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Gmail setup: default or using ms exchange?
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I use Exchange for push and contact syncing to my GMail contacts.
I do have a question though... I thought whenever I made a change either online to my GMail contacts or in my phone, it would sync the other one instantly. Is this true?
I recently upgraded phones and noticed that a few changes I made to my contacts in the last week or so (a new contact, a couple of changed numbers) did not make the transition to my new phone which prompted me to go look at my GMail contacts... and sure enough, they weren't there either.
I'm pretty sure this was working at some point on my phone though. Is there a specific option I need to enable to ensure two-way contact syncing? I don't do the contact syncing through iTunes "Google Contacts" option. Is this how I need to do it?
I do have a question though... I thought whenever I made a change either online to my GMail contacts or in my phone, it would sync the other one instantly. Is this true?
I recently upgraded phones and noticed that a few changes I made to my contacts in the last week or so (a new contact, a couple of changed numbers) did not make the transition to my new phone which prompted me to go look at my GMail contacts... and sure enough, they weren't there either.
I'm pretty sure this was working at some point on my phone though. Is there a specific option I need to enable to ensure two-way contact syncing? I don't do the contact syncing through iTunes "Google Contacts" option. Is this how I need to do it?
Yes, as long as you use the google sync (exchange) interface, and not the "gmail" one. However:
- You must have contacts sync enabled in your exchange account settings, and make sure contacts sync is enabled (under Settings->Mail, Contacts, Calendars, look at your exchange account settings).
- Also, under Settings->Mail, Contacts, Calendars->Fetch new data:
- "Push" must be turned on.
- Under "Advanced", your exchange account must be set to "push". (Yeah, this is confusing -- I have no idea why this is here and not under your account settings.)
- You need a decent wifi/cellular connection to sync. On my iPhone, sync is sometimes unreliable if I have a poor signal. You'd think it would retry properly, but it's sometimes spotty on mine. I don't know if it's necessary, but, if I make changes in an area with poor signal, I'll later open up the contacts (or calendar) app in an area with good signal, to insure synchronization (or I'll check from a PC to see if the changes made it out). However, in general, activesync works well for me.
Is there any way to force ActiveSync to refresh? I've got about 200 contacts in GMail and when I restored my phone recently and got it all set up, only about 30 of them made it to my phone. I've got good 3G signal and have walked to areas with strong wifi, and still nothing. Will it autofix itself in a day or so? I really would like to force it to refresh...
When I used Gmail I preferred Exchange for the push but there were some things about the default Gmail setup that were better like Archiving. Haven't used Gmail in a while now though so that might have changed. Switched to iCloud and liking the integration better.
simple email with all my contacts, tons of customization, easy web interface, essentially infinite storage...
what else am i supposed to want out of my email account?
Gmail exchange has been known to leave the connection "open" for email at times. Over the years I have tried it for mail and ended up with mysteriously large data sessions and dead batteries. That never happens over IMAP for me. As others have noted I use IMAP for mail and notes, exchange for calendar and contacts.
In ideal conditions, exchange should use less battery but that's not always the case.
In ideal conditions, exchange should use less battery but that's not always the case.
Unfortunately the iOS Gmail app is dumbed-down when compared to the one they offer on Android - the biggest issue being it only supports using one account.
If (like me) you have a personal Gmail account as well as a workplace using Google Apps... the iOS Gmail app can't handle it.
It would sure be nice if Google would fix this, since there are compromises involved with accessing Gmail through the standard Mail application.
Well, I'm not sure any of these will help, but go to an area with a decent wifi signal, and try one of:
- Open up the contacts app and let the iPhone sit for, oh, 2-3 minutes (with the contacts app open). With luck, the iPhone will sync up.
- (Make sure you have a backup of everything before doing this, and make sure that you have backup copies of all of the contacts on the iPhone.) Go to the account settings (Settings->Mail, Contacts, Calendars->acct) and turn the contacts sync off. NOTE: THIS WILL DELETE ALL OF YOUR ACCOUNT CONTACTS ON THE IPHONE, and so you must have backup copies elsewhere (like in google contacts). Now turn contacts sync back on, which should resync everything. Let the iPhone sit for a few minutes, to insure that everything has been synchronized.
- (Make sure you have a backup of everything before doing this, and make sure that you have backup copies of all of the contacts and calendars on the iPhone.) Go to the account settings (Settings->Mail, Contacts, Calendars->acct) and DELETE and re-add the account. Note that deleting and re-adding the account will delete all related contacts and calendar entries, and so you must insure that you have copies elsewhere.
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