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I currently have all my contacts and calendars on my Mac, but would like to sync them over the air with my other devices (iPod, iPad and Android phone). I also want it to be multidirectional: being able to add, edit or delete from all devices.

As far as I understood from reading other threads, the best bet is to keep all calendars and contacts on Google and sync them with the other devices. This means not using iCloud to sync calendars or contacts.

Is this correct? Do I really have to move all my contacts and calendars to Google Contacts and Google Calendar in order to have them synced across all devices? Will I be able to add contacts or edit calendars from any device and have them in sync as well?

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5 Answers 5

up vote 3 down vote accepted

Yes, the best way to sync cross platform is via google.

By far the easiest most care free way to sync all contacts, calendars, email etc is to have all Apple devices, this is how Apple meant for this service to be used.

Google has done a good job of making this service available to people working on multiple platforms.

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Never mind, I did not read that there is an Android phone that needs to be synced.... Then, Google is the best option. –  gentmatt Mar 22 '12 at 19:12
Ha, I tried to add comment to your answer, seems you deleted it before I got the chance. –  Graeme Hutchison Mar 22 '12 at 19:13

The key is your Android phone.

If you want to sync with it, you cannot easily use iCloud. However the choice of using Google for everything just to make the android device happy may well be of scant benefit when you consider the fact that you are missing out on the iCloud stuff which is a better fit for the majority of your devices.

Your call, but consider you are compromising every device for the sake of your android phone, and forcing google on everything for its sake. It would have to be my primary device for it to make me do this.

instead, I would look into using iCloud for everything, and using the many and various fudges for getting devices that don't officially work with iCloud to make your Android phone use it. Technically the iPhone 3G does not support iCloud, but that doesn't mean that with a bit of studious messing about manually configuring caldav settings you cannot get it to work, and I see no reason why your android phone should be any different.

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That's actually a very good point. In fact, all I need is a way of having my Android phone contacts reasonably up to date, which can easily depend on a very small tweak or app, right? Thanks for the useful suggestion! –  João Ramos Mar 22 '12 at 20:55

Use Google Sync. You can set up Exchange on your iOS devices, and for Android there are instructions available per version.

I’ve been using this solution for years on my Mac and iPhone, and it works really well. I haven’t tested how this works on Android, but I can only assume Google would do anything in their power to make it work correctly on their own smartphone :)

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For cross-platform contact sync, IntouchApp is the best option today. It works on Android, iPhone, Blackberry, Blackberry10 and Java phones. A single contact list is created in the cloud that is available on all your devices. The app is also easy to install and use. http://intouchapp.com

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"Best" is a relative term depending on individual requirements and constraints. Could you elaborate further to explain why you think the recommended way is good? –  patrix Apr 5 '13 at 11:18
This just seems like an ad, could you expand on the usefulness of it and how it solves the user's problem? –  jnovack Apr 5 '13 at 14:47

I got my samsung Note 2 to sync contacts messages and calenders seamlessly from my iphone 4 using an android app called easy phone sync. Youll need to download and install it on your Mac 1st then do the same on your android phone. Then launch it on the mac it invokes itunes then plug your android phone to your mac and it syncs from your itunes back up. Make sure you have deselected encrypted backup from the iTunes options. This app cant read an encrypted itunes back up. It wil sync. It also syncs google gmail contacts and linkedin contacts and formats them real well. The calender is a bit messy too busy with details. Still trying to work it out.

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