HELP! Google Calendar problem "Unable to launch event" .ics files

[Metalcat]

Please help me software people.

I know extremely little about software and I very much need help and the internet seems to have extremely limited insight into how to fix my issue.

I work with multiple clinics and am trying to sync my calendars. This is all fine on my computer, but not on my phone. My phone absolutely refuses to open .ics files. It says "Unable to launch event" no matter what I do to open the file.

Most online resources say that I should be able to open it if I open it from my files, but that doesn't work, I cannot find any way to get my android phone to open .ics files, it just does nothing or gives me the "Unable to launch event" error.

I used to have no problem with this. I've used Jane as a provider and client for years and I've always just been able to click a button to have the appointment show up on my Google calendar app. Evidently some Android updates have cause issues for some people, but not enough to be able to find much info about this error online.

I've cleared my calendar cache and data, which was another "fix" online, but no dice. I cannot uninstall Google calendar, so that "fix" isn't an option.

My next step would be to factory reset my phone, which I'm willing to do, but that's a pain in the ass, and I'm not convinced it will help because I've seen other folks online who did this and it didn't solve the problem because the issue is in their Google account somehow, which just reproduces itself when the account is restored. Trouble shooting I haven't tried yet is to load my account onto another device to see if it's my account or my phone. I don't have spare phone and I would have to use DH's to do this, which means factory resetting his phone twice, but I can if I need to.

I've had a corrupted Google account in the past and had to basically rebuild my entire online world around a new one, which was NOT FUN, and I really don't want to have to do that again.

Before I get into a bunch of annoying factory resets, which I'm not even optimistic about, I thought I would ask here first if anyone has a simple solution for this problem. I doubt it, but if anyone in my life can figure it out, it's folks here.

I do have a reasonable workaround for now. I can see everything on my calendar if I open it up in Chrome, the same way I see it on my laptop. The UI isn't as nice, but if it works, that's better than not fucking working.

[curious_george]

What phone do you have?

Moto g pure/ power?

[Metalcat]

What phone do you have?

Moto g pure/ power?

Pixel 7

[curious_george]

This isn't my specific area of expertise but it's possible these specific ics files are not being handled correctly by Android but are being handled correctly on your laptop. Sometimes there are variations in what formatting of files is ok depending on what application is doing the import.

I would try opening an ics file that you know works, or try other ics files from other sources on your phone.

I would ask you to send me the ics files next to verify if the file format is well formed but...you know - that would probably be an invasion of your privacy.

Alternatively I would also try opening the files on your husband's phones as this may narrow down where the issue is.

[reeshau]

I cannot uninstall Google calendar, so that "fix" isn't an option.

While you can't take Google Calendar off your device, you do have an Uninstall button.  This will uninstall all updates, taking it back to the version the phone came with.

It's a pretty blunt instrument, but I have done this as a solution for some "mandatory" apps in the past.   It is a good sign that the data on your account looks OK in the browser; I think you're right to look at the phone.  Could be that Jane has an error that the cloud is handling, but the local app is not.

Also be aware, there is a rather large patch for Pixels coming down, that among other things fixes a zero day vulnerability.  US Federal workers have until July 4 to install it, or stop using the phone.  It was almost 800 mb, so there is more to it that just that.

I don't use Jane, but I do have a Pixel 7 if there is something else you'd like to cross-check.

[Metalcat]

I cannot uninstall Google calendar, so that "fix" isn't an option.

While you can't take Google Calendar off your device, you do have an Uninstall button.  This will uninstall all updates, taking it back to the version the phone came with.

It's a pretty blunt instrument, but I have done this as a solution for some "mandatory" apps in the past.   It is a good sign that the data on your account looks OK in the browser; I think you're right to look at the phone.  Could be that Jane has an error that the cloud is handling, but the local app is not.

Also be aware, there is a rather large patch for Pixels coming down, that among other things fixes a zero day vulnerability.  US Federal workers have until July 4 to install it, or stop using the phone.  It was almost 800 mb, so there is more to it that just that.

I don't use Jane, but I do have a Pixel 7 if there is something else you'd like to cross-check.

Hmm...let me try uninstalling the calendar updates if I can figure out how to do that and see if it helps somehow.

Did it, did nothing.

I think it's my phone, I can't even seem to properly download .ics files that I've tried emailing myself. It just says "download pending."

Ugh, this is so fucking stupid.

I just got this new phone a few months ago and I do A LOT of my work schedule management on my phone and ALL of my work is coordinating Jane schedules with other schedules.

It seems to be Jane specific because I have another clinic software that has integrated it's appointments just fine with my calendar app.

Jane is the software of choice in my industry, so this is really pissing me off. 

[curious_george]

I cannot uninstall Google calendar, so that "fix" isn't an option.

While you can't take Google Calendar off your device, you do have an Uninstall button.  This will uninstall all updates, taking it back to the version the phone came with.

It's a pretty blunt instrument, but I have done this as a solution for some "mandatory" apps in the past.   It is a good sign that the data on your account looks OK in the browser; I think you're right to look at the phone.  Could be that Jane has an error that the cloud is handling, but the local app is not.

