What Whenn does with your calendar — the full picture
Calendar access is sensitive, and the permission names Microsoft and Google show users are sometimes broader than what's actually used. Here is exactly what Whenn reads, what it doesn't, and how the data is handled.
Why this question matters
When you connect a calendar to Whenn, Google or Microsoft shows you a permissions screen. The language on that screen — "read and write access to your calendars" — sometimes looks broader than what you expect from a scheduling tool. That gap between what the screen says and what actually happens is worth closing.
This post explains exactly what Whenn reads, what it creates, and what it never touches.
What Whenn reads from Google Calendar
If you're a participant connecting Google Calendar, Whenn requests the `calendar.freebusy` scope. This is read-only access to free/busy information — whether you're available or busy at a given time. That's it. No event titles, no attendee names, no descriptions, no locations.
If you're a meeting organiser, Whenn requests `calendar.events` in addition. The read portion is identical to participants. The additional scope allows Whenn to create one calendar event in your calendar when the meeting is confirmed. Whenn does not read, modify, or delete your existing calendar events.
What Whenn reads from Microsoft Outlook
If you're a participant connecting Microsoft Outlook, Whenn requests `Calendars.Read` — read-only access to check your availability during the meeting's proposed date range. No event content is accessed.
If you're a meeting organiser, Whenn requests `Calendars.ReadWrite`. This is where the screen can look misleading. Microsoft's Graph API requires write scope to create a calendar event. Whenn uses this to add the confirmed meeting to your calendar and, where requested, to generate a Microsoft Teams meeting link. It does not read the content of your existing events, modify them, or delete them. The write access is used solely to add one event when the meeting confirms.
The architectural point: data is not stored
Free/busy availability data is queried in real time and discarded after the availability calculation. Whenn asks "is this person free at 2pm on 14 October?" and throws the answer away once the meeting is confirmed.
Whenn does not build a database of your calendar patterns. It does not store event history, attendance patterns, or any recurring information about how you use your calendar. The data is used once and discarded.
Participant names and email addresses are retained for up to 90 days after a meeting concludes, then deleted. Meeting records (title, confirmed time, host details) are retained for 90 days then deleted.
What Whenn's privacy policy prohibits
Whenn's privacy policy and DPA explicitly prohibit: selling calendar data to third parties, using calendar data for advertising, profiling users based on calendar patterns, and using calendar data to train machine learning models. These prohibitions apply regardless of what the OAuth scopes technically permit.
Token handling
OAuth tokens are stored encrypted in Whenn's database. They are never exposed to the client side. Refresh is handled server-side. When you disconnect your calendar — from Settings at any time — the token is deleted and Whenn immediately ceases reading your calendar data.
The Microsoft IT approval path
Some organisations require IT admin approval before employees can connect third-party calendar apps. This is a Microsoft 365 security default and not a Whenn-specific requirement. Both hosts and participants can use the manual availability grid while approval is pending — hosts select their free slots on the availability step during meeting creation, and participants use the grid on their personal join page. The meeting can still confirm automatically. No calendar connection is needed for either side while waiting for IT approval.
The full IT admin approval guide, including a direct admin consent URL and a copyable approval request, is at meetwhenn.com/microsoft-approval.
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