Adding birthdays to Google Calendar has historically been a cumbersome task, primarily because the Android app does not allow users to manually input birthdays. Rather than providing a straightforward feature, the Google Calendar app syncs birthday information from Google Contacts. Consequently, users must first add birthdays to their contacts to see them reflected in Google Calendar.
An alternative workaround involves creating a full-day recurring event, which, while functional, does not replace the need for a dedicated option. However, it appears that Google has recognized this limitation and is in the process of rolling out a significant update for the Google Calendar app on Android, enabling users to manually add birthdays.
On the event creation page within the app, users will discover a new “Birthday”option. This feature is conveniently located at the top alongside Event, Tasks, and Out of Office (available for workspace accounts). By selecting the birthday chip, users can manually “Add name”and “Add birth date,”along with the ability to customize notification settings and designate a color for easy identification.
The new birthday event will showcase a festive cover image featuring a cake, adorned with confetti, and will be stored under the “Birthdays”calendar. Google has highlighted several key details for developers utilizing the Google Calendar API:
- For developers, newly created birthday events will be accessible within the Calendar API under the eventType “birthday.”Both
Events.listandEvents.watchwill support filtering by the “birthday”event type and will return “birthday”events by default. Note that only a select few event properties will be applicable to birthday events. For more information, please refer to our developer guide on the birthday event type.- Birthday events will not be compatible with all event properties. If you’re working with the Calendar API, it’s advisable to review your implementation to ensure that non-supported properties are not applied.
The feature for creating birthdays in Google Calendar on Android is currently rolling out to all users and is expected to be available on web and iOS devices in the near future.
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