In a long drawn out story that started with trying to implement CardDAV (I'd like to store my contacts on google if possible), I removed my google account from Internet Accounts, which had existed there from Mountain Lion, and was working perfectly fine for Calendar.app and Messages.app.

Upon trying to re-add the Google account and have it sync my calendars, It's telling me that it cant do it anymore. I'm using two-factor google authentication, and I provide the setup with a generated, app specific password. Contacts and Messages click instantly, but Calendars sits spinning. It eventually informs me that:

A secure connection couldn't be established


Cancel Continue

Console informs me that:

28/10/2013 2:26:38.652 am com.apple.internetaccounts[13796]: [com.apple.calendar.iaplugin.log.CalInternetAccountsPlugin] [Autodiscovery error: [Error Domain=NSURLErrorDomain Code=-1001 "The request timed out." UserInfo=0x7fbbc50f0550 {NSUnderlyingError=0x7fbbc5629870 "The request timed out.", NSErrorFailingURLStringKey=https://user%40gmail.com@google.com:8443/principals/, NSErrorFailingURLKey=https://user%40gmail.com@google.com:8443/principals/, NSLocalizedDescription=The request timed out.}].]

Continue will just repeat this loop indefinitely.

I've done some digging and found these resources, although evidently they did not work for me:

It seems that the endpoint is no longer valid? Multiple attempts to create a CalDav account in Advanced mode attempting all flavours and variations bore no fruit.

How can I get this working again?

  • Did you get this working? – TJ Luoma Dec 17 '13 at 8:17
  • See the answer below :) – devians Dec 17 '13 at 9:35
  • Well, I had seen it, I just wondered if it had continued to work. I was having some unrelated issues last night, which is when I came upon your post. – TJ Luoma Dec 17 '13 at 19:37

Here's what worked for me:

  1. Open Calendar.app
  2. Open Preferences (⌘+,)
  3. Click Accounts tab
  4. Click plus button (+) to add an account
  5. Select "Add CalDAV Account..."
  6. Click Continue
  7. Select "Account Type" Manual
  8. Username is your full email address "yourname@gmail.com"
  9. Password is your password (or application specific password if you use 2 factor auth)
  10. Server Address is "https://www.google.com"


  1. Don't forget the "@gmail.com" on your gmail address! You can also use your own domain name if a Google Apps user
  2. The "https://" on the Server Address field is critical. Without this you will get an error about not being able to establish a secure connection (https uses SSL where http doesn't).
  • This solution does not work as of today. I created an application-specific password for just my calendar, followed these steps precisely, and I receive the message "Unable to verify account name or password" – Alaska Mar 3 '15 at 16:30

I reattempted the standard google process today, and it failed on ical (no account) but going to internet accounts and attempting to enable calendar worked.

I can only deduce some form of google services were down or misconfigured in this period.

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protected by Community Jan 27 '14 at 19:36


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