Apple wants to make your events run more smoothly. It has just launched Apple Invites, an app on the iPhone and the web that lets you schedule occasions, invite people to them, and share any related photos and music with your guests.
If you’re an iCloud+ subscriber—so if you pay Apple money for iCloud storage—you can create and manage events, while everyone else is able to respond to invites and participate on event pages. (Yes, even Android users, via the web.)
Whether or not you’ve already got a favorite event planning app in place, Apple Invites is worth a look to check out its features and capabilities—especially if you’re an iPhone and iCloud+ user.
Creating and Managing Events
Apple is clearly keen to make the event creation process as straightforward as possible in Apple Invites: From the front screen of the iPhone app, tap the + (plus) button in the top right corner, and you can start building your invite. You’ve got a few bits of information to fill out here, including the all-important event date and start time.
Tap Add Background to create a backdrop to your event listing, which will replace the colored gradient that’s there by default. You can pick an image out from the selection provided, choose a picture from your camera roll, or generate something with AI by tapping on the Playground button.
You’ll see you can adjust details like the font size for the event invitation, and you’ll also see a weather forecast for the event day (if one is available). Choose to add a location to the event—handy if you want people to find it—and the app attaches a map of where the occasion is being held too.
Further down the invite creation screen are a couple of fun features: Tap Create Album to attach some photos to the invite, and Add Playlist to build a playlist for the event in Apple Music. You can choose to manage these yourself, or let your guests contribute photos and playlists. Both the photos and music can be added to during the event too.
