iCloud vs Google (contacts, calendar)

[BrianBaughn]

I am planning on switching from Android to the Iphone 6 Plus within the next few days. I have 1000+ contacts and hundreds of calendar events that must transfer over. The fear of losing these in the transfer process is the only thing holding me back from switching to Iphone. I currently sync my calendar and contacts with Gmail on my Android. I also have an ipad which syncs my Calendar and Contacts with my Android. A few questions:

1. What is the best way to transfer over my contacts and calendar to the Iphone?

2. If I use Gmail to accomplish this, is it better to convert to Icloud Calendar and Icloud Contacts?

Thanks for any help/input!

If your calendar and contacts are truly syncing with Google, then adding the Google account to your iPhone will sync them to the phone. Isn't this what you did on the iPad? No "transfer" really needed.

If you're using Gmail you should probably stay with that ecosystem on your calendars and contacts. If you want to change to iCloud email, then you might need to find out how to move them over.

 

[Mojer]

If your calendar and contacts are truly syncing with Google, then adding the Google account to your iPhone will sync them to the phone. Isn't this what you did on the iPad? No "transfer" really needed.

If you're using Gmail you should probably stay with that ecosystem on your calendars and contacts. If you want to change to iCloud email, then you might need to find out how to move them over.

I have a gmail account which I use for an email account that I barely use. Is there an advantage to going to icloud mail?

 

[impaler]

1. What is the best way to transfer over my contacts and calendar to the Iphone?

2. If I use Gmail to accomplish this, is it better to convert to Icloud Calendar and Icloud Contacts?

You can handle this a few ways. You can keep Google Contacts on your iPhone by creating a new mail account for your Gmail account, and just turning on contacts, which will just sync your contacts down to the phone.

You can move them to iCloud (which I'd recommend for better photo sync, nicknames, tighter custom field sync, etc). To do this, in Google contacts, click More/Export, select the contacts you want to export, and use "vCard Format". Then you can import them into iCloud at icloud.com or if you have a Mac, with the Contacts app, or Windows machine with iCloud control panel, via Outlook.

Finally, to sync and keep contacts synced between Google & iCloud, there's a great app to do this on the Mac app store, just searech for Google contact sync.

 

[Mojer]

You can handle this a few ways. You can keep Google Contacts on your iPhone by creating a new mail account for your Gmail account, and just turning on contacts, which will just sync your contacts down to the phone.

You can move them to iCloud (which I'd recommend for better photo sync, nicknames, tighter custom field sync, etc). To do this, in Google contacts, click More/Export, select the contacts you want to export, and use "vCard Format". Then you can import them into iCloud at icloud.com or if you have a Mac, with the Contacts app, or Windows machine with iCloud control panel, via Outlook.

Finally, to sync and keep contacts synced between Google & iCloud, there's a great app to do this on the Mac app store, just searech for Google contact sync.

Thanks....what would you suggest I do with my calendar on my Android phone which also syncs with Google?

 

[impaler]

Thanks....what would you suggest I do with my calendar on my Android phone which also syncs with Google?

Same deal - you can leave it syncing with Google calendar, or export your calendars from Google and import to iCloud. Or start over with a fresh iCloud calendar.

I forgot Apple posted this guide, but read this too:

http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201196

 

[Mojer]

You can handle this a few ways. You can keep Google Contacts on your iPhone by creating a new mail account for your Gmail account, and just turning on contacts, which will just sync your contacts down to the phone.

Just one more thing.....if I decide to go this route, are you saying that I would have to create a completely new gmail account? Having a hard time understanding what you are explaining I should do. Thanks for all of your help.

 

[impaler]

Just one more thing.....if I decide to go this route, are you saying that I would have to create a completely new gmail account? Having a hard time understanding what you are explaining I should do. Thanks for all of your help.

No. You keep what you have. You add the account to the iPhone. You turn on mail, contacts, calendar, or whatever you want to sync. Done.

 

[Mojer]

No. You keep what you have. You add the account to the iPhone. You turn on mail, contacts, calendar, or whatever you want to sync. Done.

Thanks!!!

