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Apple Working to Put a Stop to iCloud Calendar Spam

Wednesday November 30, 2016 2:19 pm PST by Juli Clover
Over the course of the last week, many iCloud users have been the target of spam that's delivered in the form of an unsolicited Calendar event invitation, and now Apple is working on a way to stop it.

In a statement given to iMore's Rene Ritchie, an Apple spokesperson said the company working to block spam invites.
We are sorry that some of our users are receiving spam calendar invitations. We are actively working to address this issue by identifying and blocking suspicious senders and spam in the invites being sent.
iCloud calendar spam isn't new, but there's been a serious uptick in calendar spam since last week. Because iCloud calendar invites are sent to an iCloud calendar automatically by default and there's no easy way to ignore them, there's no clear way to stop the spam.

icloudcalendarspam
Image via OS X Daily
Declining, accepting, or choosing "Maybe" on an incoming iCloud invite lets an iCloud email address is valid, so until Apple can put a stop to the spam, there are two fixes. First, by logging in to iCloud via a web browser and accessing the Calendar settings (Click the cog, go to Preferences, then choose Advanced), you can choose to receive all event invitations as email. Emails can be more easily ignored and deleted.

Second, you can create a new Calendar, name it Spam, move the spam invitation to the Spam calendar, and then delete the Calendar entirely. This method does not inform spammers that an event has been declined and does not verify an iCloud account's validity. For more detailed instructions, make sure to check out our how to.

Both iOS users that use the default Calendar app and those who use third-party calendar apps like Fantastical are affected by the spam issue, which appears to be fairly widespread.

[ 186 comments ]


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C DM
28 months ago

Funny, I got less spam with iTools and .Mac than with iCould. Nice system, Tim.

What does Tim have to do with spammers spamming, which happens to basically any service out there and has been around for decades at this point?
Rating: 7 Votes
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Mikey44
28 months ago
Maybe they will fix the iCloud mail spam issue at the same time... :rolleyes: Wishful thinking I know.
Rating: 7 Votes
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Relentless Power
28 months ago
Good news. The calendar spam is quickly expanding and affecting others across the board.
Rating: 7 Votes
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jerry16
28 months ago

so until Apple can put a stop to the spam, there are two fixes ('https://www.macrumors.com/2016/11/28/delete-icloud-calendar-spam/'). First, by logging in to iCloud via a web browser and accessing the Calendar settings (Click the cog, go to Preferences, then choose Advanced), you can choose to receive all event invitations as email. Emails can be more easily ignored and deleted.


That iCloud.com option is lame; why shouldn't I be able to accept and decline events in my calendar app because spammers are taking advantage? Hard to call that a "fix".. more like a work around. Glad to hear Apple is working on something though; a report spam or delete with no response option would be ideal.
Rating: 6 Votes
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Junipr
28 months ago
Method 3: Delete Calender app
Rating: 6 Votes
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phenoplastic
28 months ago
About time, I suffered this more than three weeks ago.
Rating: 6 Votes
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Canubis
28 months ago
Why isn't it simply possible to delete an event invitation without sending a reply? This seems like a really bad design decision from the beginning! It's an invitation for spamming, wondering why it took the evil ones so long to discover this…
Rating: 4 Votes
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jyen
28 months ago


Second, you can create a new Calendar, name it Spam, move the spam invitation to the Spam calendar, and then delete the Calendar entirely. This method does not inform spammers that an event has been declined and does not verify an iCloud account's validity.


Hey, that's a great way to get out of that work meeting I don't want to go to. "What meeting invite? Sorry, I don't think I got it."
Rating: 4 Votes
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gsmornot
28 months ago
Hey, you look like you need some Ray-Bans so I will add a calendar invite to remind you to pick them up. I have received 3 just in the last week. I took the advice to add a bogus calendar, add the invite to that, then delete the calendar. Point is to remove the invite without sending a reply.
Rating: 4 Votes
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waldo647
28 months ago

Maybe they will fix the iCloud mail spam issue at the same time... :rolleyes: Wishful thinking I know.


Totally agree. I've had to stop using iCloud mail for anything which even remotely might lead to spam. Gmail is far superior for SPAM control. It's astonishing that Apple hasn't done a better job of SPAM control on the iCloud mail side, even after all these years, and all the money they've spent on iCloud! Let's hope this calendar issue wakes some folks up...
Rating: 3 Votes

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