In the early days, I had a Netscape account. Then AOL took ‘em over and suddenly I had an AIM account. Tired of their clunky interface I switched to Hotmail and promptly signed up for Yahoo! mail because Hotmail was a euphemism for spam collector. Well, Yahoo! didn’t impress me and I returned to AIM. Thankfully, my quest for a solid e-mail service came to a close when I signed up for Gmail in 2008.
Enter the iPhone. When Apple unveiled the iPhone 3G I snatched one up and immediately tried syncing the calendar app with my Google calendars. To put it mildly, the process gave me a huge f*****g headache. Why? Because, at the time, there was no good way to sync the iPhone with multiple Google calendars. Well, things have changed over the past two years. Today, I finally have a winner.
Conduits
gSyncit is a Windows-only Microsoft Outlook add-in that allows for synchronization of calendars, contacts, notes, and tasks between Google and Outlook. iPhone users can sync Google services with their Outlook services and then to their mobile device (via iTunes or MobileMe). Dave Levinson, the apps creator, did a great job. I’ve yet to run into an error. The problem is I want to sync directly to my iPhone, not via iTunes. The only way to do this using a conduit is to use MobileMe. However, since MobileMe sucks my calendars never stay in sync.
SyncMyCal is another Windows-only Microsoft Outlook add-in that allows for synchronization of calendars, contacts, notes, and tasks between Google and Outlook. SyncMyCal isn’t quite as good as gSyncit (I’ve had a bunch of errors). The company does have a mobile version, but it requires a device running mobile Outlook (i.e. not anPhone). So, iPhone users using SyncMyCal need to use iTunes or MobileMe to sync their Outlook/Google calendars with their device. And again, MobileMe is the problem with this solution.
Google Sync is a stand-alone Windows-only app that syncs calendars between Google and Outlook. Like the aforementioned conduits, you have to sync your iPhone with iTunes or MobileMe.Native iPhone Apps/Features
GoCal (iTunes | $4.99) is a native Google Calendar app from Light Room. Its short list of features includes: multiple calendars; day/month views of events; event browsing and editing; fast adding; and a “beautiful and easy UI.” With GoCal (1.5) you can plan, create, and share events from the app. My opinion: This app sucks isn’t ideal. Offline viewing is not supported (which means you have to have an Internet connection to get your calendar/s). Their advertised “calendar in two-clicks” is misleading. First you have to set up your calendar to load your calendars on startup. Then, you have to deselect the calendars you don’t want to see (who wants all 20 of their calendars all the time?). Then (if the events load) you have but two views. It wouldn’t be so bad, but you have to repeat this process EVERY flippin’ time you open the app! Ok ok. To their credit, @lightroom is constantly releasing updates. I just haven’t seen any that make GoCal the calendar solution for me.
With iPhone OS 3.0 Apple unveiled support for subscription and CalDAV calendars. Subscriptions are read-only and CalDAVs provide read/write access. Both are great alternatives for quick access. However, I’ve noticed that when I combine multiple calendars with CalDAV calendars not only do the events load slowly, but my entire iPhone slows to a crawl. Even went so far as to show the “geniuses” at the Apple Store. Must be your phone. Have you tried restoring from a backup? Sigh. Btw, my wife uses a CalDAV calendar with little to no problems (and with no other calendars). I have not been so lucky.
UPDATE (6/22). With the release of iOS4 Apple has made syncing Google Calendars a little easier/better. Especially useful for exchange users who can now use multiple exchange accounts, iOS4 provides better syncing via Google Sync and CalDAV subscriptions. On the iPh 3GS I’ve noticed less lag time when loading CalDAV calendars with little to no impact on the OS.
WebApps
Google Calendar Mobile is the best alternative to syncing gCal with the iPhone calendar app. With Google Calendar Mobile you can add, edit, delete and respond to events right from your phone. No need to sync your phone with your computer. View multiple calendars you’ve created and those that have been shared with you. The downside, if you want all the Google Calendar features you need to be online. If not, you’re left with their basic (anorexic) offline support.
Cloud/Push
Apple’s MobileMe lets you sync calendars, me-mail, and contacts straight to your phone. There’s just one problem…who the eff uses me.com as their primary calendaring/e-mail/contact application? Way to join the party late Apple. Did you bring beer? Jiminey Christmas! MobileMe is the most unfriendly cloud service around. Simply put, if you use services or devices other than Apple’s own, you’re effed. You can subscribe to calendars but they won’t sync with your iPh via MobileMe. You can use a conduit, but Me breaks so often and you’ll have to delete everything (which is their default support solution). MobileMe could be great if Apple would open up their cloud. Until then, I do not suggest using it for syncing gCal with your iPh.
NuevaSync lets you sync your calendar, contacts, tasks and e-mail over-the-air to your iPhone. NuevaSync works with Google Calendar (11 cals) and Contacts, Yahoo Contacts, Toodledo, 37signals Highrise, GMail, AOL Mail, and any IMAP mailbox. Create a NuevaSync account, configure your iPh’s exchange account, select the calendars via nuevaSync’s website, and sync. It’s that easy. I’ve used this for a while now. It was my favorite until I ran into a small problem with calendaring. I created an event at 9. Then I was invited to an event on the same day at 9. When I accepted the invitation and deleted my event, neither event showed up. Yeah, woops. Since there isn’t a fix yet, I’ve been forced to switch.
Google Sync for the iPhone syncs Gmail, contacts, and Google calendars, and provides push support and administrative controls. All you have to do is configure your iPh’s exchange account (iOS4 supports multiple exchange accounts) and select up to 25 calendars at m.google.com/sync (its initial release only supported one calendar so I abandoned Google Sync). iOS4 will also allow you to select/de-select calendars you sync with right from the iPhone’s calendar app. A huge improvement over iOS 3.
UPDATE (7/7). A recent Download Squad article brought to my attention a glitch with Google Sync. The bottom line, if you want to set which calendars are syncing with your iPhone or iPad go to: https://www.google.com/calendar/iphoneselect, select the calendars you want to sync, and click SAVE. I tested it and it works great. Thanks Download Squad!
Verdict
My top three choices for syncing multiple Google Calendars to the iPhone are:
- Three: Google Calendar Mobile. If I need to make changes that I cannot make using the iPh’s native cal app, I use the gCal webapp. It’s not my top choice b/c it doesn’t sync natively and has limited offline features.
- Two: NuevaSync. Although I’m not a fan of creating an account for everything I do online, I like this service. And, if it weren’t for the problem I ran into, I’d still be using it. FYI, NuevaSync has a paid version. While I cannot speak for it personally, it does have a few more features.
- One: Google Sync for the iPhone. My favorite gCal-to-Cal.app sync service. I don’t need an extra account and I can sync up to 25 calendars. I’ve had no problems and no headaches (just be sure to go here to select your calendars). It’s really quite easy, even yer mom could do it.
My number one pick is still limited by the iPhone’s calendar app functionality. When you try to send/view/accept/reject invitations using an exchange account it doesn’t always work. Changing the calendar for an event requires deleting the event and creating it in the preferred calendar. These and other annoyances are not the fault of Google, NuevaSync, or any other sync service. The blame falls on Apple and their calendar app. I only hope that a future iOS update will bring more love to web calendar users who choose not to use Apple’s shi**y alternative.
There’s a lot of sync programs out there, but how will you sync Google Calendar with an iPhone? So, if you have any comments, questions, or suggestions feel free to write ‘em below or e-mail me at TiTy@y2kemo.com.
Related posts:
