ICloud question on Contacts

[Egish]

I have a Android phone (sorry, I am working on getting a iPhone) and sync my contacts and my calendar with Googles cloud, and it works just fine. I also sync them to my iPad 2, and it also works just fine with my calendar and contacts. Instant editing, additions all the way around.

I have updated to iOS 5 and have the iCloud enabled. My photo stream works just fine, but if I login in on a pc and check my contacts in the iCloud it is empty. I expect them to have all my contacts from iPad, google etc.

I have contacts and calendar turned on in the iCloud setting

What am I doing wrong? Or is My expectation wrong?


Thanks in advance for your help. I appreciate the forum. I have learned a lot already

 

[r2shyyou]

Not sure how your contacts are set up via Google but here's what I did (did this on my iPhone but I suspect it'll work on an iPad):

1) Add Google contacts via Exchange
2) Turn Google contacts off
3) You should get a prompt asking if you want to keep them on your iPad, select "Yes"
4) Turn iCloud contacts off
5) Turn iCloud contacts back on
6) You should get a prompt asking if you want to merge the contacts on your iPad with those on your iCloud account, select "Yes"

That did it for me...but, again, that was on an iPhone and not an iPad.

If the iPad works differently than the iPhone for this matter, or if this simply doesn't work, someone please feel free to correct me.

 

[DefBref]

Icloud won't automatically sync contacts from an exchange server. Your contacts are still on google.

Personally, I'm just leaving them there, I see no compelling reason to move my contacts from google to icloud, they both offer the same service afaics.

 

[Beachball8]

Syncing tip for Apple

Dear Apple,

It's best to sync (be it contacts, notes or bookmarks) with respect to GMT time rather than local time.

Users may have syncing issues if their iOS devices were in different time zones.

 

[kronborg]

Icloud won't automatically sync contacts from an exchange server. Your contacts are still on google.

Personally, I'm just leaving them there, I see no compelling reason to move my contacts from google to icloud, they both offer the same service afaics.

Google always messed up my addresses. They store them in a single field, while the iPhone and iPad (and iCloud) uses separate fields for street name, city, etc. That's why I switched to iCloud.

 

[hipnetic]

1) Add Google contacts via Exchange
2) Turn Google contacts off
3) You should get a prompt asking if you want to keep them on your iPad, select "Yes"

That didn't seem to work for me the last time I tried it (step 3 didn't happen). But maybe I'll try that again today.

For those wondering why you would want to use iCloud vs Google, here's a few reasons:

1) Maybe you trust Apple more than Google.
2) Maybe that's all you were really using your Gmail account for (syncing Contacts and Calendars, and not using the Gmail account for mail since you already had one or more other email accounts) and now that Apple supports that you'd just as soon remove an extra unnecessary account off of your iPhone to simplify things, since you want to use iCloud for Photo Streaming or other things that only it can do.
3) Gmail Contacts don't support all of the fields/features that iCloud does. Notably: the Relationship fields. The Relationship fields are key for training Siri who your wife, father, sister, etc. are (though an OK, but not perfect, workaround exists: Use the nickname field, which Gmail does support, in the other contacts: So set the nickname field of your father's contact to 'Dad').

 

[Egish]

3) You should get a prompt asking if you want to keep them on your iPad, select "Yes"

Thank you everyone for your help. I appreciate it


I do not get this prompt. I am asked if I really want to stop, and that the active sync contacts on the iPad will be deleted. Which I do not want.