When it comes to managing our lives, the iPhone calendar is a great way to stay on top of everything. Not only is it pre-installed, easy to use, and has a convenient notification system, it also works seamlessly across Apple devices.
Unfortunately, scammers have also been taking advantage of these practical iPhone calendar features. By triggering random events and spamming calendars, hackers can send everything from unsolicited advertisements to dangerous links.
But, where do these spam calendar invites come from, and how do you stop them?
Where does iPhone calendar spam come from?
The only way for events to show up on your iPhone calendar is if you knowingly or unknowingly subscribe to them.
This means either you’ve accidentally clicked a malicious link or pop-up when browsing, accepted a dubious calendar invitation from your messaging apps, or your devices have been infected with malware.
According to Malwarebytes Labs, iPhone calendar spammers employ sneaky techniques to get users to subscribe such as creating white spaces wherein the name of the calendar would have appeared, fake captcha, and redirect buttons.
While most of these spam are harmless, some of them can be quite dangerous. In fact, they can even contain spyware, malware, or other forms of security threats that can put you and your data at risk.
To avoid being infected by these spam calendar invites, it’s recommended that you maintain good internet safety practices. This means investing in iPhone mobile security, avoiding sketchy websites and clicking on any questionable links.
How to stop iPhone calendar spam
Depending on how pervasive the iPhone calendar spam is, here are some methods you can try to keep your Calendar app clean and spam-free.
Delete spam calendar events
If there is just a one-off rogue calendar event that you don’t recall signing up to, you can simply delete and be done with it.
To do so, open your app and go to the spam calendar event. Next, click Delete Event to remove it from your iPhone and other Apple devices for good.
Unsubscribe from spam calendars
If you accidentally clicked and accepted an invitation from a spam calendar invite, you can stop by unsubscribing to the calendar as a whole.
Unsubscribe to a spam calendar by going to your Calendar app. Next, tap the dubious calendar event and select Unsubscribe from this calendar at the bottom of the screen. Then, tap Unsubscribe to confirm.
Delete the iPhone calendar
When all else fails and scammers flood your inbox every day, the best possible solution is to delete the entire calendar altogether. To accomplish this, go to Settings> Calendar > Accounts > Subscribed Calendars.
Then, select the calendar that you want to delete and tap Delete Account. Once you have confirmed the request, the pop-up should no longer show up.
Tips when dealing with iPhone calendar scams
Here are some tips that you should keep in mind when dealing with iPhone calendar scams.
Don’t click any questionable links
Most iPhone calendar spams include questionable phising emails which hackers use to gain access to your personal data and information.
To keep your data safe from their hands, don’t click any possible malicious links from emails or websites requesting to be included in your calendar. Often, a pop-up will appear asking you to do so, which you can reject.
Avoid interacting with spam calendar invites
When you interact with a spam calendar invite in any way, including denying a request, you essentially tell these scammers that your Apple account is active.
If you want to avoid being targeted again in the future, simply delete the event and never look back. With this, your details will be classified as inactive and will likely receive less spam moving forward.
Remove calendar notifications
Should spammers be sending you endless calendar invites, it is best to simply turn off calendar notifications until they stop. Please bear in mind that turning off notifications for your iPhone calendar will also affect your legitimate calendar entries.
To keep calendar notifications off your iPhone, go to Settings > Notifications > Calendar. Then, toggle off the button next to Allow Notifications.
Keep your iPhone calendar spam-free
Using iCloud, it’s never been so easy to sync all your tasks, meetings, and schedules. Except of course, when there’s spam.
Thankfully, keeping your iPhone calendar spam-free isn’t an impossible job. Through a combination of good internet safety practices and a good mobile security app, you’ll never have to worry about iPhone calendar scams ever again.
