How to Set Up a Family Google Calendar

To set up a Google Calendar for families, you have two good options. The simplest is to create a Google family group at g.co/yourfamily; Google then creates a calendar called Family automatically, and everyone in the group can find it on any device where they're signed in. If you don't want a family group, or someone in the household uses a work or school Google account, create a new calendar in a browser and share it with the people who need it.

I build hora Calendar, a native calendar for Mac, iPhone and iPad that works with Google Calendar. The steps below follow Google's help for the family calendar, creating a calendar, and sharing, checked on 10 November 2026.

Family group or a shared calendar?

Use Google's official Family calendar when everyone has a personal Google account and you want one shared calendar that appears automatically when someone joins the group. Anyone in the family can add and change events, manage sharing, and edit the calendar's name.

Create and share your own calendar if someone only has a work or school account, you want tighter permissions, or you want more than one household calendar, such as School, Sports and Holidays.

A family group can have up to 6 people: you, as family manager, plus up to 5 invitations. Members must live in the same country as you, and you can only be in one family group at a time.

How to set up Google's Family calendar

The family manager has to use a personal Google account. Start at the family group page, not inside Google Calendar.

1. Sign in to your personal Google account and go to g.co/yourfamily.
2. Select Create a family group, then Get started.
3. Under “Ready to be a family manager?,” select Confirm.
4. Enter the people you want to invite, then select Send.

They need to accept the invitation before they can see the Family calendar. When the group exists, the calendar called Family is created automatically. The family manager is the default owner. To add an event on a computer:

1. Open Google Calendar.
2. Create an event.
3. Next to Calendars, choose the family calendar.
4. Add a title and details. You can also invite people who aren't in the family group to that one event.
5. Click Save.

On Android, tap Create, then Event, choose the family calendar, and Save.

You can share the Family calendar with people outside the group, but only from a computer. By default they can also edit events, so change the permission if you only want them to see details. If someone leaves the group, they lose access. If you delete the group, the calendar is not removed automatically; the owner has to delete it manually, from a computer.

How to create a shared family calendar

Use this if a family group isn't right for you. You can only create new calendars from a browser. After you create one, it appears in the Google Calendar app too.

1. On your computer, open Google Calendar.
2. On the left, next to “Other calendars,” click Add other calendars, then Create new calendar.
3. Add a name (for example, “Family”) and an optional description.
4. Click Create calendar.

You become the owner. Only the owner can permanently delete the calendar or transfer ownership. Then share it:

1. Under My calendars, hover over the new calendar, click the three dots, and choose Settings and sharing.
2. Open Shared with and click Add people and groups.
3. Enter each person's email address.
4. Pick a permission, then click Send.

They get an email and must click the link to add the calendar.

For a household calendar, Make changes and see event details is usually right if several people add events. Use See event details for someone who only needs to look. Make changes and manage sharing gives full control, including sharing the calendar with others. If you use Calendar for work or school, your administrator can limit or turn off sharing. For the full list, see how to share Google Calendar.

Color-coding and notifications

Color-coding keeps a busy household readable. In Google Calendar on a computer, hover over the calendar under My calendars, click the three dots, and pick a color. You can also give School, Sports or Holidays calendars their own colors.

Notifications are easy to get wrong. On the Family calendar, you get the same upcoming-event reminders as on your primary calendar by default. You do not get a notification when a family member creates, edits, or deletes an event. If you want a reminder before pickup or practice, add it on the event, and check the calendar's notification settings.

• On a computer. Hover over the Family calendar, click Options, then Settings, then Event notifications.
• On Android. Open the menu, go to Settings, tap the family calendar, and change the notifications.

If desktop alerts on a Mac are what you actually want, I also wrote about Google Calendar desktop notifications on a Mac.

Kids and Family Link

Kids under 13 (or the applicable age in your country) can only be added to a family group if the family manager created the child's supervised Google Account. A parent in the group can also manage those accounts and use Family Link to help supervise them. Once the child is in the group, they can find the Family calendar in Google Calendar on a device where they're signed in.

Anyone with “Make changes and manage sharing” permission gets an email if a user under 13 shares the Family calendar, makes it public, or changes member permissions. If you don't want a supervised account in a family group, share a regular calendar with the child's address and choose a tighter permission, such as “See event details.”

Common problems

Family members can't see events.

• For a family group, they must accept the invitation before they get access.
• They may be signed into a different Google account than the one you invited.
• The calendar may be hidden. On a computer, check My calendars and Other calendars and make sure it is ticked.
• For a shared calendar, they must click the link in the sharing email.
• A work or school account can't join a family group. Use a personal account, or share a regular calendar instead.

You can't create a new calendar on your phone. Google only lets you create new calendars from a browser. After you create one on a computer, or in the desktop site in a phone browser, it appears in the Google Calendar app.

You can't create or join a family group. You can't do that with a work, school, or other organization account, and you can only be in one family group at a time. You can also only change family groups once every 12 months. Members must be in the same Google Play country as the manager.

Someone left, and the calendar vanished for them. That's expected. Leaving the family group removes access to the Family calendar. A shared calendar you created yourself keeps its sharing list until you change it.

Using it on a Mac

Once the Family calendar or your shared calendar is in Google Calendar, it shows up in any app connected to that Google account. In a browser, week and month views are usually the easiest way to see the whole household at once; my guide to Google Calendar views compares them.

If you'd rather not keep a browser tab open, hora is a native calendar for Mac, iPhone and iPad that works with Google Calendar. It shows color-coded calendars from multiple Google accounts, in day, 5-day, week and month views, plus a menu bar view and widgets on the Mac, so the family week is one glance away. When you create an event, you can pick the Family calendar from the calendar dropdown. You can try it free for 14 days on the pricing page. For other ways to keep Google Calendar on your desktop, see 5 ways to use Google Calendar on a Mac.

Small print: hora is an independent app that works with Google Calendar. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or official from Google. The 14-day free trial on horacal.app (Direct) does not require a card. On the App Store, the 14-day trial comes with the Annual plan only. Plans are $2.99/month, $29.99/year, or $59.99 Lifetime. One purchase covers Mac, iPhone and iPad.