If you live in the United Kingdom, there's a good chance you enjoyed yesterday's first official bank holiday of the year with your feet up. But if all you'd done was rely on the Calendar app on your iPhone, you may never have even known you were due a day off. That's because a persistent bug that has plagued the app for months still prevents Apple's UK bank holidays subscription option from populating the calendar view for 2022.

uk calendar
Based on the number of complaints online, many iPhone users in the UK have been aware of this issue for some time, but with 2022 now upon us, that number has risen exponentially. Apple surely knows there's a problem with its UK Holidays subscription webcal, but until it does something about it, here's an alternative way to get the full list of dates for England and Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland booked into your calendar in a few quick steps.

  • Monday, January 3 - New Year's Day
  • Friday, April 15 - Good Friday
  • Monday, April 18 - Easter Monday
  • Monday, May 2 - May Day
  • Thursday, June 2 - Spring bank holiday
  • Friday, June 3 - Platinum Jubilee bank holiday
  • Monday, August 29 - Summer bank holiday
  • Monday, December 26 - Boxing Day
  • Tuesday, December 27 - Christmas Day (substitute)

The above public holidays list is the official one for England and Wales for 2022 provided by the UK government, which helpfully provides Apple users with its own ICS calendar files that can be imported into the iPhone calendar app. Follow the steps to import the one that applies to your country into your calendar now.

  1. Tap the England and Wales link on your iPhone or iPad. (Scotland holidays link, Northern Ireland holidays link.) Alternately, paste it into Safari's address bar and hit Enter. If you're asked to open the page in Calendar, tap Open.
  2. Tap Subscribe. You can give the calendar subscription a recognizable name (and color if you want), then add it to your iCloud or iPhone account.
  3. Tap Add.

calendar
After that, the months in your chosen calendar should now be populated with all the bank holidays you're already looking forward to in the year ahead.

Update: As noted by MacRumors readers, this is also an issue in Spain, Germany, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, and several other countries. Given that it might be a worldwide issue, Apple could have a fix coming in a future update.

Top Rated Comments

NightFox Avatar
42 months ago

In Ireland we have this "Christmas Dad (observed)" and "New Year's Day (observed)" two days after each day, but we don't use any such term in the country. Sounds like an American thing.
Yeah, I think 'Christmas Dad' was a film from the '80s starring Steve Martin and Chevy Chase. Probably.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
polyphenol Avatar
42 months ago

how do I delete items from US Holidays off my calendar?
As they are US holidays, don't you mean "off of"? :)

Just realised that New Year's Eve 2021 was shown as a bank holiday. Which it isn't/wasn't in the UK.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
LeeW Avatar
42 months ago

here is no 'bug in the app': there is a source file that Apple hasn't updated.
Just goes to show a $3tn company does not mean they can complete the simple things.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BanjoDudeAhoy Avatar
39 months ago
I was wondering why I still didn't have bank holidays in my region. Turns out that I use English (US) as my language but that doesn't match my region and the regional calendar is in the region's main language.
After adding the regional language, I now see bank holidays.

Also, sorry for reviving the thread but I figured this might be interesting to some.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
fivenotrump Avatar
42 months ago
There is no 'bug in the app': there is a source file that Apple hasn't updated. There may be a bug in an Apple internal app that creates this file; alternatively there may be a bug within management.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
holthaum Avatar
42 months ago
According to Apple, Germany has also had no public holidays since 2022.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Render Front Page Tech

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Sunday March 23, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. iPhone 17 Pro's alleged design via Front Page Tech Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone...
iCloud General Feature Redux

iPhone Users Who Pay for iCloud Storage Receive a New Perk

Thursday March 20, 2025 12:01 am PDT by
If you pay for iCloud storage on your iPhone, Apple has a new perk for you, at no additional cost. The new perk is the ability to create invitations in the Apple Invites app for the iPhone, which launched in the App Store last month. In the Apple Invites app, iCloud+ subscribers can create invitations for any occasion, such as birthday parties, graduations, baby showers, and more. Anyone ...
iOS 18

Top 5 New Features Coming in iOS 18.4

Friday March 21, 2025 3:26 pm PDT by
We're not getting new Siri Apple Intelligence features in iOS 18.4 as expected, but the upcoming update does have quite a few new additions that will be worth upgrading for. We've rounded up the five best features to look forward to, and if you're not running the beta, you can expect to get access to these in early April. Priority Notifications If you have an iPhone or iPad that supports...
Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock

iOS 19 Coming in June With These New Features

Thursday March 20, 2025 2:04 pm PDT by
While the first iOS 19 beta is still more than two months away, there are already plenty of rumors about the upcoming software update. Below, we recap the key iOS 19 rumors so far. visionOS-Like Design In January, the YouTube channel Front Page Tech revealed a redesigned Camera app that is allegedly planned for iOS 19. According to Front Page Tech host Jon Prosser, the Camera app...
Generic iOS 18

Apple Seeds iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 Release Candidate With Priority Notifications, Ambient Music and More

Monday March 24, 2025 10:07 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the release candidate versions of upcoming iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming a week after Apple released the fourth betas. iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software Update. With iOS 18.4, Apple is adding the Priority Notifications...
airpods max 2024 colors

Don't Buy Into Apple's Hype About AirPods Max Gaining Lossless Audio

Monday March 24, 2025 4:24 pm PDT by
Apple today announced that AirPods Max with a USB-C port will be gaining support for lossless audio and ultra-low latency audio with a firmware update next month, alongside the release of iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and macOS 15.4. For context, audio files are typically compressed to keep file sizes smaller. There are lossy compression standards like MP3, and Apple's own Advanced Audio Codec...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature Iridescent Search

Foldable iPhone Expected to Launch Next Year, Costing Around $2,000

Monday March 24, 2025 3:43 am PDT by
Apple will launch its long-rumored foldable iPhone next year with a ~$2,000 premium price tag attached, expects well-connected Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman. Gurman's comments on Apple's launch plans for its first foldable device appeared in the Q&A section of his latest Power On newsletter. Earlier this month, the reporter said Apple's foldable iPhone could be arriving "as early as 2026,"...
iOS 19 Rounded UI Elements Light

iOS 19: What to Expect From Apple's Dramatic Design Overhaul?

Monday March 24, 2025 9:47 am PDT by
Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that Apple is planning "one of the most dramatic software overhauls in the company's history" – an update that aims to bring iOS, iPadOS, and macOS into closer visual alignment. The redesign is said to be "loosely based" on visionOS, the software behind Apple's Vision Pro headset, and will reportedly update the look of icons, menus, apps, windows, and...