In a previous post I mentioned my disappointment with the workarounds needed to enable CalDAV and calendar sharing on my iPhone 3GS. It seemed intentionally obfuscated to get the general public to spring for other (redundant) services. But, even after the workarounds, I found CalDAV to be a 99 yard liner, so to speak. It worked most of the time, but sometimes you had to load & reload the calendar app to get new or updated appointment to show up if they were added/updated via the web or iCal. I couldn’t help but think that there was, again, some intention behind the flaky support for a protocol that worked 100% in their desktop counterpart (iCal).

I am happy to say that Apple has not only fixed this (at least where Google accounts are concerned), but also made life even easier for everyone with iOS 4. Now if you setup any Google account (like a Gmail account or a Google Apps email) via the account setup interface it automatically allows you to enable calendar and notes for that account. And the calendar syncs instantly to changes made via web or desktop. This is a huge boon for my mobile lifestyle. I can’t be worried about missing an appointment because I set it up on the desktop or via the web interface when the iPhone wasn’t in my hands (or convenient).

But here’s a tip: do not enable a CalDAV account for the same calendar. It will send you back to the flakey sync behavior. Delete your Google CalDAV accounts first and then add the Google accounts with the Account Setup > GMail selection.