different standard, iMIP. CalDAV connects your calendar to your own devices; iMIP carries invitations to other people's calendars. LAWD Calendar does both: it syncs over CalDAV and sends invites over iMIP. See how to send a calendar invite.
How LAWD Calendar uses CalDAV
LAWD Calendar events live on the LAWD mail server, mail.lawd.me, which speaks CalDAV. To connect your phone, you create an app password in the "Usar no celular" (Use on your phone) window and add a CalDAV account with:
- Server: mail.lawd.me (or the full address https://mail.lawd.me/dav/cal);
- Username: your full @lawd.me address;
- Password: the app password, not your account password.
On iPhone, this lives in Calendar settings. On Android, you need a CalDAV sync app. The full walkthrough is in how to sync LAWD Calendar on iPhone and Android.
App passwords are used because phone apps keep the password stored inside them. That way, your account password, which opens LAWD and LUME Hub, isn't saved in third-party apps. The same applies to email on your phone, covered in the LAWD Mail section.
Frequently asked questions
Is CalDAV the same as Google Calendar?
No. Google Calendar is a service; CalDAV is an open standard that many services use to sync calendars, including LAWD Calendar and iCloud.
What's the difference between CalDAV and CardDAV?
CalDAV syncs calendars and events. CardDAV syncs contacts. Both work the same way, through a server with a username and password.
What is a CalDAV account on iPhone?
It's an account type in the iPhone Calendar settings that connects to any CalDAV server, with no extra app. You enter the server, your username and a password.
Does Android support CalDAV?
The Android calendar app can't add CalDAV accounts on its own. You need a CalDAV sync app, which hands the events to the phone's calendar.
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