Google Calender does not show birthdays of non-Google accounts -- what now?

[reitzig]

On Support > FAQ > Contacts > Can I show contact birthdays in the calendar?, you write:

There are three possibilities to see birthdays (or anniversaries; in the following we just talk about birthdays for simplicity) of your contacts in your Android calendar:

1. birthdays are read from the local contacts and then shown in the calendar app (recommended),
2. birthday events are generated as a separate birthday calendar by the server (for instance, this feature is offered by Nextcloud),
3. birthday events are provided by a local special backend.

For years, I'd been going with option 3 via Birthday Adapter but that has stopped working with Android 14; indeed, the app has not received updates since 2016 so it should probably be avoided, anyway. I couldn't find an alternative that looks trustworthy.

For option 1, you write:

For instance, these calendar apps can read and show birthdays of local contacts:

• aCalendar+
• Google Calendar
• Samsung Calendar

Google Calendar doesn't seem to do that (anymore?) for non-Google accounts; at least, I can not select DAVx5-created accounts for the Birthday "overlay" calendar. There may be an incompatibility there, or it's just Google snubbing other services; I can't tell.
I'm on vanilla Android, so Samsung is out; I could install aCalendar

For option 2, I have to rely on and maybe switch servers, with I'd like to avoid. I currently use Kozea/Radicale, which does not provide birthday calendars "for free" (cf. Kozea/Radicale#688).

So, I guess what I'm asking is:

• Is there a "bug" that prevents Google Calendar from picking up DAVx5-created contact books/accounts?
• Can you please update the FAQ entry to the current state of affairs, to the best of your knowledge? In particular, I'd be interested in new options/workarounds.
• Can you see implementing a "special backend" in DAVx5, at all? Would you be open to review PRs to that effect? Or should we stick to options 1 and 2 only?

[rfc2822]

I think such a feature belongs to a separate app (like birthday-adapter; if you're willing to create PR, maybe there?) or the calendar app. Which one are you using? Etar? There's Etar-Group/Etar-Calendar#234.

On the other side, I understand that it would be useful to have it as a tool in DAVx5, although it's not really related to CalDAVCardDAV.

So as a practical solution, I suggest to use aCalendar or a server that creates a birthday calendar. If you're willing to put more work into this, I'd start with an Etar (or whatever your calendar is) PR.

[rfc2822]

I have just seen that "Fossify Calendar" on F-Droid requires Contacts permissions; guess it can show birthdays too?

[p3lim]

I second this request, as updating to Android 14 killed adapters such as "Birthday Adapter" that was mentioned already.

An option to expose birthdays from CardDAV as a calendar feed that calendar apps (such as Google Calendar) could use would be much appreciated. The option could live under "Contact group method" in the CardDAV settings.

[kaoneko]

It's a shame the Google Calendar app can't show birthdays from non-Google accounts' contacts. Birthday Adapter still works fine for me on Android 14 though. In what way has it stopped working for you guys @reitzig @p3lim? Does the APK I provided here some years ago (which is what I'm using) maybe work for you?

[p3lim]

It probably still works, but work policy blocks apps that are too old.

[rfc2822]

If this would be implemented in DAVx5, should it be

• one birthday calendar per address book, or
• one birthday calendar per account, or
• one global DAVx5 birthday calendar

and why?

Should it be an app-wide or an account setting? Or always active (as users can show/hide anyway)? If a setting, which default value and why?

[p3lim]

I'd say it'd be a one-per-account thing, e.g. every entry in davx5 would have separate options, separate calendars, just for customizability. Default it to disabled so it's opt-in, just to avoid confusion, especially for existing users.

[p3lim]

If a user has a bunch of entries in davx5 you'd probably end up with a bunch of calendars, but that shouldn't be a problem, it's not like you manage the calendars every day, it's a thing you just set up and forget.

[rfc2822]

I basically support this feature request, but unfortunately there are other big things which should be addressed first (hopefully resulting in "dynamic system account creation" → more resilience against lost accounts, possibility for backups, import/export, …), plus the Push feature. So I don't know whether and when it will come.