I can't understand why Travel Time added to an event on my Mac can't be reflected on my iPhone or in my availability visible to others. Wouldn't that be a very useful option for Calendar items?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Calendar "travel time" not baked into event
- Thread starter srbNYC
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I should have specified: My calendar is kept on my company's Office 365 account. Maybe it differs if it's an iCloud calendar?
If you're asking why an iCloud account calendar event that includes travel time doesn't cross over to your Office 365 calendar, it's iCloud-iCloud and O365-O365; the events are distinct to each calendar type. Both calendars show in the macOS Calendar app, but they're separate calendars. That iCloud calendar event will show in your iOS iCloud account calendar though. Likewise if you've got an Office365 calendar and are also pulling in events from your iCloud account, they're separate calendars within that app.
Edit: So iCloud calendar events don't update your Office365 calendar availability.
Edit: So iCloud calendar events don't update your Office365 calendar availability.
Last edited:
Thanks, but my calendar is all O365 and I understand that it’s on that account regardless of software. I access that O365 account in my Mac Calendar app and on my iPhone. But when I add travel time in Calendar on my Mac, that added time doesn’t appear elsewhere. Perhaps O365 doesn’t support Mac’s travel time option.
OK, I get what you're saying. I suppose you could do all of it via Office online, but ... yeah. On the flip side of all this, iCloud calendars don't have the great scheduling availability function of O365.
Travel time doesn't necessarily make you unavailable.
Let's say that I have Event X in my calendar and it takes 15 minutes to get to the location. If I hop into a rideshare (Uber, Lyft, whatever) I could still take calls, teleconferences, etc. responsibly and with pretty much full attention.
Remember that macOS/iOS was written by Apple software engineers, many of whom were commuting in work-provided buses equipped with WiFi. While the travel time from SF to Cupertino might have taken 70-90 minutes in pre-COVID-19 days, that didn't make them unreachable.
Point taken, but for an outside appointment I’d prefer the travel time to appear as unavailable for a colleague looking to schedule a meeting or (these days) a Zoom or something.
Just add another event called Travel Time (that blocks out availability) adjacent to the main event and move on with your life.
Agreed. I use iCloud calendars exclusively but find "travel time" pretty useless for anything but basic point-to-point car travel. It doesn't take transit/walking into account at all, and (unlike Apple Maps' shared ETA feature) it doesn't update as conditions and traffic change. Within Calendar, I can generally do a better job estimating travel time myself.
Got it. (FYI I wasn't talking about any automatically generated travel time, but adding it manually in the Calendar app, but point taken.)
Just out of curiosity/interest: For those who use an iCloud based calendar, does travel time in fact carry over across devices? And does it show to others who may view or share the calendar? Thanks.
Just out of curiosity/interest: For those who use an iCloud based calendar, does travel time in fact carry over across devices? And does it show to others who may view or share the calendar? Thanks.
Yes, it is part of the event on the same Apple ID account across devices. I don't share a calendar so can't answer that piece.
Remember that Travel Time is based on where you are RIGHT NOW and how long it will take you to get to that upcoming appointment location.
Let's say you are at the Metropolitan Museum (Midtown) in NYC and Appointment X is at the MOMA. You will get the "time to leave" alert at a different time than if you happened to be at The Cloisters annex uptown. Or if you were in Westport, CT. Or Washington, DC.
You must put your own "Travel Time" event based on what you think is necessary. If you are in Back Bay Boston a week before the appointment, neither Apple nor anyone else knows where you will be 15 min., 30 min., 60 min., 1 hr., 4 hr. before Appointment X.
Nobody knows your planned whereabouts are in advance.
Let's say you are at the Metropolitan Museum (Midtown) in NYC and Appointment X is at the MOMA. You will get the "time to leave" alert at a different time than if you happened to be at The Cloisters annex uptown. Or if you were in Westport, CT. Or Washington, DC.
You must put your own "Travel Time" event based on what you think is necessary. If you are in Back Bay Boston a week before the appointment, neither Apple nor anyone else knows where you will be 15 min., 30 min., 60 min., 1 hr., 4 hr. before Appointment X.
Nobody knows your planned whereabouts are in advance.
Last edited: