Things to check first
Check if you still need help after each of the steps below.
To sync your contacts with iCloud, head into the Settings menu on your iPhone, then head to Accounts & Passwords. Open the iCloud menu, then make sure Contacts is toggled to on. (If you don’t have an iCloud account, you’ll have to tap “Add Account” first—but most users will probably already have an iCloud account set up.).
- Besides, it even allows you to sync data from one iCloud to another iCloud account directly. IPhone Calendar Not Syncing with Gmail. Also check if you enable Calendar on your iPhone. Go to Settings Mail, Contacts, Calendars, select your Google account. Make sure that the Calendars option is enabled. Set up Fetch feature.
- Import Google contacts to iPhone with iCloud. After importing your Google contacts to your Mac, iCloud should sync your contacts across your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. To verify your iCloud contacts are synced with your Mac, follow these steps: From the Mac menu bar, select the Apple logo on the top left corner; Select “System Preferences”.
- Check the system status of iCloud Contacts, Calendars, and Reminders.
- If a reminder isn't showing up on some devices, make sure that you're running the latest iOS, iPadOS, or macOS on each device. Upgraded reminders and shared reminders in iOS 13 or later or macOS Catalina or later aren't compatible with earlier versions of iOS or macOS. Learn more.
- Make sure that the date and time settings on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or PC are correct.
- Make sure that you're signed in to iCloud with the same Apple ID on all of your devices. Then, check that you turned on Contacts, Calendars, and Reminders* in your iCloud settings.
- Check your Internet connection. Open Safari and go to www.apple.com. If you can’t open the page, learn what to do.
- Check that you can access secure websites. Open Safari and go to your Apple ID account page. If the website won't open, contact your Internet service provider for help.
- Make sure that you haven't exceeded your iCloud storage limit or the storage limits for iCloud Contacts, Calendars, and Reminders.
* On a PC with Outlook 2016 or later, Reminders are called Tasks.
Try the steps for your device
If you still need help, try the steps for your device below.
iOS 13 and iPadOS or later
After each step, check your contacts, calendars, or reminders.
Refresh your contacts and calendars
To refresh your contacts, open Contacts and swipe down on the list. To refresh your contact groups, tap Groups in the upper-left corner, then swipe down on the list.
To refresh your calendars:
- Open the Calendar app.
- Tap the Calendars tab.
- Swipe down on the list to refresh your events.
Check your app settings
- Make sure you turned on Contacts, Calendars, and Reminders on your device.
- If you use multiple groups or accounts in the Contacts or Calendars app, make sure your iCloud Contacts and Calendars are set to appear:
- Open the Contacts app and tap Groups in the upper-left corner. Make sure that All iCloud is selected.
- Open the Calendar app and tap the Calendars tab. Make sure that all iCloud calendars are selected.
- Change how often your calendars update:
- Tap Settings, then Calendar.
- Tap Sync.
- If All Events is selected, choose a specific timeframe instead, like Events 1 Month Back. If a specific timeframe is selected, choose All Events instead.
- Return to your Home screen.
- Wait a few minutes, then open the Calendar app. Tap the Calendars tab, and swipe down to refresh.
Since the iCloud Birthdays calendar updates daily, you might not see changes to birthdays in the Calendars app until the next day.
Set iCloud Contacts, Calendars, or Reminders as your default
If your contacts, calendars, and reminders are in iCloud, then iCloud automatically updates your information. If your information is in a third-party account, like Google or Yahoo, you can change your default account to iCloud. Changing your default account to iCloud won't move your existing information from a third-party service to iCloud.
Contacts
To see which account your contacts are in:
- Open the Contacts app and tap Groups in the upper-left corner.
- Deselect the All [account] option for any third-party account, like Gmail or Yahoo.
- Make sure All iCloud is selected.
- Tap Done to see your list of contacts. If you don't see the contact you're looking for, it's stored in another account.
- If you have a copy of your contacts from a third-party service in vCard format version 3.0 or later, you can import the contacts into iCloud.
Set iCloud as the default account for your contacts:
- Tap Settings, then Contacts.
- Tap Default Account.
- Select iCloud.
Calendars and Reminders
To see which account your calendars are in, open the Calendar app, then tap the Calendars tab.
