Shiftpup guide · October 14, 2026

How to get your work rota into your calendar

Find your row, then add each shift as an event with its own start and end, reading dates the UK way (03/11 is 3 November) and counting the days from the "w/c" Monday. Shiftpup for iPhone reads a photo or screenshot of the rota on your phone, asks who you are, lets you check every shift and adds them to Apple Calendar. Without an iPhone, the web version turns a week of your shifts into a calendar file for Google Calendar, Outlook or Apple Calendar.

Read the rota before you add anything

The week. "w/c 19/10" means the week commencing Monday 19 October. Every day on that rota counts from that Monday.
Your row. On a team rota, follow your name across with a finger or a ruler. Two people called Sam? Check the surname or initial.
The codes. E, L, N, LD, OFF, AL and "Hol" mean different hours in different workplaces. If a cell only has a code, find the key or ask what it means.
Breaks. A 09:00–17:30 shift with a 30-minute unpaid break is still 09:00–17:30 in your calendar. Your calendar shows where you need to be; it isn't a payslip.

With Shiftpup for iPhone

Snap the rota on the staffroom wall, or choose the screenshot someone posted in the group chat. Pip reads it on your iPhone, and the photo isn't uploaded.
Who are you? Tap your name, or start typing it. Each name shows its first shifts as printed, so two similar names are easy to tell apart.
Check every shift against the rota. When a time could be morning or evening, Pip asks you to pick. If the rota says "open" or "close" instead of a time, Shiftpup can use your usual opening and closing times, and says so in the event.
Add to Calendar. One button adds your shifts. Coworkers' names never go into your calendar.

When next week's rota goes up, snap that one. Shiftpup remembers what it added, so a shift that appears on both rotas isn't added twice.

With the web version

No iPhone? The web version works in any browser:

Upload a photo or screenshot of the rota.
Enter your name as it's written on the rota, the first day of the week shown (the w/c Monday) and your work time zone, Europe/London.
Agree to send the photo for reading. It goes through our server to OpenAI; the privacy page explains what happens to it.
Check each shift, then download the calendar file and import it. The import guide covers iPhone, Mac and Google Calendar.

By hand

In Calendar, tap +, type a title like "Work, Maple Street Café", set the start and end, and add an alert. For a late that finishes after midnight, change the end date as well as the end time.

Things that trip people up

Day-first dates. 03/11 is 3 November, not 11 March. Anything set up for American dates reads it the other way round. Shiftpup reads ambiguous dates the way your iPhone's region writes them, and you check each one before it's added.
24-hour times. 07:00–15:00 is clear. "7–3" isn't, which is why the check step matters.
Midnight. A shift ending at 00:00 ends at the very start of the next day. "Friday 18:00–00:00" finishes on Saturday at 00:00.
The clocks. The clocks go back at 02:00 on Sunday 25 October 2026, so a night shift that night lasts an hour longer than it looks. They go forward on Sunday 28 March 2027. Your calendar keeps the clock times right, and the overnight shifts guide explains the rest.
Bank holidays. Rotas around Christmas and Easter often go up late and change more than once. Check you have the latest version before adding them.
Cropped screenshots. A missing Sunday may simply be off the edge of the picture. See the screenshot guide.

Common questions

Is a rota the same as a roster?

Yes. The UK says rota; Australia says roster; the US usually says schedule. The roster guide covers Australian rosters, which bring their own time zone puzzles.

My employer uses a rota app. Do I still need a photo?

If the app can sync with your calendar or export your shifts, use that: it updates when the rota changes. A photo or screenshot is for the rota you only ever get as a picture.

Does Shiftpup understand our shift codes?

It reads the times written on the rota. If your rota uses codes with the hours in a key elsewhere, type the hours in when you check those shifts.