It seems a well documented problem that if you sync your iPod Touch or iPhone with your machine. then decide to change to a different calendar, it can be really hard to get rid of the older calendar, especially if like me, you sync with google apps then decide to go with the exchange option.

So now im stick with 2 or three copies of my gmail calendar on my iPhone, which no matter WHAT i try does not go away, even after i tell it to not sync any calendars in iTunes.

Luckily i Jailbreak my iphone, i ssh’d in and found where the calendar files are. This fix im afraid only works with a jail broken iPod/iPhone.

ssh in or open a console. If you have file browser you prefer then by all means use that. You need to grab the file at /private/var/mobile/Library/Calendar/Calendar.sqlitedb .

You can use scp to do this, find the IP of the device, then

an7:Desktop wishes$ scp root@10.40.1.5:/private/var/mobile/Library/Calendar/Calendar.sqlitedb .
root@10.40.1.5′s password:
Calendar.sqlitedb                                                                                                                 100%  636KB 636.0KB/s   00:01

Once you have the file, you need an SQLite browser to edit it. I used http://sourceforge.net/projects/sqlitebrowser/ on my mac. Make a backup of the sql file before editing it. Open it in the sqlite browser. Click ‘Browse Data’ then in the drop down look at Calendar. Find the entry you dont want, delete it, then save the database again.

Copy it back to the device.

lan7:Desktop wishes$ scp Calendar.sqlitedb root@10.40.1.5:/private/var/mobile/Library/Calendar/Calendar.sqlitedb
root@10.40.1.5′s password:
Calendar.sqlitedb                                                                                                                 100%  524KB 524.0KB/s   00:00

Then test it. If it worked then presto! if not you still have that backup right?.

I had a problem with my iPhone, i had previously added my google calendars to sync with iCal on the mac so they synced with my iPhone. THis was great except i couldn’t add things to them from the iPhone.

When Google allowed exchange access i just set that up and used it, problem was that I could no longer get rid of the old ones. I even set iTunes to sync NO calendars and deleted it all, and still i had a couple of these old calendars hanging about.
I figured since I had jail broken my iPhone i should be able to look around the filesystem and see what the problem was. Fairly quickly i found in the user ‘mobile’ home dir the files Library/Calendar/Calendar.sqlitedb (fullpath /private/var/mobile/Library/Calendar/Calendar.sqlitedb ) .
I grabbed an sqllite editor from http://sourceforge.net/projects/sqlitebrowser/ , copied the file over to my local Linux machine.
Opened the file in sqllite editor, went to Browse Data’ then changed the dropdown to ‘Calendar’. Deleted the offending Calendars, saved and re-uploaded.
Make sure you change the ownership so the mobile user can write to it!
Hermes:/User/Library/Calendar root# chown mobile.mobile Calendar.sqlitedb

Now before you get cocky, make a backup before you overwrite the original eh? Just in case you bugger things up!

Command history

wishes@tulip:~$ scp root@192.168.0.28:/User/Library/Calendar/Calendar.sqlitedb .
root@192.168.0.28′s password:
Calendar.sqlitedb 100% 716KB 716.0KB/s 00:01
wishes@tulip:~$ tar zvxf sqlitebrowser-1.3-i386.tar.gz
sqlitebrowser
wishes@tulip:~$ ./sqlitebrowser
wishes@tulip:~$ scp Calendar.sqlitedb root@192.168.0.28:/User/Library/Calendar/Calendar.sqlitedb-new
root@192.168.0.28′s password:
Calendar.sqlitedb 100% 552KB 552.0KB/s 00:00
wishes@tulip:~$ ssh root@192.168.0.28
root@192.168.0.28′s password:
Hermes:~ root# cd /User/Library/Calendar/
Hermes:/User/Library/Calendar root# ls
Calendar.sqlitedb Calendar.sqlitedb-new
Hermes:/User/Library/Calendar root# mv Calendar.sqlitedb Calendar.sqlitedb-old
Hermes:/User/Library/Calendar root# mv Calendar.sqlitedb-new Calendar.sqlitedb
Hermes:/User/Library/Calendar root# chown mobile.mobile Calendar.sqlitedb
Hermes:/User/Library/Calendar root# logout
Connection to 192.168.0.28 closed.

There is no Mystery here on how to do this , so heres my quick and easy HOWTO.

Backup any Music or apps on your ipod (you should already have a copy on iTunes anyway)

Go to http://www.redsn0w.com

Click on the “info here” button which takes you to http://blog.iphone-dev.org/post/126908912/redsn0w-in-june

Scroll to the bottom and download either the Mac or the Windows version.

Unzip it.

On your hard drive you should have a copy of the iPod Software, its hidden kinda, but this is where you will find it

On a Mac, look in your Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Apple Inc_/iPhone 3.0 Software Update for iPod touch/iPod2,1_3.0_7A341_Restore.ipsw

Unsure where it is on a Windows machine, but just use the find/search for it. If you dont have this on your PC, easyest way to get it is just plug in your iPod, click ‘Restore’ and it will download it.

Run the Redsn0w application.

When it asks for the iPod software point it at the iPod2,1_3.0_7A341_Restore.ipsw file

Click Next repeatedly until its finished. It does take you through holding down various buttons to put the iPod into disk mode. Dont stress if you are to slow, just keep trying it until you get it right (I managed it first time ok).

Its important to note it gives you the option of Icey and Cydia and the default Cydia is checked and Icey is not. DO NOT CHANGE THIS! Icy by default is broken, once you open Cydia the first time it will update and install Icey fine.

Don’t stress if your screen sits with various things for a while on the iPod after the application has finished. It takes time to finish unpacking (several minutes at least) and then reboot.

If for any reason your iPod completely screws up, hold down the Home button and the power at the top for 5 seconds and it will reboot, you can re-run the jailbreak installer at this point.

Once its installed it will boot your iPod and look identical. Open Cydia and let it update (best if you have wifi available). Install a few themes and whatever else. done!