Set an iCloud calendar as the default calendar:
- Tap Settings, then Calendar.
- Tap Default Calendar.
- Tap a calendar under iCloud to make it your default.
Set an iCloud reminders list as the default list:
- Tap Settings, then Reminders.
- Tap Default List.
- Tap a list under iCloud to make it your default.
Restart the Contacts, Calendar, or Reminders app
- Close the app.
- Return to your Home screen.
- Wait a minute, then open the app again.
Turn off iCloud Contacts, Calendar, or Reminders and turn it back on
- Tap Settings > [your name] > iCloud.
- Slide to turn off Contacts, Calendars, and Reminders.*
- If you see your calendars or reminders on iCloud.com or any of your devices, you can choose Delete from My [device]. If not, choose Keep on My [device].
- Wait a few minutes, then turn on Contacts, Calendar, or Reminders again.
* Local reminders will be deleted from your device, but your information won't be deleted from iCloud. Once you turn Reminders back on, your reminders will be re-synced to your device.
Restart your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
Here's how to restart your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
iOS 12
After each step, check your contacts, calendars, or reminders.
Refresh your contacts, calendars, and reminders
To refresh your contacts, open Contacts and swipe down on the list. To refresh your contact groups, tap Groups in the upper-left corner, then swipe down on the list.
To refresh your calendars and reminders:
- Open the Calendar app.
- Tap the Calendars tab.
- Swipe down on the list to refresh your events and reminders.
Check your app settings
- Make sure you turned on Contacts, Calendars, and Reminders on your device.
- If you use multiple groups or accounts in the Contacts or Calendars app, make sure that your iCloud Contacts and Calendars are set to appear:
- Open the Contacts app and tap Groups in the upper-left corner. Make sure that All iCloud is selected.
- Open the Calendar app and tap the Calendars tab. Make sure that All iCloud is selected.
- Change how often your calendars and reminders update:
- Tap Settings > Calendar, or tap Settings > Reminders.
- Tap Sync.
- If All Events or All Reminders is selected, choose a specific timeframe instead, like Events or Reminders 1 Month Back. If a specific timeframe is selected, choose All Events or All Reminders instead.
- Press the Home button.
- Wait a few minutes. Open the Calendar app, tap the Calendars tab, and swipe down to refresh.
Since the iCloud Birthdays calendar updates daily, you might not see changes to birthdays in the Calendars app until the next day.
Set iCloud Contacts, Calendars, or Reminders as your default
If your contacts, calendars, and reminders are in iCloud, then iCloud automatically updates your information. See if your information is in iCloud or a third-party account, like Google or Yahoo. Then change your default account to iCloud.
Contacts
See which account your contacts are in:
- Open the Contacts app and tap Groups in the upper-left corner.
- Deselect the All [account] option for any third-party account, like Gmail or Yahoo.
- Make sure All iCloud is selected.
- Tap Done to see your list of contacts. If you don't see the contact you're looking for, it's stored in another account.
- You can import the contact from a third-party service into iCloud.
Set iCloud as the default account for your contacts:
- Tap Settings > Contacts.
- Tap Default Account.
- Select iCloud.
Calendars and Reminders
See which account your calendars are in:
- Open the Calendar app.
- Tap an event to open it.
- Tap the calendar name to see if the event is in an iCloud calendar.
Set an iCloud calendar as the default calendar:
- Tap Settings > Calendar.
- Tap Default Calendar.
- Tap a calendar under iCloud to make it your default.
See which account your reminders are in:
- Open the Reminders app.
- Tap the list name in the upper-left corner to view all your lists.
- See if the list is stored on your device or iCloud. Open a list and tap Edit. If you see Sharing, then your list is in iCloud.
When you create a reminder, you can choose to store it in iCloud or on your iOS device.
Restart the Contacts, Calendar, or Reminders app
- Double-click the Home button to see your open apps.
- Find the app, then swipe up to close it.
- Press the Home button to return to your Home screen.
- Wait a minute, then open the app again.
Turn off iCloud Contacts, Calendar, or Reminders and turn it back on
- Tap Settings > [your name] > iCloud.
