Keep a Calendar Private on Your Mac

Private calendars, in short

What you mark: Any event calendar or reminder list, from any account. One switch each.
What hidden means: Its events are absent, not blurred — from the agenda, the month, week and day views, search, conflict warnings, the menu bar's next event and Siri's answers.
Getting them back: Choose Show Private Calendars in the calendar list, or use the Touch ID button in the panel's footer and the calendar window's title bar. On iPhone and iPad it is Face ID.
When they hide again: On the same signals App Lock uses: closing the panel or window after your Lock After delay, sleep, or screen lock. They hide as you leave, not when you come back.
Widgets and Watch: Never. A widget cannot ask for Touch ID, so private calendars stay out of widgets, the Apple Watch app, the Live Activity and Spotlight even while they are showing in the app.
Alerts: Your choice of Don't Notify, Notify Without Details, or Notify Normally. The middle one is the default: an alert fires at the right time, titled “Private event”, with no title, location or Join button.
Where the setting is: Mac: Settings › General › App Lock › Private Calendars… — it works whether or not App Lock itself is on. iPhone and iPad: Settings › Privacy › Private Calendars.
Price: $19.99 once on the App Store, down from $29.99. One purchase includes InstaCal for Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch; it is not a subscription.
Requirements: macOS 15 Sequoia or later, on Apple silicon or Intel.

What it actually does

Hidden means gone, not greyed out.

A calendar you can still see the shape of is not private.

Absent from every view

Agenda, month, week, day, search results, conflict warnings, the menu bar's next event. There is no row to count, no block of colour where the meeting was.

One line says it is happening

A single banner above the agenda — “N private calendars hidden”, with an Unlock button. You always know there is more; nobody else learns what.

Out of reach of anything that cannot ask

Widgets, Apple Watch, the Live Activity and system-wide Spotlight search never receive private calendars at all, showing or hidden. Nothing there can prove it is you.

A separate door from App Lock

If you also lock InstaCal itself, unlocking the app does not reveal your private calendars. That is deliberately a second, explicit step.

Setting one up

About thirty seconds, once.

Open the settingOn the Mac, Settings › General › App Lock › Private Calendars… On iPhone or iPad, Settings › Privacy › Private Calendars.
Flip the switchEvery calendar and reminder list is listed, grouped by account. Marking one private needs no prompt and takes effect the instant you tap — its events vanish from every view at once.
Choose what alerts doDon't Notify, Notify Without Details, or Notify Normally. The default fires the alert on time with nothing in it.
Choose when you are askedAsk for Touch ID: “When I Open the Panel” prompts on its own each time you arrive; “When I Tap the Button” never prompts, so a glance over your shoulder while the panel opens shows nothing private.
That is itMaking a calendar public again is the step that asks for Touch ID — so nobody can quietly undo it, including somebody who has your unlocked Mac in front of them.

The details that make it work

The awkward cases are handled.

Privacy features fail at the edges, so these are the edges.

The same calendar, connected twice

A calendar you added inside InstaCal and again through System Settings is treated as one. Marking either copy marks both, and the setting shows one row saying what else it covers.

Hidden on the way out

With Lock After set to Immediately, closing the panel hides them right then. Reopening never flashes a frame of private events before the prompt appears.

Cancelled the prompt?

A Touch ID button waits in the panel's footer, the calendar window's title bar, and the Reminders and Tasks windows. Click it whenever you are ready. Once revealed, it becomes an open lock that hides them again at once.

An alert you did want

Open a private event from a link or a notification and it asks, under either prompt setting — because you asked for that event specifically.

And if it is the whole app you want locked

App Lock is the other half, and it is the same settings screen. InstaCal locks behind Touch ID — your login password if Touch ID is unavailable or does not recognise you — after a delay you choose, or when your Mac sleeps or locks its screen. While it is locked the menu bar shows only the date, and Settings stays reachable so you are never locked out of your own preferences.

On iPhone and iPad it is Face ID or Touch ID with your passcode as the fallback, and the app switcher shows a cover rather than your events.

The two are independent on purpose. Lock the app and keep no private calendars, keep private calendars and never lock the app, or do both — in which case unlocking the app still leaves the private ones hidden until you ask for them.

FAQ

Questions about private calendars

What does marking a calendar private actually hide?

Its events, everywhere in the app: the agenda, the month, week and day views, search, conflict warnings, the menu bar's next event and Siri's schedule answers. They are absent rather than obscured, so there is nothing to read from their shape. A single banner above the agenda tells you that some calendars are hidden, without saying which or what is on them.

Can a private calendar show up in a widget or on my Apple Watch?

No. A widget and a watch cannot ask for Touch ID, so private calendars are never sent to them — not even while you have them revealed on the Mac. The same goes for the Live Activity and for system-wide Spotlight search.

What happens to alerts for a private event?

You choose. Don't Notify silences them, Notify Normally treats them like any other, and Notify Without Details — the default — fires the alert at the right time titled “Private event”, with no title, location or Join button. Invitations follow the same choice.

Can someone at my Mac just switch it back off?

Not without your Touch ID or login password. Marking a calendar private needs no prompt, but making it public again does — the asymmetry is deliberate, so the setting cannot be undone behind you.

Is this the same thing as locking the app?

No, and they work independently. App Lock puts Touch ID in front of InstaCal itself. Private calendars hide chosen calendars from an app that is already open. If you use both, unlocking the app does not reveal your private calendars — that is a separate, explicit step.

Does it work on iPhone and iPad too?

Yes, with Face ID or Touch ID and your passcode as the fallback. The setting lives under Settings › Privacy › Private Calendars there, rather than beside App Lock as it does on the Mac.

Is Private Calendars a separate purchase?

No. It is part of InstaCal. There is no Pro tier and no in-app purchase.

What does InstaCal require?

macOS 15 Sequoia or later, on Apple silicon or Intel. InstaCal is a native Swift app — not a web wrapper — so the panel opens instantly and uses very little power.

How much does InstaCal cost?

InstaCal is $19.99 once, down from $29.99. One App Store purchase includes the Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch apps. There is no subscription, separate mobile purchase, Pro tier, InstaCal account or in-app purchase.

Some of your calendar is nobody else's business.

Mark it private, and it simply is not there until you say so.

Download on theMac App Store

~~$29.99~~ $19.99 once. One purchase includes InstaCal for Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. No subscription, InstaCal account or ads.

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