iTunes Unable to Sync Google Contact Groups?

Hi Jason,

obviously we configured itunes to synchronize with google contacts by enabling 'sync contacts with' checkbox, selecting 'google contacts' option and entering the google logon details when itunes asked for it. No synchronisation with google contacts happening whatsoever, the 'Selected groups' list is not populating.

Enabling 'Replace information on this iphone' [x] Contacts doesn't make any difference either.

Upgrading iPhone firmware to 2.0.1 and iTunes 7.7.11 didn't help. It seems that iTunes simply fails to access google contacts by whatever reason, without displaying any error information.

Is it possible to enable debug logging or any other way to get more information on what actually goes wrong?

Dmitri

oh ok, thanks....

Same problem here - irritated with this problem - I can understand this is a one time issue, but still it's causing me so much grief and stopping me from enjoying my iPhone!

7.7.1.11 - iTunes, iPhone 3G - XP Pro - Trying to us Outlook contacts - Outlook 2003 SP3

Same here. In addition now when I try to sync wig gmail, it hangs forever until I finally cancel.

SethDH wrote:
Has anyone had any luck resolving this? I'm having the same issue, running Vista and latest ITunes. I even upgrade to the 2.01 iphone update that came out last night and still no luck.

An iPhone update isn't going to resolve this. iTunes has to be updated if it is causing the issue, since it controls the sync of this information.

There are few options to change this, but sync'ing a specific group in iTunes is not feasible. The controls in iTunes doesn't even display your custom Google contact groups much less enable the controls to set it up. Configuration for Google contacts is just an authentication dialog. This is frustrating as ****. Apple fix this!

I've found a solution to syncing with a specific group atleast under outlook.

Here's what I did:

I copied all contacts into a sublist under the main 'Contacts' list. It seems only then you can see the subgroups. If it's a separate contact list at the same heirarchy level as Contacts, iTunes will not be able to find it.

Also at times I've found disabling contact sync, with your outlook open and doing a sync on calendar (which uses outlook) causes the new list under the main Contacts list to magically appear.

I finally have only those contacts with a phone number in my contact list.

Hope this helps.

Ive waited and waited for this functionality, to be able to sync my google contacts with my iPhone
But stands to reason that in todays world people can have thousands of contacts built up over time
But i dont want them all on my phone. However there is duplication between everyday phone and email contacts and they should sync.
And groups seems the perfect way to do this
I only attempted a google contacts sync as i seen the space for contact groups in iTunes. I threw my suspicions to the background and said to myself this is Apple, they think things through and always implement well. And this is quite a simple requirement

Having the same problem as everyone else in this thread.
Please Apple, fix this.
In the meanwhile, i have to try and recreate my contact list

I'm not going to jump the gun and say that this is an Apple issue. It could very well be an issue with Google contacts. Perhaps the API to call the contact groups is screwed.

Whatever the case, this should be fixed. This isn't an enhancement to the contact sync. Clearly this functionality does not work out of the box. Whoever is to blame, Google or Apple, they should get together and fix this thing. It's been over a month now. Both offices are freaking 10 miles away from each other. They can meet with their laptops at a Starbucks halfway between and fix this in less than a couple hours. At this point it's gotten from being annoying... to frustrating... to aggravating.

Try this:
http://beaugiles.net/blog/2008/07/using-google-as-a-free-mobileme-alternative-wi th-push-contacts-calendar/
This site gives info on creating a new way to sync contacts and groups with Google. It works! Read the entire article to do this...

Has anyone found a way to resolve this yet? Thanks.

vesper76 wrote:
Has anyone found a way to resolve this yet? Thanks.

A reliable way that allows you to fix the long sync time issue and keep any data that you have saved for your third-party applications? Nope.

So far, we have only helpful hints (like using Airplane mode, while backing up, to avoid data corruption during backup) and a method that involves removing all third-party apps, which, of course, will cause the loss of all data you have created/saved for use with those apps.

Dennis Metzcher wrote:
A reliable way that allows you to fix the long sync time issue and keep any data that you have saved for your third-party applications? Nope.

I guess I should have been more specific. I was referring to the ability to specify and sync a Google Contact Group rather than the whole useless list of auto-added contacts.

vesper76 wrote:

Dennis Metzcher wrote:
A reliable way that allows you to fix the long sync time issue and keep any data that you have saved for your third-party applications? Nope.

I guess I should have been more specific. I was referring to the ability to specify and sync a Google Contact Group rather than the whole useless list of auto-added contacts.

No, sorry, my fault. I've been following several different iPhone issue discussions and thought that your comment was regarding the slow-sync issue. Please ignore my previous post (and this one), and they are off-topic.