It’s been at the top of many an early Ubuntu Phone users’ wishlist — and now it’s finally happening.
Yes, the native Ubuntu calendar app is to add support for the leading open standards for exchanging calendar data: CalDav and iCal.
And it could come as soon as OTA 13.
The Story So Far
Until now the Calendar app — and Ubuntu Touch in general — has only been able to shows events synchronised through Google Calendar.
But not everyone using an Ubuntu Phone uses Google.
Some need to sync calendar, email and contacts with a Microsoft Exchange server at work. Others roll their own OwnCloud server that they want to stay in tune with.
A manual “workaround” of sorts is available for those comfortable with the command line, but on an open “smartphone” platform in 2016 it’s a strange situation to be able to sync using Google, but not a well-documented, widely used open standard.
And needing to remember to run a command at the command line each time you need to sync? A touch impractical to say the least!
But these issues, ongoing since 2013, could soon be solved. Canonical’s Bill Filler reports on OwnCloud sync and CalDav progress in a bug report logged to track the whole sorry saga. Filler says:
“We’ve landed multi-calendar google sync for ota13. We’re in process of finishing OwnCloud multi-calendar sync, using the new OwnCloud online account.
Once this lands, generic calDav support should be easy, just need a generic CalDav online account and then it will just work.”
Hurrah!