Apple Invites is a dedicated iPhone app that “brings people together for life’s special moments.” By contrast, Calendar is a boring productivity app primarily aimed at work and business. Let’s take a look at the ways in which the two apps differ.

1
Apple Invites Is iPhone-Only

Apple Invites has a dedicated iPhone app. Strangely enough, it’s unavailable on iPads, Macs, and other Apple devices. You may think that it doesn’t matter because you always have your iPhone on you, but I’d actually prefer to create invitations on a bigger screen.

Contrast Invites with the built-in Calendar app, which is available on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Vision Pro. Both services are also available at icloud.com/calendar and icloud.com/invites on any device with a web browser without installing anything. The web app supports all the features of its native counterpart, including creating and editing invitations.

2
Apple Invites Is Limited to iOS 18

Apple Invites only runs on iPhones that are compatible with iOS 18 and cannot be used on older hardware like iPhone X. The Calendar app, on the other hand, is available on a wide range of iPhones dating back to iOS 10, including the original iPhone SE and iPhone 5.

3
Apple Invites Is Not Built-In

Apple Invites is not bundled with iOS 18 and must be manually downloaded from the App Store, meaning folks who don’t read tech blogs may not realize why they may need such an app in their lives. Apple would be wise to put the Invites app on hundreds of millions of Home Screens in future iOS releases to reduce friction associated with downloading.

4
Apple Invites Requires a Subscription

Apple Invites is free to use, but creating invitations requires an iCloud+ subscription, which includes other perks such as enhanced privacy features. Therefore, to use Invites, you’ll need to buy at least 50 GB of iCloud storage for $1/month. And if you stop paying, you’ll lose the ability to create new invitations. That’s one way to make iCloud+ more compelling, Apple!

5
Apple Invites Supports Music and Images

Apple Invites is integrated with the Apple ecosystem including features such as photos and music. You can embed a shared album in your invite (without an iCloud+ subscription), and attendees can contribute photos and videos to it to visually document the event.

Another thing you can add is a collaborative Apple Music playlist that guests can access from within the invitation. However, an Apple Music profile is required to add music to the invite. Moreover, your friends need an Apple Music subscription to listen to your playlist; otherwise, they can only listen to 60-second previews.

These requirements make Apple Invites less appealing to people outside the Apple ecosystem, like your friends on Android and Windows. The built-in Calendar app, on the other hand, lacks bells and whistles—you cannot add photo albums or music to your events—but at least it doesn’t require that guests have a paid subscription to view shared events.

6
Apple Invites Lets Non-Apple Owners RSVP

While a paid iCloud+ subscription is required to create events in the Invites app, anyone can RSVP without needing an Apple device or account. That’s great; you don’t want to give your Android or Windows friends work to do. The recipient just clicks a link to open the invite on the iCloud website. They don’t need an iPhone in order to get in, but must enter their email address and a verification code emailed to them.

However, Android and Windows users may be unable to RSVP directly from email, in which case they’ll see an “Add to Calendar” button instead of an RSVP button with the “Going,” “Not Going,” and “Maybe” options. The event organizer sees these responses in the Invites app.

Non-Apple users visiting your invitation in a browser can download the event file (ICS) to add it to their designated calendar app. Unlike Apple Calendar, the Invites app lets the event organizer permit specific guests to add their own guests to the event. Both apps support sending updates to invitees after the event is created.

7
Apple Invites Pairs with Maps and Weather

The Invites app integrates with other ecosystem features, like Apple Maps and Weather. Both Apple Calendar and Invites let you add a location like an address, landmark, or business name to an invitation, which can be tapped to show directions in the Maps app. However, the Invites app also shows projected weather forecasts for that location on that day.

8
Apple Invites Uses Image Playground

Apple Invites lets you use Image Playground on the iPhone 16 lineup to leverage Apple Intelligence’s AI image creation. If you don’t like bundled backgrounds or don’t want to use your own images, hit the Playground option when editing the background. Image Playground lets you create custom invite images from concepts, descriptions, and people in your library, using simple prompts such as “Dante wearing an octopus instead of a party hat.”

9
Apple Invites Has Gorgeous Event Templates

The built-in Calendar app is boring as far as calendars go. Though not a full-blown Calendar replacement, Invites lets you create visually stunning invitations with little effort by choosing from built-in event templates suitable for different occasions.

10
Apple Invites Has Privacy Features

Apple Invites includes privacy features not found in Calendar, including restricting the background image, guest list, event location, and more until guests have opened the invitation with a verified email address or a private link. These features prevent others who may have been forwarded the public link from seeing anyone’s personal information on the invitation.

Apple Invites also gives guests control over their private information. They can choose which details show up to others and how their name and profile image are displayed to other guests. The app never reveals guests’ personal contact information to others. Both Apple Calendar and Invites let attendees leave an event at any time or report it as spam.

So far, there has been little overlap between Apple Calendar and Apple Invites as each serves a different purpose. The former is packed with productivity features, making it suitable for all use cases, including enterprise. On the other hand, the Invites app lets you create events, send out invitations, and manage responses in fun ways with attractive results.

Integrations of Photos, Music, Maps, Weather, Calendar, and Image Playground makes Apple Invites a strong competitor to third-party options such as the platform-agnostic and completely free Partiful. Apple Invites is only getting started, and we expect to see improvements in future updates to the app, including additional ecosystem integrations.