How to sync your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch with Gmail, Google Calendar and Contacts
February 10, 2011 by Phil Montero
If you have an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch and you use Google’s services (Gmail, Calendar, and Contacts) the video below will walk you step-by-step through the best way to sync all your data seamlessly with your Apple Device. Although these devices have a built in Gmail option it has some major limitations – specifically it doesn’t offer the ability to sync contacts over the air and limits you to one primary calendar.
I have tried several different ways and found Google Sync (which acts like a Microsoft Exchange connector) works great. I used it for years on my iPod Touch and now that I’m the proud owner of a new Verizon iPhone 4 (I am stoked) I used this same method to keep my iPhone and Google services perfectly in sync. One of the great features is that it lets you sync multiple Google Calendars (up to 25). That means when you create a new appointment in the calendar on your iPhone you can add it to any of the Google calendars you have access to (your own or any shared calendars).
Watch my video below and follow along with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch as I show you how to sync your mail, contacts, and multiple Google calendars with your Apple device so you can send/receive mail, schedule appointments, and call any of your contacts from anywhere – instantly. Now that’s The Anywhere Office in action!
Note that Google Sync is only supported on iOS versions 3.0 and above. You can check your current version by going to Settings > General > About > Version. If your business, school, or organization uses Google Apps, your administrator will first need to enable Google Sync before you can take advantage of this feature.
If you prefer written instructions Google provides them here but I figured it would be easier to follow along as you watch the steps in this video.
These steps work great if you are using your Gmail address as your primary email address. If you prefer to send mail from your Gmail account (and your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch) using your own domain (ie I send email from @theanywhereoffice.com) then you will want to check out my next article and video where I’ll walk you through how to change the mail setup. It’s tricky but I found a way to get it to work so stay tuned!
(BTW all the video of me configuring the iPhone was actually shot with the video camera on another iPhone – how cool is that!)