 

[eprisencc]

Google for life. I need to be able to switch between my iPhone 6+ and Nexus 6 with ease. Using all Google apps facilitates being able to easily switch phones. If you go all in on Apple, it's a pain to get out if you change devices.

 

[bsmr]

What would you choose, if you'll have to manage your parents account?

My Parents have iOS Devices, but Win PCs and one Mac.

Outlook.com doesn't work, because it doesn't sync Calendar and Contacts via OS X.

So I do have GMail or iCloud.... Which one suits better?

 

[reese2147]

Outlook.com doesn't work, because it doesn't sync Calendar and Contacts via OS X.

This statement is true if you want your parents using actual mail/calendar applications on all of their machines (as opposed to the web clients).

I found that my parents prefer to work within a web client because it gives a more uniform look of their email no matter what device they are on.

Just remember that GMail does not push sync to devices.....

 

[bsmr]

Really stupid, that there is no service which will work with all devices... Actually I think that iCloud is the best one.
Does have push service on iOS Devices, with em Client on Windows it also works quite well.

 

[octothorpe8]

Tried to do the same. In short, iCloud Contacts are great. iCloud Calendars just do not work.

Here's my experience: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1628437/

Fully agree that Mail + Calendar on the same platform is a huge boon, especially with Gmail as it automatically pulls invites into your calendar from any sending client.

Also, Google Contacts will constantly rotate your contact's pictures, which is annoying, but having them separate from Gmail is even more so, so for now I stick with Gmail for everything.

Hmm. I'm having a pretty different experience. I use Gmail for my mail, Google CardDAV for contact syncing between iPhone/Google/OS X, and iCloud for calendars.

I switched to iCloud for calendars maybe a year ago, because at that time, I was constantly having sync issues with OS X and Google Calendar. I have very smooth, very very fast syncing with iCloud Calendars.

I do agree that if you use Gmail, you really want your contacts synced with Google.

 

[impaler]

What would you choose, if you'll have to manage your parents account?

My Parents have iOS Devices, but Win PCs and one Mac.

Google is more universal. However, I'd go with iCloud. On Windows, you can use the iCloud control panel to add in contacts, calendars, etc., and the Mac, well, you're good so long as it supports iCloud.

 

[fivedots]

Hmm. I'm having a pretty different experience. I use Gmail for my mail, Google CardDAV for contact syncing between iPhone/Google/OS X, and iCloud for calendars.

I switched to iCloud for calendars maybe a year ago, because at that time, I was constantly having sync issues with OS X and Google Calendar. I have very smooth, very very fast syncing with iCloud Calendars.

I do agree that if you use Gmail, you really want your contacts synced with Google.

Syncing wasn't the issue, it was dealing with accepting and changing invites from non-iCloud users. I use these constantly with my family and on iCloud I could never accept the changes on an updated event.

 

[octothorpe8]

Syncing wasn't the issue, it was dealing with accepting and changing invites from non-iCloud users. I use these constantly with my family and on iCloud I could never accept the changes on an updated event.

Ah, I see. I haven't been using shared calendars as much these days, so I'm fortunately isolated from this.

 

[GIZBUG]

I decided to move email, contacts, and calendar from google to iCloud a few days ago. So far, I have no complaints.

Since I purchased an iPhone 5s, I lost gmail push and needed to rely on the gmail app. I like the new Mail app in iOS7 and prefer it over the gmail app, so those factors were the primary reasons for the change to iCloud. I have my gmail messages forwarding to my iCloud address, and am notifying my contacts of my email address change.

Everything appears to be working well. New and/or edited items in Mail, Calendar and Contacts sync almost instantaneously between my iPhone, MacBook Pro, and iCloud.

How did you move your contacts from google to icloud?

 

[Weaselboy]

How did you move your contacts from google to icloud?

Just go to Gmail.com then the contacts section and select all the contacts. Then click more at the top and select export, then vcard format to export.

Then just import that file to OS X or iOS contacts.

 

[impaler]

How did you move your contacts from google to icloud?

If you have a Mac, another way to do this (and to keep them in sync) is a nice little app on the Mac App Store called "Contacts Sync for Google Mail". Very flexible.