© 2022 - aleteo.co
UPDATE: We’ve made it incredibly easy to sync your iPhone and Google contacts. Just install Contacts+ For iOS and you can sync your contacts from Google, Twitter, and more.
Go into contacts and click 'group' in the upper left hand corner. See which contacts are currently being displayed IE: iCloud, gmail, on my iPhone, etc. Turn a couple of them off, and see if half the contacts disappear. It is possible that the contacts are currently being synced from multiple locations, hence the doubleups. Here’s how to import iPhone contacts into Gmail. These steps were performed on an iPhone 6 Plus running iOS 10.3.3. On older versions, don't look for your own icon in the Settings app, just.
Last updated: 31 March, 2021
We hear from a lot of folks who have trouble syncing their iPhone Contacts with their Google Contacts. This is a common pain point for iPhone users – especially compared to the relative ease of setting up an Android to sync with Google Contacts.
We’re working on some new features for the Contact+ address book app that will make the process of syncing your contacts with an iPhone much, much easier. In the meantime, we’ve written up a quick guide to help you get things set up right.
This entire process will take 10-15 minutes max, and it will save you a lot of confusion later. Set it and forget it. If you’re an Outlook.com, Yahoo, or Hotmail user, don’t worry – we’ll help you out in a future blog post.
Many people have multiple Google accounts that include contact lists. For example, I have a work Google Apps account, a personal Gmail account, and a separate personal Gmail account (reserved for beta signups, receipts, Craigslist sales, and other junk where I don’t want to give out my personal email). Each of these accounts has its own corresponding Google Contacts list.
So which accounts should you connect to your phone?
You probably don’t want all your contacts on your phone, because that will slow down the process of searching or scrolling through contacts to make a call. Instead, if you’re like me, you’d rather see a focused list of people with whom you might need to communicate while on the go.
As you consider, it’s important to note that, on your iPhone, you can easily connect an email account without syncing the contacts. This can be helpful when you don’t want to sift through a list of several thousand contacts (pulled from multiple Google accounts) to place a call. For Google accounts specifically, you won’t be able to connect both your contacts and email in one step.
For the most part, this is pretty simple. Tap the Settings icon on your iPhone. Scroll down a bit until you see Mail, Contacts, Calendars. Tap it.
You’ll then see all of your connected email accounts listed under Accounts. Tap Add Account…, select Gmail, and you’ll then be prompted to enter the relevant information, such as email address, password, and description.
I like to label the email accounts with simple names like “Work Mail,” “Personal Mail,” or “Junk Mail” to make it easy to find the right account in my iPhone inbox instead of trying to decipher between several similar email account names (like [email protected] and [email protected], for example). For Google accounts, I specifically add the “Mail” at the end of the description to remind me that the default connection only connects Mail and Calendar, not Contacts.
This is a key point, and a point of confusion and frustration for Google Contacts users. Just because you connect your Gmail does not mean your Google contacts are connected as well. This means that if you stop right now, any changes you make to contacts on your iPhone – or new contacts you add – will not show up in your Google Contacts on the web (and vice versa).
For Google, you’ll have to use separate protocols to sync contacts.
There are two ways to sync your Google Contacts. For Google, the one you use depends on whether you’re using a personal Gmail (or Googlemail.com) account or a Google Apps account.
Of note, no matter which Google method you use, your phone will only sync with your “My Contacts” in Google. It will not sync your Other Contacts* or Google Plus Circles.
*Gmail automatically adds addresses to your Other Contacts list each time you use the Reply, Reply to all, or Forward functions to send mail to addresses that don’t already exist in your “My Contacts” list.
Here’s a stumbling block that a lot of people have found – Go to Settings > Cellular and then scroll down until you see the slider beside Contacts. Enabling this will make sure that your phone can manage your contacts while using cellular data, rather than having to wait for a wifi signal.
You’ll have to use a method called CardDAV. As we’ve written before, CardDAV is a sync protocol that Google recently decided to support. It allows for better synchronization of contact fields than the traditional Microsoft Exchange method (below). Google provides detailed instructions on how to set up CardDAV sync on their help page.
You’ll find the CardDAV option under Other in the Add Account… menu. It’s well worth the minute or so it takes to set up.
Keep in mind, the CardDAV sync does not bring in the associated Gmail and Google Calendar information. You did that in the previous step, which is why you’ll see two different accounts in the Accounts menu that actually represent the same Google Account.
The setup for a Google Apps account is the same as if you’re adding a regular Gmail. iOS now supports the addition of Google Apps via the Google option.
We hope this was helpful in setting up your Google Contacts to sync with your iPhone Contacts!
There are a lot of nuances to fully setting up sync with your various email accounts and apps – we’ll deal with more of these issues in future posts, so let us know what you’re interested in!
When you turn on iCloud Contacts, all of the information* stored on separate devices uploads to iCloud. If you turn off iCloud Contacts, your information won't automatically move from iCloud back to your device.
All of the information stored in Contacts uploads to iCloud.
All of the information* stored in Contacts uploads to iCloud.
* If you have contacts information stored On My Mac, that information will not automatically sync. In Contacts, drag a contact from On My Mac to All iCloud, or export your contacts as Vcards, then manually sync with the Finder.
After you turn on iCloud Contacts on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac, your contacts upload to iCloud. You can find and edit your contacts on iCloud.com or in iCloud for Windows. Any changes that you make automatically update on your other devices.
If you turn off iCloud Contacts on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac, your contacts won't delete from iCloud, they won't update automatically, and any changes you make won't update across your other devices.
If you store contacts in a third-party email service, you can add the email account to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. Then, check that Contacts is enabled.
If you experience sync-related issues, disable the account.
If you don’t want to manage your contacts with iCloud, or if you want to do a one-time sync, sync your Contacts manually with the Finder or iTunes.
When you sync with the Finder or iTunes, your information stores locally on your devices. There can be differences in information if you update one of your devices in between syncs. For example, if you delete contacts from your computer after syncing with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, the next time you sync with your computer, those contacts will delete from your iOS or iPadOS device, too.