Google Enables Better Contacts Sync With iPhone, Macs

Users who currently use Apple’s iOS mobile platform or the desktop OS X platform for Mac hardware can now get better calendar and contact sync through Google. Google has announced via its support page and Gmail blog that it is now rolling out support for CardDAV to make it simple for users to keep their contacts and calendar information stored in Googles’ cloud synchronized.

Previously, mobile users who want to keep their calendar and address book synchronized via Google must use Google Sync and set up their Google account as an Exchange account by that method. Under the new CardDAV service, users no longer need to establish their account as an Exchange account and won’t need to use the older Exchange synchronization method. Push email users may still need to set up Exchange for emails to be pushed through, however.

According to Google’s support page, iPhone 5, iOS 5 or higher users, and OS X users can follow the following steps to set up their CardDAV accounts for contacts:

1. Open the Settings application on your device.
2. Select Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
3. Select Add Account…
4. Select Other
5. Select Add CardDAV Account
6. Fill out your account information in the following fields:
   • Server: Enter “google.com”
   • User Name: Enter your full Google Account or Google Apps email address.
   • Password: Your Google Account or Google Apps password. (If you’ve enabled 2 Step verification, you’ll need to generate and enter an application specific password.)
   • Description: Enter a description of the account (e.g. Personal Contacts).
7. Select Next at the top of your screen.
8. Make sure that the “Contacts” option is turned to ON.

After you’ve completed setup, open the Contacts app on your device, and syncing will automatically begin.

For CalDAV calendar synchronization using the similar open protocol, you can visit Google’s support page.