- Slide to turn off Contacts, Calendars, and Reminders.*
- If you see your calendars or reminders on iCloud.com or any of your devices, you can choose Delete from My [device]. If not, choose Keep on My [device].
- Wait a few minutes, then turn on Contacts, Calendar, or Reminders again.
* Local reminders will be deleted from your device, but your information won't be deleted from iCloud. Once you turn Reminders back on, your reminders will be re-synced to your device.
Restart your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
Restart your device. Here's how to restart your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
Force sync Calendar data on Apple Watch
To force sync Calendar data on your Apple Watch:
- Open the Watch app on your iPhone and tap the My Watch tab.
- Tap General, then tap Reset.
- Tap Reset Sync Data.
If a family member set up your Apple Watch for you, you can't force sync Calendar data.
macOS
After each step, check your contacts, calendars, or reminders.
Refresh your calendars and reminders
You can refresh your calendars from the Calendars app:
- Open the Calendar app.
- Choose View.
- Refresh Calendars.
Since the iCloud Birthdays calendar updates hourly, you might not see changes to birthdays in the Contacts or Calendars app for an hour.
To refresh your reminders, quit the Reminders app and then open it again.
Check your default Calendar, Reminders, and Contacts account
If you store and edit your events in iCloud instead of another place, like On My Mac, Exchange, or Google, then iCloud automatically updates your calendars. If you use multiple accounts on your Mac like iCloud, Gmail, and Yahoo, make sure that iCloud is your default Calendar account:
- Open the Calendar app.
- Choose Calendar > Preferences.
- In the General tab, make sure that one of your iCloud calendars is the default.
If you store and edit your contacts in iCloud instead of another place, like On My Mac, Exchange, or Google, then iCloud automatically updates your contacts. If you use multiple accounts on your Mac like iCloud, Gmail, and Yahoo, make sure that iCloud is your default Contacts account:
- Open the Contacts app.
- Choose Contacts > Accounts.
- Click the iCloud tab and make sure that you're signed in with your Apple ID.
As long as you've turned on Reminders in System Preferences, you see your iCloud reminders on your Mac.
Turn off iCloud Calendar and iCloud Reminders, then turn it back on
- Quit the Calendar and Reminders apps.
- Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Apple ID, then click iCloud. If you’re using macOS Mojave or earlier, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click iCloud.
- Deselect Calendars and Reminders.*
- Close System Preferences and wait about a minute.
- Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Apple ID, then click iCloud. If you’re using macOS Mojave or earlier, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click iCloud.
- Select Calendars and Reminders.
- Open Calendar and Reminders.
* Local reminders will be deleted from your device, but your information won't be deleted from iCloud. Once you turn Reminders back on, your reminders will be re-synced to your device.
Restart your computer
After you restart your computer, see if you fixed the issue.
iCloud.com
If you don't see all your updates or have another issue, try these steps on iCloud.com:
- Update your browser and clear the cache.
- If you don't see updates from other devices, open another app on iCloud.com, like Mail. Then go back to the Contacts, Calendar, or Reminders app.
- Sign out of iCloud.com, then sign back in.
- Clear your browsing history. Choose History > Clear History.
Since the iCloud Birthdays calendar updates daily, you might not see changes to birthdays in the Calendars app until the next day.
If you get a spam iCloud Calendar request
If you get a calendar request that you think might be spam or junk, let us know. Sign in to iCloud.com with your Apple ID and go to the Calendar app. Open the event that you wish to mark as Junk, click Report Junk, then click OK. We'll automatically delete the event from your Calendar on all your devices signed in with the same Apple ID.
You can also go to the invitation from your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac and choose Report Junk > Delete and Report Junk.
Microsoft Windows
After each step, check your contacts, calendars, or reminders.
Reminders are called Tasks in iCloud for Windows.
Refresh Outlook
Turn off iCloud Contacts, Calendar, and Tasks, then turn it back on
- Open iCloud for Windows.
- Deselect Mail, Contacts, Calendars and Tasks, then click Apply.
- Wait a few seconds, select Mail, Contacts, Calendars & Tasks, then click Apply.
- Open Outlook.
Make sure the iCloud Outlook Add-in is active
In Outlook 2010 and later:
- Click the File menu.
