iCould and contact sync: is the third time a charm?

[jtara]

Does anyone really believe that Apple will get contact sync right on the third try? (#1 .mac, #2 MobileMe).

I didn't watch the presentation and haven't much followed the hoopla about iCloud. Did they address the horrible state of contact sync and promise that they will finally get it right this time?

Before you answer, I'd like to throw in a personal appeal: I've got the "you need to replace all your contacts because your MobileMe contact data is corrupted" (paraphrase) bug. Pretty simple setup - I have a Macbook, iPhone 4, and iPad 1 synced with MobileMe. No Outlook nonsense. Can somebody point me to the best resources for resolution?

Before you say "use Google" and "use MacRumors search": I already have, and what I find leaves me even more confused. I haven't found a definitive solution, nor many users who have been able to solve the problem permanently. Like me, most of the accounts I have read say the problem just keeps coming back.

I laboriously hand-groomed the contacts on my Macbook till I had everything in one place, (after doing a backup), gulped hard, and went ahead and told it to replace the contacts on MobileMe with those from my Macbook.

A week later, the problem recurred. And now every single contact on my iPhone has annoying "linked cards" at the bottom that I didn't put there. One each, "Unified" and "Unknown", each with (apparently) a copy of the same information (I didn't bother to go through each and every contact...)

I'm not a dummy - I'm a programmer and iOS developer. But I just can't make head or tails of the conflicting information available on this problem. So, please, please, please... if you've been able to solve this problem, post a link to the post or blog or tech note or... that helped you solve it?

Then let's have a bitch-fest over whether Apple will finally get it right! (I figured this was the only way to get my appeal through the iCloud noise on the forum right now, LOL...)

P.S. "iCould" was a mis-spelling, but I see I can't change it by editing the post. On reflection, 'iCould" seems appropriate, so I'm leaving it as-is rather than re-posting and requesting that the post be deleted...

 

[iammike1]

Do you make a ton of constant changes to your contacts?

I maybe make 2 or 3 mods a week and sync between all the devices listed in my signature and although I've had some flukes with other parts of MobileMe sync, Contacts has always been rock solid for me.

Maybe if I was making more frequent changes I'd have a problem.

 

[jtara]

Well, I made a ton of changes just before I uploaded from my Macbook, replacing all existing contact information on MobileMe. That is, I went through all the contacts and made sure that I didn't miss any of the contacts that were on my phone that weren't on my Macbook. And that was a ton, since I'd swept the problem under the rug for a couple of months at least.

But other than that, no. I'd added a handful of contacts on my phone. A couple of weeks after replacing the contacts on MobileMe, I'm getting the message again on my macbook telling me I need to replace all my contacts on MobileMe.

 

[Macsterguy]

Have a look at this - How to copy data from MobileMe to iCloud:

9 to 5 website: http://www.9to5mac.com/70980/the-guide-to-migrating-personal-data-from-mobileme-to-icloud/

google document - how to:

http://docs.google.com/viewer?url=h...opying_data_from_mobileme_to_icloud.pdf&pli=1

 

[Bukey]

Hiya,

I've had a couple of MobileMe contact sync issues ithe past. Ended up with duplicate contacts and then losing contacts...

I use a MBP, iPhone and iPad. The problems I've had have only ever occurred when I try and sync them all up with each other. This happened a couple of times when I had replacement iPhones.

What I do now is sync contacts only with MobileMe - leaving iTunes and syncing directly from OS X and my iOS devices out of the equation and everything works like a charm. Never had an issue when I do things this way.

I do the same for mail.

TBF I've seen similar issues with Microsoft's BPOS and Exchange Online / Outlook and mobile devices. I think the route of all these issues is poor versioning and control of records (and sometimes fields within records)- but then again our contact lists aren't fully blown directory services (LDAP / Active Directory or otherwise).

But back to the main jist - if you haven't already - make sure there's no local device syncing of contacts going on and all devices are using MobileMe to sync contacts with only.

 

[iammike1]

Have a look at this - How to copy data from MobileMe to iCloud:

9 to 5 website: http://www.9to5mac.com/70980/the-guide-to-migrating-personal-data-from-mobileme-to-icloud/

google document - how to:

http://docs.google.com/viewer?url=h...opying_data_from_mobileme_to_icloud.pdf&pli=1

I don't like that it doesn't say anything about bringing your existing @me.com email address over, just the email contained within. I fully expect you can somehow but if you can't, I'll be extremely disappointed.

 

[jtara]

But back to the main jist - if you haven't already - make sure there's no local device syncing of contacts going on and all devices are using MobileMe to sync contacts with only.

Yes, I already have local sync turned off on both the iPhone and iPad. I only sync through MobileMe.

 

[Bukey]

I don't like that it doesn't say anything about bringing your existing @me.com email address over, just the email contained within. I fully expect you can somehow but if you can't, I'll be extremely disappointed.

From what I've seen / read you'll be able to bring across your @me.com account.... By the looks of things at the moment @me.com will also be the new iCloud e-mail domain. This makes lots of sense from a logistics / less confusion point of view for Apple - and it's also a pretty cool e-mail domain for users.

Of course, they may change their minds or have other plans, but what they're doing on the developer front at the mo through the beta it doesn't look that way. And the definition of a beta is normally that it's feature complete and the focus is on usability testing. As they're using @me.com addresses for iCloud for beta, I'd expect that to continue. If they weren't going to do that, I'd really expect them to be using any new domain for beta accounts - it would make life much easier for both Apple and users to do so if that was the route they were going down.

Yes, I already have local sync turned off on both the iPhone and iPad. I only sync through MobileMe.

Ah good luck then - sorry I can't think of any more suggestions....

 

[paulsalter]

I used to get all sorts of sync issues, duplicates etc

now I sync contacts with mm & google and have no issues at all

what i did to fix mine

1, made a backup of my mac address book
2, delete everything from your address book
3, wait until the sync has occurred and all contacts have gone from all devices
4, if anything syncs back to your mac, delete it
5, when everything is blank, re import from your backup

i tried correcting the address book to fix the errors and it never worked, removing everything then putting it back fixed it

 

[jtara]

1, made a backup of my mac address book
2, delete everything from your address book
3, wait until the sync has occurred and all contacts have gone from all devices
4, if anything syncs back to your mac, delete it
5, when everything is blank, re import from your backup

Sounds like a good plan. What I did was *almost* this, but not quite. I never cleared out the Mac address book. Just edited it then re-synced the Macbook and then the other devices. I guess if you don't clear out the Macbook you never really clear out MobileMe which might be the key.

 

[AtomicEdge]

Of all the problems MobileMe has had since it's launch, contacts isn't one of them.

I use 2 Windows PC's an iPad, an iPhone, the Website and a MacBook and I have never had a problem. I am completely used to opening up my address book anywhere, and having everything I need available.

I don't know how I ever coped before!

Let's hope that iCloud doesn't balls it up!

 

[d21mike]

I have never had a problem with Contact Sync. I even started with Outlook when I first got MobileMe. Now I am on a Mac so I do not do that. I have had a couple of problems with Calendar Sync on my iOS Device's (iPhone and iPad). To fix that I just turn off Calendar Sync in my Settings which ask if I want to delete everything from my device which I say yes and then wait a few seconds and turn it back on and in a few seconds it reloads from MobileMe.

Before you uploaded to MobileMe did you turn off sync on your other devices which would have deleted all entries and then wait for MobileMe to be reset and then reload the other devices. I.E. RELOAD not SYNC.