sync calendar/contacts with iCloud versus iTunes

I'm not sure any of the 3rd party apps listed so far (bar maybe the Synology NAS option) are a solution. They all have a trade-off somewhere. Even the better options that look like a solution still use iTunes in the background and cannot confirm their product will work once the update has happened.

iMazing has been around for a long, long time. They don't have a seamless sync to Outlook, but a workaround can be had. You just need to train yourself to do a few extra steps.

https://imazing.com/guides/how-to-transfer-iphone-ipad-or-ipod-touch-contacts-to-your-mac-or-pc-computer

Yes, it sucks that iTunes is going the route it has planned - to no longer sync to Outlook on your PC. Synology's workaround is nice if you have a NAS (I do), but how many people really have one?

And, be SUPER careful what 3rd-party application you decide to use. I'm less concerned about the iCloud than I am software from who-knows-whom on my PC.

Likewise, I'd like to see an open source replacement for itunes. I will not use the clouds for the reasons already stated.

I don't do anything with music or other items, so there are three (3) requirements:

- Synchronizing (bidirectional) Calendars

- Synchronizing (bidirectional) Contacts, and

- Creating a restorable backup of the Apple device.

I use desktop Outlook as my master for everything. I have 2 iphones and 1 ipad. Every day or two I use itunes to backup and sync each of the 3 Apple devices, and then sync them a second time to pick up changes that may have been made by each other device. A slightly laborious process, but one that gets the job done.

Itunes quirky inability to find one or more of the devices for wifi syncing, requiring it to get physically plugged in is a problem that any replacement should address.

@citylim:

I synch music (playlists included), photos, calendar and contacts.

Little by little, they want all of these personal things on a cloud server? I think not.

I have a Synology NAS with over 9,000 songs - most of which were ripped from the CDs I own.

With that Synology NAS, I can use DS-Photo and DS-Audio to access my photo and music over the network connection.

But, this is just getting carried away with all of these things they want stored in a cloud.

Off-Topic, but it reminds me how Amazon wants me to allow them access to MyQ garage to put packages in my garage when they deliver them. Um, nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

To piggyback on Lucia555's message below...in June 2015, I awoke to my iPhone having been erased (set up your new iPhone message appeared), and once at my PC, I had email messages that someone accessed my iCloud and changed my password.

Someone hacked into my iCloud to hold my data hostage, changed my password, and sent me a "ransom" message though the find my iPhone feature to provide them large sums of money to release my data. Fortunately, I had minimal, old data on the cloud and had since began to use iTunes backups to my laptop.

I used DoD-level password complexity, never wrote it down anywhere, and didn't logon at a Starbucks or anything like that and rarely even went into iTunes, period. I have no idea how someone got into my account. One of my intel buddies told me that he is certain iTunes has significant security holes; maybe I am captaining the obvious here.

ITunes is not secure and the the cloud is not safe and I will never rely on it. Had I not backed up locally - all my stuff would have been gone.

In my talk with Apple, I came to find out that the email address I'd received in the ransom message was associated with an active US-based iTunes account. I turned the case over to the local police. Apple would not turnover the info on the US-based account corresponding to that email address that stole my info and demanded payment.

I use my Outlook contacts and calendar extensively with my iPhone. This will likely be an Apple deal breaker for me and I will likely switch to Droid or other.

To Apple moderator,

I synch my contacts (5500 of them) on ACT with outlook using Companion Link software which then synchs all to my Iphone. If support for contacts/calendar functions are discontinued, will Itunes continue to backup my Iphone? I prefer Itunes (Windows) for this backup and do NOT use and do NOT want to use the cloud. Pleases do NOT discontinue this functionality!

@sum87:

Great find! Just the excellent documentation of the product is a very good sign it's not crap.

I am curious of their steps to maintain a USB tether to the PC for syncing ... I've never known that the Microsoft Store version of iTunes was any different than the one you could get from Apple/iTunes.com! I keep several past versions - I have all versions for Windows from 12.7.3.46 to 12.11.3.17 - so I'm comfortable that I can always revert if the one from iTunes.com and the Microsoft Store get to the point of a version of iTunes that no longer supports this sync to Outlook.

But, then ... if I need to revert to a version of iTunes that has those drivers used for syncing, why do I need to resort to this alternate product?

The one feature of iTunes that has saved my xxx several times is the backup of the iDevice. I keep at least 2 generations of backup just in case i get hit with a virus or something goes bad. Twice now, i've been able to do the restore and never missed a beat.

I don't see that companionlink does a backup when it does the sync.

What I'd like to see in any backup is the ability to handle more than one generation of the backup; it's a manual file-rename now to do that.

JoAnaSings wrote:

PLEASE DO NOT DELETE ITUNES SYNC WITH OUTLOOK!

No one reading here is capable of doing (or preventing) that. If you want Apple to know your thoughts, use the feedback page:

Product Feedback - Apple

Thank you and I did report it. And had a long talk with the Apple support reps I spoke. Suggested that Apple decision makers should be coming to this page and seeing how upset people are. I also asked the 2nd guy to please research and get back to me about whether they are still planning on doing this as none of the people I spoke with were aware of it happening. Shocking. I didn't have the link to this page when I spoke with him; plan on giving it to him when he calls me back.

I think it is absurd that they don't look at their forums when they decide to make a change like this. I have worked in tech for years and the failure to consider the user is one of my hot buttons.

JoAnaSings wrote:

I think it is absurd that they don't look at their forums when they decide to make a change like this. I have worked in tech for years and the failure to consider the user is one of my hot buttons.

I find it surprising that you've "worked in tech for years" and are surprised by how Apple works. Apple is legendary for giving the customer what they decide the customer wants, not what the customer asks for. And, whether you approve or not, it has made Apple very successful.

Also, looking in this forum for suggestions would truly be absurd. It's one of the busiest forums of its type in the world and it's for people to provide technical support. Sifting through it for suggestions would be ineffective. That is why Apple provides a dedicated place to give suggestions. I'm glad to hear you availed yourself of it.

Not surprised and don't appreciate the snark. Just think the status quo of accepting disregard of the impact on users is wrong. When I worked for software companies, as a project/product manager, I always questioned the impact on the user of proposed changes. In my experience, developers are often more concerned about "cool" things they can do or making changes for the sake of making changes, instead of thinking about what would serve the users. Should we really give up on wanting tech companies to take us into consideration? Because they don't, should we just accept it? For me, the answer is NO. This is an big issue for many users and not everyone is going to realize that they have to give feedback somewhere else. I do think they should look at these forums for feedback. Wouldn't be that hard to set up parameters to measure high volume topics. We can agree to disagree.

In order to make sure Apple has the opportunity to hear me, I went to the iTunes Help menu > Provide iTunes Feedback and submitted the following. Perhaps if enough people communicate directly to them it will reach someone with the ability to reconsider.

iTunes warns me that syncing of contacts and calendars has been "deprecated" (who talks like that?!).

The ability to sync contacts and calendars with Outlook is very important to me.

If I cannot sync my contacts and calendars this will significantly "deprecate" the usefulness of my iPhone for me and will make competing platforms more viable.

I agree with everyone who doesn't want contacts in the cloud to insure privacy.

Has anyone tried CompanionLink?

It appears that they allow offline sync via either USB or wireless net.

[Link Edited by Moderator]