- Click Options in the left panel.
- Click Add-Ins in the left panel of the Outlook Options window.
- Look at the list of add-ins in the Active Application Add-Ins section.
- Select the iCloud Outlook Add-in.
Learn how to manage Add-ins with Microsoft Outlook.
Check your default account in Outlook
In Outlook 2010 and later:
- Click the File menu.
- Select Info > Account Settings > Data Files.
- If iCloud is the default account in the Comments column, select a different account, and click Set as Default.
Restart your computer
After you restart your computer, see if you fixed the issue.
If you still need help
If you still need help, contact Apple Support. You can also use these steps to remove duplicate contacts or calendars.
Keep Apple devices in sync
Many people have several email addresses across disparate email providers, all of which keep track of their contacts. Google Contacts, for example, is a standalone service which only tracks people you’ve contacted via Gmail, when using an Android phone, or if you’ve synced it to your iOS device.
Apple keeps your contacts within its standalone “Contacts” app. Both entities are siloed vaults for contacts, and it can be confusing when your contacts aren’t synced to the devices you use most often. If you deleted a contact in Google Contacts, it’s also smart to have all your contacts synced to another service and to backup your device often so you never lose any data.
Here, we’ll tell you how to sync Google Contacts to iPhone, if there’s a Google Contacts for iPhone app, how to import contacts from Google to iPhone manually, and why it’s important to have your Google contacts on iPhone.
Reasons to transfer your Google contacts to iPhone
Many people use Gmail as their default email provider and can’t see a reason to export Google contacts to iPhone. It’s a fair position, but these are a few reasons importing Google contacts to iPhone is a great idea:
- You have one place for all contacts. Gmail for personal use, iCloud for your Apple devices, Outlook for work – all the unique email providers log your contacts in distinct vaults. Having one place all your contacts live is smart.
- Services often don’t sync. You may be emailing someone new fairly often, then go to text them and find they’re not in your contacts list. That’s because services often don’t sync contacts automatically. Routine backups and syncing are the right moves to make.
- You can merge contact info. When you sync your Google contacts to iPhone, there’s an option to merge contacts. Someone may have emailed from a Gmail address, but you’ve got their Outlook and phone number in another contact. After you import, you can simply merge the two profiles.
- Google makes changes (often). Google once kept your contacts in Gmail, then moved them to the standalone Google Contacts service. There were no widespread reports of contacts being deleted with this transfer, but Google likes to shift ground beneath you. It’s better to sync your Google information to iCloud and back it all up.
- You don’t want to use Gmail anymore. People often switch email providers. Many also want to break free of Google due to privacy concerns. After syncing your contacts, you’re free to email people from an iCloud or other email address with the same ease of using Gmail.
- iCloud supports ‘Push’ syncing on iPhone. For syncing contacts and data, Apple forces Gmail and other services to use a ‘Fetch’ protocol to get new data. This means your data is synced less frequently, which can cause contacts to not sync properly, or when you need them.
How to sync Google contacts to an iPhone
You can sync Google contacts to iOS without ever touching your iPhone! Syncing iCloud to all of your Apple devices will keep your iCloud contact data on each of your devices. This means you can grab Google contacts from the web and download them to your Mac. Here’s how:
Can I Sync Gmail Contacts With Iphone
- Go to google.com
- Sign into Google if necessary
- Open the Google Contacts app from the nine-dot menu on the top right of the page
- From the Google Contacts website, select “Export”
- Choose “vCard (for iOS Contacts)” from the popup window
- Select “Export”
This downloads all of your Google contacts in vCard format to your Mac. To read and download Google contacts iPhone will need them to be in vCard format, so don’t overlook that step.
With your Google contacts downloaded in vCard format, follow these steps on your Mac to download and sync the contacts to your iCloud account:
- Open the Contacts app on your Mac
- From the menu bar, select “File”
- Choose “Import”
- Select the vCard file downloaded from the Google Contacts website
- Choose “Open”
Your Google contacts will download to your Mac’s Contacts app, which syncs with iCloud.
