# The Busy/Free calendar

Alto Calendar builds one Busy/Free calendar from the calendars you pick. It carries only when you are busy: no titles, places, guests or notes.

Alto Calendar builds one Busy/Free calendar out of the calendars you pick. It shows when you are busy and hides what you are doing, so you can share it with a partner, your family or a friend and they only ever see the blocks.

## What they will see

Your calendar shows Session with Susan, Lunch with Peter and Gym. The calendar you share shows the same times, each labelled only busy, with no titles. No places, no guests, no notes.

## Which calendars make you busy

Pick at least one: Home, Work, a family calendar. Only the times are used, never the details. Your shared calendar updates as soon as you change this, and again in the background as your calendars change.

## What counts as busy

- **Declined invitations and anything marked free are always ignored**, so you are not shown as busy when you are not.
- **All-day events are off by default**, because most all-day entries are birthdays, holidays or travel markers rather than commitments. Turn on "All-day events make me busy" if yours are real.

## Your calendar's name

The name is the one thing people see besides the blocks: it tells the people you share it with whose time they are looking at.

## Why full access

Alto Calendar reads when your events are, never what they are called, and it builds one new calendar, the one you share. That is why iOS asks for full access to your calendars.

## It has to be in iCloud

Apple shares calendars through iCloud, so the Busy/Free calendar is made in your iCloud account. If iCloud Calendar is off, it is made on the phone only and cannot be shared with anyone: turn on iCloud Calendar in Settings first.

Source: https://altocalendar.com/how-it-works