Syncing your iphone or ipad with google

Syncing your iphone or ipad with google: Here are the detailed instructions on syncing your iphone or ipad with google gmail calendar and contacts.

After doing this you will have all your google contacts on your iphone or ipad, and all your google calendars on your iphone (or your ipod touch) – any changed you make on google, or on your iphone will be ‘saved’ to your google contacts / calendar.

Syncing your iphone or ipad with google

  • on your iphone, or ipod touch or ipad goto settings > mail, contacts and calendar > add
  • hit Google
  • under email and username, put in your gmail address
  • put your password in the password box
  • If you use 2-Step Verification, use an app password instead of your regular password.
  • hit the ‘next’ button
  • turn on mail, contacts and calendars
  • hit done
  • then sync.
  • enable push under settings > fetch new data
    you don’t need anything turned on in iTunes for the sync.
  • the final step is to go to m.google.com/sync in your iphone or ipod touch’s safari, login, select your iphone / ipod touch / ipad and then pick the calendars you want to sync =)

Now when you open the Calendar app on your iPhone or iPad, you’ll see your Google Calendar events.

Sync specific calendars

If you have more than one calendar set up in Google Calendar on the web, you can choose which calendars to sync:

Go to www.google.com/calendar/syncselect.
Check the boxes for the calendars you want to sync.
In the bottom right corner, touch Save.

You will now have your gmail account, your google calendars and you will have all your contact on your iphone / ipad / ipod touch! –

Please see this post for details on how to get your google calendar synced to your ical on your mac

And this post on how to sync your addressbook with your google contacts

If you have done all this then you will have the same list of contacts on your mac, on your iphone, and on your google contacts. you will also have the same calendars. any change, or addition you make on any device will show up in all the others

sources: google calendar support

This Post Has 24 Comments

  1. Cliff Wrangler

    Thank you so much. This is exactly what I was looking for! You made it so simple, yet detailed, you rock!

  2. Marilee Karamanski

    This is PERFECT! I’ve been jury rigging my Google/iCal/ iTouch interface with using delegates (to edit calendar events on my computer) and subscriptions (to view calendars on my iTouch), and a whole separate calendar to create events on my iTouch! I hadn’t been able to figure out how to edit google calendar events on my iTouch or create new events that would show up on my “main”/Google Calendar! It was a big pain in the dupah!… and you’ve fixed it!!!

    Thanks a whole bunch!

    1. jonathan

      glad i could help =)
      its funny that this is still my most popular post, but its so helpful =) i had to use it myself when i re-installed my macbook and got an iphone !

  3. rafa

    hey! I´ve troble with the last part. I´ve tried to go on my safari to the website you told us, and it says that my device is not compatible!! My ipod is from the 2G. What can i do?? Please HELP

  4. jonathan

    not sure – my ipod touch was a 2g aswel – do you have iphone os version 3.0 or above ?

  5. aspivenin

    Perfect!! Accurate simple advice that really worked on my iPod touch 3rdGen. Thank you

  6. Phil

    I have followed the instructions (great) but changes I make on my iphone 4 do not update back to gmail. Help! Thanks

  7. Jordy

    Followed your steps, very easy and logical. But at the last step, Safari/Google says that my iPod (2G) is not compatible. What to do?

  8. jonathan

    if you have a 2g ipod you need to plug in an ipad or an iphone 3gs or iphone 4 [you dont need it all the time, you just need to plug it in once!]

    1. Mikkel

      Same problem here – my iPhone 3SG is not supported, google says. That’s when I try to log on to google to pick which calendars to sync. Help much appreciated, great posts around here ;-)

  9. Maina

    like jordy I get the messege that sync is not supported by my unit (i have 3gs and it’s updated to the 4.3… ideas?

  10. Maina

    …doesn’t matter. apparantly i just had to switch the language to english! :)

  11. BroT

    Thank you! This is very simple and worked great. I appreciate the post

  12. Bev

    Is there a way to sync without wifi? On an old fashion land line?

    1. jonathan

      you can sync it over any connection that your ipad, ipod or iphone can get internet through.

  13. Mrs Z

    Is there a limit to how many google calendars will sync to your iPhone and iPad? I have done all this and have 9 calendars but 2 calendars don’t want to sync. Everything I have read says I should be able to have 9. Thank you for your help.

  14. Mrs Z

    Is there a limit to how many google calendars will sync to your iPhone and iPad? I have done all this and have 9 calendars but 2 calendars don’t want to sync. Everything I have read says I should be able to have 9. Thank you for your help.

  15. CC

    you may need to login to m.google.com/sync using your iphone at which point you will see both iphone and ipad listed. Choose ipad and then tick your chosen delegates

    1. jonathan

      yeah, you always need to add your device to the m.google.com/sync when you set it up :D

  16. Ishki

    You rock! This is the only place that actually showed me how to do this and it just worked – thanks a million!

  17. Joost-d

    How about invitations through your iphone/iPodT/iPad?

  18. Ari Laskin

    Hey anyone having difficulties getting the delegates to set up on an iPad 3? I went through all the steps as I did with my 2 however, it will not let me set up a new device via m.google.com/sync (only shows my last sync was with the iPad 2). Any advice would be great as I use this for work…

  19. McCoy

    When I try to set this up I get the message that all of my contacts and
    appointments will be removed from my Ipodtouch. Will this in fact
    remove everything I have on my IPodTouch? If so is there something I
    can do so this doesn’t happen but still start syncing my Touch to my
    Google info?

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