Wirebook › Glossary › Calendar feed
What is a calendar feed (.ics)?
In one sentence: A calendar file (usually iCalendar, .ics) at a web address that apps download again regularly to stay up to date.
A little more
A calendar feed is a text file in the iCalendar format (it usually ends in .ics) that lives at a web address. Each event inside has its own start date, name and a unique ID. When you subscribe, your calendar app downloads the file and then fetches it again every so often.
That's how holiday calendars, school term dates and sports fixtures update themselves on your phone: whoever runs the feed changes the file, and every subscribed calendar picks up the change on its next check.
It's a bit like… A noticeboard you walk past every morning: you don't own it, but whenever someone pins up a new notice, you see it next time you look.