Google Sync With iPhone

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February 9th, 2009 Greg Smith Leave a comment Go to comments

The Google blog announces today the availability of google sync with the iPhone and Microsoft Mobile devices. This is real sync with the devices, not using a website.

Google’s set up instructions for the iPhone uses, of all things, Microsoft Exchange Activesync for the syncing.

I enabled my Account today and sure enough it works. I now have my Google Calendar and Contacts syncing directly with Google (instead of some funky ical to Mobileme that doesn’t really work anyway). The iPhone lets me view my Google contacts and calendars separately from the Mobileme contacts and calendars, so I don’t loose data on the phone.

I now have the same level of direct sycing with my iPhone, Mac and PC that Mobileme provides. For free. Why do I need Mobileme? (Because I believe apple will open up MobileMe to third parties).

Sync: Set Up Your iPhone or iPod Touch

To set up Google Sync on your iPhone or iPod Touch device, please follow the steps below.

Requirements and Back Up

1. Make sure your device has version 2.2 firmware or above. You can check your current version by going to Settings > About > Version.

To upgrade, follow the instructions at http://www.apple.com/iphone/softwareupdate/.

2. Back up any Contacts and Calendars from your phone to your computer before proceeding. The iPhone will delete Contacts and Calendars during setup.

Learn how to backup your Contacts with iTunes: PC Users – Mac Users.

Getting Started

1. Open the Settings application on your device’s home screen.

2. Open Mail, Contacts, Calendars.

3. Tap Add Account….

4. Select Microsoft Exchange.

Enter Account Info

5. In the Email field, enter the name of the account (anything you’d like).

6. Leave the Domain field blank.

7. Enter your full Google Account email address as the Username.

8. Enter your Google Account password as the Password.

9. Tap Next at the top of your screen.

10. A new Server field will appear. Enter m.google.com.

11. Press Next at the top of your screen again.

12. Select the Google services you want to sync. Currently only Contacts and Calendar are supported.

Make sure that you have backed up your data before proceeding.

13. Press Sync twice when warned about data loss.

You’ve set up Google Sync for your iPhone. Synchronization will begin automatically if you have Push enabled on your phone. You can also open the Calendar or Contacts app and wait a few seconds to start a sync.