react-native-save-to-calendar

Open the system Add Event sheet on iOS and Android from a React Native app.

The library never writes events itself — it just opens the OS-provided "create event" UI pre-filled with your data. The user reviews, picks a calendar, and saves. Because the system handles its own permission flow, the library does not request WRITE_CALENDAR (Android) or EKEntityType.event (iOS) write access on your behalf.

Features

• One JS API, two platforms: presentEventDialog(event) → Promise<{ action: 'saved' | 'canceled' | 'deleted' }>.
• Pre-fills title, start / end, location, notes, and all-day.
• iOS uses EKEventEditViewController (EventKit + EventKitUI) and returns the user's real choice.
• Android launches Intent.ACTION_INSERT against CalendarContract.Events — no permissions needed.
• Works on the New Architecture (TurboModule via Codegen) and the Legacy bridge — the consumer doesn't need to opt in.
• Ships with TypeScript types out of the box.

Requirements

| Platform | Minimum | | ------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | React Native | >= 0.71 (needs TurboModule + Codegen support). | | iOS | Deployment target inherited from the host app (min_ios_version_supported, 13.4+). | | Android | minSdkVersion 24, compileSdkVersion 35, Java 17, Kotlin 2.1.20 (overridable). |

The Kotlin version can be overridden by setting kotlinVersion in your root android/build.gradle. The Android module pulls compileSdkVersion / minSdkVersion / targetSdkVersion from your root ext if defined.

Expo

This library ships native code, so it does not run in Expo Go. It does work in:

• Bare React Native projects.
• Expo projects using prebuild or the Expo Dev Client (autolinking handles it on expo prebuild).

There is no Expo config plugin — the iOS Info.plist keys below must be added through your Expo app.json ios.infoPlist block or through prebuild.

Installation

npm install react-native-save-to-calendar
# or
yarn add react-native-save-to-calendar

iOS only — install the pod:

cd ios && pod install

Autolinking handles the rest on both platforms.

iOS setup

Add both keys to your app's Info.plist:

<key>NSCalendarsUsageDescription</key>
<string>Add this event to your calendar.</string>
<key>NSCalendarsWriteOnlyAccessUsageDescription</key>
<string>Add this event to your calendar.</string>

• NSCalendarsWriteOnlyAccessUsageDescription is the iOS 17+ key. EKEventEditViewController requests write-only access on modern iOS and the system will silently fail without this string.
• NSCalendarsUsageDescription is the legacy key for iOS 16 and earlier.

App Store review requires both even though EKEventEditViewController handles its own permission prompt internally — keep both regardless of your deployment target.

Android setup

Nothing. Intent.ACTION_INSERT doesn't require WRITE_CALENDAR or any other manifest permission.

Usage

import { presentEventDialog } from 'react-native-save-to-calendar';

const start = new Date('2026-06-01T15:00:00Z');
const end = new Date('2026-06-01T16:00:00Z');

try {
  const result = await presentEventDialog({
    title: 'Doctor appointment',
    startDate: start.toISOString(),
    endDate: end.toISOString(),
    location: 'Clinic, 221B Baker St',
    notes: 'Bring reports',
    allDay: false,
  });

  if (result.action === 'saved') {
    // iOS: the user committed the event.
    // Android: the OS reported RESULT_OK. Many calendar apps do NOT report this
    // even after a successful save — see Platform behaviour below.
  } else if (result.action === 'canceled') {
    // User dismissed the editor / chooser, OR (Android) the calendar app
    // finished without reporting success. Treat as "not confirmed", not failure.
  } else if (result.action === 'deleted') {
    // user tapped Delete on an existing event (iOS only)
  }
} catch (err) {
  // err.code will be one of E_INVALID_ARGS, E_NO_PRESENTER, E_NO_CALENDAR_APP,
  // E_NO_ACTIVITY, E_IN_PROGRESS, or E_CALENDAR — see the Reject reasons table below.
  console.warn('Calendar dialog failed:', err);
}

API

presentEventDialog(event)

| Field | Type | Required | Notes | | ------------ | --------- | -------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------- | | title | string | yes | Event title shown in the editor. | | startDate | string | yes | ISO 8601 datetime, e.g. the output of new Date(...).toISOString(). | | endDate | string | yes | ISO 8601 datetime. | | location | string | no | Free-form location text. | | notes | string | no | Event description / notes. | | allDay | boolean | no | Default false. |

Returns: Promise<{ action: 'saved' | 'canceled' | 'deleted' }>.

Platform behaviour

• iOS — returns the real user choice via the EKEventEditViewDelegate callback. 'deleted' only fires if the user editing an existing event chooses Delete.

• Android — the dialog is launched with startActivityForResult and the result is mapped from the returned activity result code: RESULT_OK → 'saved', anything else → 'canceled'. This means dismissing the "Complete action using" app chooser (or backing out before saving) reliably resolves 'canceled'.

  ⚠️ Android ACTION_INSERT limitation. ACTION_INSERT is fire-and-forget by design. Most calendar apps (Google Calendar, Samsung Calendar, Outlook, …) finish without calling setResult(RESULT_OK) even after the user saves — so a genuine save frequently also resolves as 'canceled'. Therefore on Android:

  • 'saved' is a strong signal (the app explicitly reported success) but is not emitted by every calendar app.
  • 'canceled' means "not confirmed" — the user may have cancelled, or saved in an app that doesn't report the result. It does not reliably mean the event was not created.

  Reliably detecting a real save would require READ_CALENDAR permission to query the provider after the editor closes, which this library deliberately avoids. Design your UX so that a non-'saved' result is treated as "outcome unknown" rather than a hard failure — the calendar app shows its own save confirmation regardless.

Reject reasons

| Code | Platform | Cause | | --------------------- | -------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ | | E_INVALID_ARGS | iOS | Missing or unparsable title, startDate, or endDate. | | E_NO_PRESENTER | iOS | No view controller available to present the editor. | | E_ALREADY_OPEN | iOS | A calendar dialog is already open. | | E_NO_CALENDAR_APP | Android | No installed activity handles ACTION_INSERT for events. | | E_NO_ACTIVITY | Android | No foreground activity available to launch the dialog. | | E_IN_PROGRESS | Android | A calendar dialog is already open. | | E_CALENDAR | Android | Generic failure (bad ISO date, intent launch exception). |

Architecture support

• New Architecture (Fabric / TurboModules): the library declares a Codegen spec (src/NativeSaveToCalendar.ts) and ships a TurboModule on both platforms.
• Legacy: the library registers a bridge module (RCT_EXTERN_MODULE on iOS, ReactContextBaseJavaModule on Android) selected via dual src/newarch / src/oldarch source sets on Android.

No consumer-side opt-in is needed for either mode.

License

MIT © Aditya Thummar