HitchDaysShort answer
Make one all-day event that covers your first hitch, then set Repeat to Custom with a daily interval equal to your full cycle: every 28 days for 14/14, every 56 days for 28/28, every 21 days for 2 and 1, and every 8 days for 4 on 4 off. The Calendar app then draws every hitch after it.
Steps in the iPhone Calendar app
These steps are for the Calendar app that comes with iOS 17 and later. Labels can shift slightly between iOS versions.
Open Calendar and tap + to add an event. Name it something the family will understand, like "On hitch" or "Dad away".
Turn on All-day.
Set Starts to the first day of a hitch and Ends to the last day of that hitch. For a 14/14 that starts Tuesday, September 29, 2026, the last day is Monday, October 12.
Tap Repeat, then Custom. Set Frequency to Daily and Every to 28 days (or your cycle from the table below).
Set End Repeat to Never, or to the date your contract ends.
If you want a nudge, set an Alert, for example one day before. Then tap Add.
Scroll ahead a few months to check: on a 14/14 the event should start on the same weekday every four weeks.
Repeat settings for each rotation
| Rotation | All-day event lasts | Repeat: Custom, Daily, every |
|---|---|---|
| 14/14 | 14 days | 28 days |
| 28/28 | 28 days | 56 days |
| 2 and 1 (14/7) | 14 days | 21 days |
| 14/21 | 14 days | 35 days |
| 7/7 | 7 days | 14 days |
| 21/21 | 21 days | 42 days |
| 8/6 | 8 days | 14 days |
| 4 on 4 off | 4 days | 8 days |
The repeat interval is always days on plus days off. When it is a whole number of weeks you can also use Weekly, every 4 weeks for 14/14, and get the same result.
Let your partner see it
Put the event in a calendar you share. In the Calendar app, tap Calendars, tap the info button next to an iCloud calendar, and use Add Person to invite your partner. Anything in that calendar, including the repeating hitch, shows up on their iPhone, and edits show up on both. If your partner uses Google Calendar, create the event there instead with a custom recurrence of every 28 days and share that calendar.
A weekly rotating day off
A single repeat rule can't follow a day off that moves each week, but six rules can. Make one all-day event for each of the six rotating days in a cycle and set each to repeat Weekly, every 6 weeks. The rotating day off guide shows how the six days fall.
Common mistakes
- Choosing "Every 2 Weeks" for a 14/14. That starts a new hitch every 14 days and covers every day. The interval is the whole cycle: 28 days.
- Ending the event on the first home day. All-day events include their end date, so a 14-day hitch from September 29 ends October 12, not October 13.
- Editing the wrong occurrence after a holdover. When a crew change moves, edit that one hitch and choose to save for this event only. If the whole rotation shifted, choose future events, or delete the series and make it again from the new first hitch day.
- Putting it in a calendar nobody else can see. Check which calendar the event is in before you tell the family to look.
The shortcut
HitchDays Pro has Add to Calendar: it writes your next 12 changes between hitch and home as all-day events, titled like "Home: 14 and 14", in your default calendar, without any repeat math. It asks for write-only access, so it adds events and cannot read the rest of your calendar. Without Pro, the free countdown and this week and next still sit in the app and the widget. More on sharing with family.