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overview

Last Updated: 6/9/2026

ZCal Buddy Overview

ZCal Buddy is an Android home screen widget that brings your Zoom calendar events directly to your device’s home screen. Built for Android users with Zoom accounts, the app provides quick access to your schedule without opening the full Zoom application.

What ZCal Buddy Does

ZCal Buddy connects to your Zoom account and displays your calendar events in a customizable home screen widget. The widget auto-refreshes every 15 minutes via WorkManager, ensuring your schedule stays current throughout the day. You can view upcoming events, respond to invitations, and join Zoom meetings—all from your home screen.

The app requires Android SDK 26 (Android 8.0 Oreo) or higher and targets Android SDK 36. It uses OAuth 2.0 authentication with an external redirect through trevanbusby.com to securely connect to your Zoom account.

Key Features

View Calendar Events: The widget displays your Zoom calendar events with event titles, times, locations, and Zoom meeting links. Events show color-coded based on your calendar settings, and past events appear in muted colors to help you focus on what’s next.

Two Widget View Modes: Choose between two display modes depending on your preference:

  • Agenda List (AgendaList): Shows events grouped by day across multiple days (configurable from 1-7 days). This view displays day headers followed by event cards, making it easy to scan your upcoming week.
  • Single Day Timeline (SingleDayTimeline): Shows today’s events in a timeline format with hour markers and quarter-hour indicators. This view provides a visual representation of your day with events positioned at their start times.

The widget automatically switches to timeline mode when you configure it to display a single day and disable the agenda view option (daysToDisplay == 1 && !agendaViewForSingleDay).

RSVP to Events: Respond to calendar invitations directly from the event details screen. The app supports three response statuses: “accepted”, “tentative”, and “declined”. Your response syncs back to Zoom and updates the widget display—declined events show with strikethrough formatting.

Create Calendar Events: Create new events from the app with full control over event details:

  • Event name, date, time, and time zone
  • All-day or timed events
  • Location and description
  • Attendee invitations
  • Event type: “Offline” or “Zoom Meeting”

When you create a Zoom Meeting event, the app automatically generates a Zoom meeting and attaches the join URL to the calendar event.

Edit Existing Events: Modify event details including title, time, location, and attendees. You can also convert events between types—add a Zoom meeting to an offline event or remove a Zoom meeting from an event. The app checks the canWrite property on your calendar accounts (requires accessRole of “owner” or “writer”) to determine edit permissions.

Zoom Meeting Configuration: When creating or editing Zoom Meeting events, configure meeting settings:

  • Use Personal Meeting ID (PMI)
  • Require meeting passcode (default: “123456”)
  • Enable waiting room
  • Restrict to authenticated users only
  • Automatically start AI Companion

These settings are passed to the createZoomMeeting function with parameters usePmi, requirePasscode, passcode, waitingRoom, authenticatedUsersOnly, and aiCompanion.

Quick Actions: The widget header provides one-tap access to common actions:

  • Refresh button (↻): Manually refresh the widget to fetch the latest events
  • Settings button (⚙): Open widget configuration
  • Create button (+): Start creating a new event

OAuth Configuration

The app uses OAuth 2.0 with client ID lzTeqRJYQx29JbipyhcAYA configured in app/build.gradle.kts. The OAuth flow redirects through https://trevanbusby.com/redirect, which then hands the authorization code back to the app via the custom URI scheme zcalbuddy://oauth. This external redirect is required because Zoom OAuth requires an HTTPS endpoint for this app type.

Token exchange and refresh operations use serverless functions at https://www.trevanbusby.com/_functions/zoomToken and https://www.trevanbusby.com/_functions/zoomRefresh to keep the client secret secure.

Who Should Use ZCal Buddy

ZCal Buddy is designed for Android users who:

  • Have active Zoom accounts with calendar access
  • Want quick visibility into their schedule from their home screen
  • Frequently join Zoom meetings and need fast access to join links
  • Prefer managing their calendar without opening the full Zoom app
  • Need to respond to meeting invitations on the go

The app works with Zoom’s calendar service and requires appropriate calendar permissions during OAuth setup.

oauth-setup