How to enable Active Sync for Gmail contacts in iPhone

Posted by Winston

Saturday, 01 December 2012 03:12

OK, hands up who's got a Gmail account? ... and hands up who's got an iPhone? Well, most of you will just go to the iPhones settings and add a Gmail account. Yes it's real simple ... but wait a minute, haven't you noticed something odd? Where are your contacts from your Gmail account?

The default settings on your iPhone does not give you contacts when you add a Gmail account. So what do you do? Well, there is a way to include your Gmail contacts ... and in this article we will show you how!

What's more ... once you've created the Gmail account using our special method, you'll be able to sync your contacts to your iPhone from your Gmail and vice versa on-the-fly ... what we call "Active Sync".

This "Active Sync" will also work for your Gmail calendars ... which will be reflected on your iPhone too.

Follow these simple steps ...

Go to "Settings" on your iPhone
Scroll down and select "Mail, Contacts, Calendars"
Select "Add account"

This time don't select Gmail ... but select "Exchange" instead
Now enter your Gmail email address ...
Enter your password for that account
Enter "Gmail" as the discription (or whatever you want)

Now this is the most important part ...

Enter "m.google.com" as the server
Enter "m.google.com" for the domain
Re-enter your username ... should be the same as your gmail address
Select "Save"

Make sure the contacts and calendars are switch "ON" and then exit out.
Still on the "Mail, Contacts, Calendars" menu, scroll down and make sure your contacts section has the default account as "Gmail"

Once you've completed the above steps, you should now be able to access your contacts and calendars items from your Gmail account on your iPhone. Remember, this type of account setup allows "Active Sync" and easier data managment between your iPhone and Gmail account... this means you'll be able edit your contacts and calendar items on-the-fly and it will be reflected on your Gmail account and vice versa.

Here's another reason why this setup is a real bonus. An example would be ... If in the future, you decide to purchase an Android phone ... you'll be able to quickly access your Gmail contacts and calendars without having to go through the hassle of exporting and importing all this data. The information is already there in your Gmail account ... you just have to enable it on your Android phone.