Americans checking their phones on Monday may get different answers about what holiday they are observing depending on whether they use Google Calendar or Apple Calendar. Calendar displays both Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples' Day while Google Calendar lists Columbus Day. The difference comes amid a longstanding national debate over Christopher Columbus' legacy and whether the second Monday in October should celebrate the Italian explorer, honor Indigenous peoples, or recognize both.
Google previously manually added a broader collection of cultural celebrations to users' calendars but changed its approach in mid-2024, deciding to primarily rely on public holidays and national observances supplied by Timeanddate.com. Indigenous Peoples' Day is recognized in various forms across numerous states and Washington, D.C., but is not itself a federal holiday. Newsweek reached out to Apple and Google for comment.
The differences between two of America's most widely used calendar platforms offer a small but highly visible example of the country's much bigger disagreement over how October's federal holiday should be understood. For supporters of Columbus Day, the holiday commemorates Christopher Columbus' 1492 voyage and has particular significance within the Italian American community. Many also point to the discrimination faced by Italian immigrants as part of the holiday's history and cultural importance.
But for many Native Americans and other critics, Columbus represents European colonization and the violence, and the holiday does not convey the serious nature of the displacement and losses Indigenous communities experienced afterward. That has led a growing number of groups to instead use the occasion to recognize Native American history and culture. Five states, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, recognize Columbus Day alongside Indigenous Peoples' Day.
But in recent years, there's been tension over which holiday should be recognized first and foremost. Specifically for Indigenous People's Day and Columbus Day, it seems like acknowledging the less pretty parts of US history has become controversial,” HR consultant Bryan Driscoll told Newsweek. It's also about being honest that Columbus' legacy includes colonization, violence, and suffering.” On Google Calendar, Columbus Day appears.
While Apple does not appear to have published a readily available explanation for including both holidays, Google has publicly explained a broader policy change that helps explain how holidays and observances end up on its calendar. The company said in February 2025 that several years earlier, its Calendar team had begun manually adding a wider range of cultural events in numerous countries, including cultural celebrations and teachers' days. But the approach proved difficult to maintain.
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