Google is making it easier to create birthday reminders in Google Calendar. The new Google Workspace update is currently rolling out and should become available in the next couple of weeks.
Before this update, Google Contacts could automatically send the birthday details of saved contacts to Google Calendar. However, you had to manually go in and create an annual event out of that information, which included creating an all-day event, setting it to repeat annually, and adding notifications to create reminders.
With the new Workspace update, you’ll find a “Birthday” chip, alongside the “Event” and “Task” chips when creating a new item. The button can create birthday events with a single tap. If you select the “Birthday” chip, Google Calendar will show you a menu for adding the birth date and a color tag.
Here, you can also configure the birthday notifications and reminders. For example, you could set it to give you a reminder a week before the birthday and on the big day. You get to pick the time of the day for receiving these reminders. If you’re planning something special with other people, you can add them as collaborators using their Google accounts and they’ll get the same notifications. It defaults to “Only You” though.
The feature will be available for Workspace Business subscribers as well as free personal Workspace accounts. Depending on your Google Workspace settings (whether they’re set to the Rapid Release channel or the default Scheduled Release setting), it might take up to two weeks for the update to show up on Google Calendar after the rollout starts.
Google has already started rolling out the feature to Rapid Release domains and the rollout for Scheduled Release channels will begin on October 9, 2024. The Android and iOS rollout starts from September 24, 2024, for both channels. I checked the app page on the Google Play Store, and it hasn’t been updated yet, but the Android version of Google Calendar will get the birthday button first.
Source: Google