How To Sync iPhone Calendar & Contacts with Google

Updated September 25, 2009: Contacts and appointments are very important to smartphone users; in fact, these entries likely comprise the most valuable information stored on your iPhone.  Fortunately, it's possible to sync contacts and appointments off-device in order to guard against data loss, and there are several viable sync available options for the iPhone.

But if you're a Google Calendar or Gmail user, you're not interested in a sync solution -- you want a Google-specific solution, and luckily for you, there is one: Google Sync.

Google Sync's Push syncing of iPhone contacts and calendar entries allows Google Calendar and Gmail users to keep their contacts and appointments at hand and up to date at all times. Changes made on the Web or on the iPhone are instantly mirrored via the Internet so that all of your personal or business data is always in sync.  In this brief article, we'll help you get started using Google Sync with your iPhone.

If you have a new iPhone and want to sync your Gmail contacts and/or Calendar entries with the device, you can skip to Step 2.  If not, you'll first need to backup your iPhone's contacts and calendar information with Google before you begin.

Step 1: Get Your Contacts, Calendar Entries Into Google

Syncing with Google will erase the contacts and calendar entries on your iPhone, so if this data isn't stored in Google yet, you'll first need to copy the contacts and calendar contents to Google's server. 

Google has provided very useful instructions for this process:

Instructions for Windows Users

Instructions for Mac Users 

Step 2: Setup Google Sync on the iPhone

You must now setup the iPhone to sync with Google Sync over the air.  This Push service keeps Contacts and Calendar entries synced across both your iPhone and Google Calendar / Gmail. 

Google has also provided instructions for setting up your iPhone for Google Sync:

Instructions for Setting Up Google Sync on iPhone / iPod touch

Google Sync... Push Contacts & Calendar, AND Gmail!

For years, Google Sync did not support Push Gmail for the iPhone, but a recent update to the service added this functionality. Now Google Sync supports Push syncing of Contacts and Calendar entries as well as Push Gmail. 

For more information on setting up Push Gmail on your iPhone, click here.