How to stop spam calendar invitations
Just recently, I’ve been getting unwanted Calendar appointments inserted automatically from someone who’s writing them in Chinese. Have they gained access to my iCloud account, and how can I stop this? [ SAM CHEESEMAN ]
Howard Oakley replies: These almost certainly don’t result from any failure on your part, or any compromise of your iCloud account. They result from Calendar’s ability to receive push notifications about event invitations that have been sent to you. This feature would normally work as a benefit to you by alerting you when people you know invite you to an event. In fact, anyone can send you invitations. All this spammer has been doing is using your iCloud account’s email address to send an event invitation. Apple’s servers then automatically convert that into a push notification, which ends up in your calendar. In the Calendar web app at
iCloud.com, there’s an option to receive event invitations as emails instead. Sign in on a Mac or PC using the same Apple ID and password as on your iOS device, then click Calendar’s icon. Click the cog icon and choose Preferences, then click Advanced and, next to Invitations, set ‘Receive event notifications’ to ‘Email to...’ You’ll still receive these spam invitations, but only as emails, and they won’t be inserted into your calendar automatically anymore. You can also delete these spam invitations without declining them and inadvertently confirming to the spammer that your email address is active. Move the invitations to a new and otherwise blank calendar, and then delete that calendar to get rid of it and the event invitation at the same time.