Sync Google contacts to iPhone via settings
If you want to skip the Mac altogether, you can! In the iPhone’s settings, you can sync your Google contacts data directly. Just remember it only ‘fetches’ data and won’t push new or changed contact data to your device automatically. If you’re syncing data and don’t see a contact, this may be why.
Syncing Contacts To Icloud
First, you need to add your Google account to your iPhone. If your Google account is already synced to your iPhone, feel free to skip these steps. Otherwise, this is how to add your Google account to the iPhone:
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone
- Select “Mail”
- Choose “Accounts”
- Select “Add Account”
- Choose “Google” from the list
- Follow the on-screen prompts and enter your Google account login credentials
Here’s how to sync Google contacts to iPhone via the Settings app:
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone
- Select “Mail”
- Choose “Accounts”
- Select your Gmail account
- Make sure “Contacts” is toggled on
Whichever method for syncing contacts you use, one thing you should definitely do is create backups of your iPhone. For that, AnyTrans is exactly what you need.
With AnyTrans for Mac, you have complete control over your iPhone. Simply open the AnyTrans app, plug your iPhone into the Mac, and you will be able to create backups of your entire device, or particular items like messages, photos, and even contacts!
AnyTrans has a ton of other features, too, including the option to quickly transfer your iPhone’s data to a new device. You can also manage your home screen, delete apps from your iPhone, restore your phone from previous backups, and curate your media library!
Import Google contacts to iPhone with iCloud
How To Sync Icloud Contacts
After importing your Google contacts to your Mac, iCloud should sync your contacts across your iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
To verify your iCloud contacts are synced with your Mac, follow these steps:
Sync Iphone Contacts To Icloud
- From the Mac menu bar, select the Apple logo on the top left corner
- Select “System Preferences”
- Choose “Apple ID” at the top right corner of the new window
- Select “iCloud” from the left side of the window
- Make sure “Contacts” is toggled on
On your iPhone, ensure your iCloud contacts are syncing by following these steps:
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone
- Select your Apple ID name banner at the top of the screen
- Choose “iCloud”
- Ensure “Contacts” is toggled on
If you like, feel free to toggle contacts off and back on to trigger syncing. This shouldn’t be necessary, but doing so will ping the iCloud servers to initiate syncing of contacts or any other cloud service to your iPhone.
Contacts is one of the services iCloud syncs across your devices. There’s also Mail, which keeps your inbox and folders current on all devices; Reminders, to help you manage to-do lists and trigger reminders when you’re at a location; Notes, which syncs and shares all of the data in your Notes app on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac; Messages, to ensure all chats are up to date; and Safari, which keeps open tabs, the reading list, and bookmarks synced on all of your Apple devices.
Those services all stake their claim to your iCloud storage, but none as much as Photos. Most users will notice their iCloud data allotment is dominated by the pics and video in the Photos app, which is synced across all Apple devices. Much of what’s found in Photos may be unnecessary, too; old photos, screenshots, and blurred images occupy precious space.
To help manage your iCloud media storage, get Gemini.
The Gemini app for Mac helps you manage similar and duplicate images in your Photos folder, which you are then able to delete quickly. The Gemini iOS app continually watches your Photos app for video, screenshots, and other categories. It then creates unique folders for those media types in the Gemini app, and provides a quick and easy way to bulk-delete your images. The gigabytes of iCloud storage you will reclaim with Gemini make it well worth a download.
Conclusion
Managing contacts on your Apple devices is simple. You may prefer to sync your Google contacts and continue using Gmail and other Google services, or download and add all of your Google contacts to iCloud. Either way, you’re in full control.
AnyTrans is a great app for managing backups, a practice we should all be in as we move and sync data across services. If anything goes awry, a backup helps you recover data with ease.
Gemini helps manage files, folders, and photos to keep your iCloud free of unneeded files. If you’re going to sync data, you should keep as much room available in your cloud storage account as possible.
AnyTrans and Gemini are free to use for seven days with your trial of Setapp, a robust suite of productivity apps for the Mac. Along with these two incredible apps, you’ll have unlimited access to over 200 other native Mac apps during your week of free use!
When the trial period ends, continued access to the entire Setapp catalog is only $9.99 per month. It’s a sensational offer for so many amazing apps, so why wait? Give Setapp a try today!
Sync Gmail To Iphone
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