Sync contacts from iPhone to Mac fails

Question

Sync contacts from iPhone to Mac fails

Hi,

When activating MobileMe sync, all my Address Book Contacts were lost: my Address Book is now empty on both the Mac and MobileMe.

Fortunately, they are still all on my iPhone3G, where I had not yet enabled MobileMe Syncing.

Unfortunately, iTunes synchronization DOES NOT copy the iPhone3G Contacts to the Mac Adress Book. All relevant check boxes are set ("All Contacts" is selected in iTunes).

I tried to reset the sync history using iSync.app, to no avail.

So now my many very valuable contacts are stuck inside my iPhone. I desperately need them back to my Mac.

What can I do?

(MacOS X 10.5.5 since yesterday, be the issue occured when I had 10.5.4).

PS: enabling MobileMe syncing on the iPhone (with the idea of MobileMe syncing from the iPhone to MobileMe first) does NOT work, as enabling MobileMe on the iPhone explicitely erases the iPhone data first.

Message was edited by: Jean-Denis Muys

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.4)

Posted on Sep 16, 2008 2:11 AM

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Answer 1

tikael

Level 1

0 points

Sep 16, 2008 2:17 AM in response to Jean-Denis Muys

Uninstall and reinstall iTunes.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1224

heres instructions for completely removing iTunes.

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Answer 2

Ashgard

Level 1

27 points

Sep 16, 2008 4:41 AM in response to tikael

My problem is the same, from a slightly different angle.

I had the same contacts database on MobileMe and on my iPhone.
Syncing was not switched on.
Additional contacts have been added to the data on my iPhone (that's where you casually enter new contacts during the day, not your computer).

Now I realize, I would need to sync my enlarged contacts data from my iPhone to MobileMe. Or to my Mac Address Book.

When I want to switch on syncing, my iPhone says "Syncing with MobileMe will remove your existing contacts from your iPhone"

I want it just the other way around: MobileMe should be overwritten with the iPhone data!

I do not see why reinstalling iTunes would solve the issue. But there must be a way.
What do you think?

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Answer 3

Sep 16, 2008 5:54 AM in response to Ashgard

I tried removing and reinstalling iTunes as suggested. It did NOT work. I had hope though, when iTunes asked me to replace or merge the info. I selected Merge, but my address book is still empty.

Actually, when you really carefully read iTunes' Dialog, it makes sense: the question concerns the iPhone's data, not the Mac's data. It reads:

"The information on the iPhone "XXX" is synced with another user account. Do you want to sync this iPhone with the information from this user account instead?

"Merge Info" merges the information *on this iPhone* with the information from this user account.
"Replace Info" replaces the information *on this iPhone* with the information from this user account.
"

(emphasis mine).

I am still stuck with my data emprisonned in my iPhone, and more worried than ever.

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Answer 4

Sep 16, 2008 5:56 AM in response to Jean-Denis Muys

I noticed this to.I made a change to my contacts in iphone and when in itunes to sync, it doesnt show up in mac addressbook. But if I make a change in addressbook on mac, it shows up on iphone.
what gives.
worked fine b4. Also,i dont even get the message about merging contacts from one device to the other.

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Answer 5

Sep 16, 2008 7:18 AM in response to crosswire

The message only occurred once after removing and reinstalling iTunes. Actually, removing iTunes is probably irrelevant. It would also probably occur when only removing iTunes' preferences (unverified).

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Answer 6

Sep 16, 2008 9:23 PM in response to Jean-Denis Muys

Jean-Denis-

Just today, I had this happen with a client of mine. (I am an Apple Certified consultant.)

We were setting up her three laptops and iphone to sync information using mobile me. After setting up the laptops and syncing them all, she lost everything but one calendar's worth of data - there should have been seven.

Thankfully, I thought, all her data was still intact on her iPhone. After googling a little and searching these forums, I was a bit scared to sync the iPhone for fear it would get erased too.

So, since I had back-ups galore of my own data, I replicated the problem with my own setup: I deleted all the info on my laptop and deleted the com.apple.itunes.plist file from the Preferences. Then I launched iTunes and told it to sync all the contact and calendar data with my iPhone. It asked if I wanted to Merge the data to which I said yes. After the sync, none of the data was deleted off the iPhone and all of the data was put back onto my laptop.

So we did the same thing with her machine. I turned off MobileMe syncing, deleted all her contact and calendar data and deleted her com.apple.itunes.plist file. Then I synced her iPhone and told it to Merge the data. It worked the same way: none of the data was deleted off the iPhone and all of the data was put back on her laptop.

Just thought you might like to know.

-Landon

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Answer 7

Sep 17, 2008 8:53 AM in response to Landon White

Landon,

You basically did what I did. And your outcome is what I expected. The point is, this was not my outcome. When I do what you suggest, what I get is:

none of the data is deleted off the iPhone and none of the data is put back on my laptop.

Bummer. My data is jailed inside the iPhone, and needs a jailbreak (pun intended).

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