Also be aware, there is a rather large patch for Pixels coming down, that among other things fixes a zero day vulnerability.  US Federal workers have until July 4 to install it, or stop using the phone.  It was almost 800 mb, so there is more to it that just that.

I don't use Jane, but I do have a Pixel 7 if there is something else you'd like to cross-check.

Hmm...let me try uninstalling the calendar updates if I can figure out how to do that and see if it helps somehow.

Did it, did nothing.

I think it's my phone, I can't even seem to properly download .ics files that I've tried emailing myself. It just says "download pending."

Ugh, this is so fucking stupid.

I just got this new phone a few months ago and I do A LOT of my work schedule management on my phone and ALL of my work is coordinating Jane schedules with other schedules.

It seems to be Jane specific because I have another clinic software that has integrated it's appointments just fine with my calendar app.

Jane is the software of choice in my industry, so this is really pissing me off.

Well - you can always try factory resetting the phone next, although that is understandably not an ideal solution.

Your frustration is completely understandable. The phone is new, popular, still updated, and Jane should be able to work with it in theory.

[Metalcat]

I cannot uninstall Google calendar, so that "fix" isn't an option.

While you can't take Google Calendar off your device, you do have an Uninstall button.  This will uninstall all updates, taking it back to the version the phone came with.

It's a pretty blunt instrument, but I have done this as a solution for some "mandatory" apps in the past.   It is a good sign that the data on your account looks OK in the browser; I think you're right to look at the phone.  Could be that Jane has an error that the cloud is handling, but the local app is not.

Also be aware, there is a rather large patch for Pixels coming down, that among other things fixes a zero day vulnerability.  US Federal workers have until July 4 to install it, or stop using the phone.  It was almost 800 mb, so there is more to it that just that.

I don't use Jane, but I do have a Pixel 7 if there is something else you'd like to cross-check.

Hmm...let me try uninstalling the calendar updates if I can figure out how to do that and see if it helps somehow.

Did it, did nothing.

I think it's my phone, I can't even seem to properly download .ics files that I've tried emailing myself. It just says "download pending."

Ugh, this is so fucking stupid.

I just got this new phone a few months ago and I do A LOT of my work schedule management on my phone and ALL of my work is coordinating Jane schedules with other schedules.

It seems to be Jane specific because I have another clinic software that has integrated it's appointments just fine with my calendar app.

Jane is the software of choice in my industry, so this is really pissing me off.

Well - you can always try factory resetting the phone next, although that is understandably not an ideal solution.

Your frustration is completely understandable. The phone is new, popular, still updated, and Jane should be able to work with it in theory.

Yeah, I wrote earlier that one of the next steps is a factory reset.

Ugh...so annoying.

[curious_george]

I cannot uninstall Google calendar, so that "fix" isn't an option.

While you can't take Google Calendar off your device, you do have an Uninstall button.  This will uninstall all updates, taking it back to the version the phone came with.

It's a pretty blunt instrument, but I have done this as a solution for some "mandatory" apps in the past.   It is a good sign that the data on your account looks OK in the browser; I think you're right to look at the phone.  Could be that Jane has an error that the cloud is handling, but the local app is not.

Also be aware, there is a rather large patch for Pixels coming down, that among other things fixes a zero day vulnerability.  US Federal workers have until July 4 to install it, or stop using the phone.  It was almost 800 mb, so there is more to it that just that.

I don't use Jane, but I do have a Pixel 7 if there is something else you'd like to cross-check.

Hmm...let me try uninstalling the calendar updates if I can figure out how to do that and see if it helps somehow.

Did it, did nothing.

I think it's my phone, I can't even seem to properly download .ics files that I've tried emailing myself. It just says "download pending."

Ugh, this is so fucking stupid.

I just got this new phone a few months ago and I do A LOT of my work schedule management on my phone and ALL of my work is coordinating Jane schedules with other schedules.

It seems to be Jane specific because I have another clinic software that has integrated it's appointments just fine with my calendar app.

Jane is the software of choice in my industry, so this is really pissing me off.

Well - you can always try factory resetting the phone next, although that is understandably not an ideal solution.

Your frustration is completely understandable. The phone is new, popular, still updated, and Jane should be able to work with it in theory.

Yeah, I wrote earlier that one of the next steps is a factory reset.

Ugh...so annoying.

It could be more annoying...

You could factory reset the phone then discover that Jane and Pixel 7 just aren't compatible with each other due to their ics files being encoded or formatted in a way that google calendar on Android doesn't know how to read...

Just saying - hopefully everything works out with a factory reset but there is a possibility that doesn't fix the problem either. ...

[Metalcat]

It could be more annoying...

You could factory reset the phone then discover that Jane and Pixel 7 just aren't compatible with each other due to their ics files being encoded or formatted in a way that google calendar on Android doesn't know how to read...

Just saying - hopefully everything works out with a factory reset but there is a possibility that doesn't fix the problem either. ...

Lol, I'm well aware of that possibility, I wrote as much in a previous reply. That's why it's so annoying. Because I'm anticipating the obnoxiousness of a factory reset and the probability that it won't fix anything.

[Metalcat]

Factory reset worked!

I was not expecting that to actually work, lol

[curious_george]

Factory reset worked!

I was not expecting that to actually work, lol

Awesome!

Glad that everything worked out. :)