Missing Fields in Contacts on iPhone

I would like to add to this complaint. I have the same problem and it is very frustrating when time is spent to add partner, spouse, etc. info into MobileMe or on Mac desktop and when you are trying to remember a name of your business partners wife. Even more frustrating when you can't use your iphone properly to remind you of her name. Apple, please fix, seems like an easy thing to do.

Thanks

This seems to be an issue that only affects the Related Names additional field and is obviously a problem with the iPhone's address book. As a work-around, until a fix, you might want to add related names like spouse etc to the Notes field.

I'm trying to figure out the same thing. I really need certain fields to appear on my iphone that simply don't like spouse, assistant names, etc. It's kind of important to know the names when you call them. There must be some way other than listing the information in a note or something. This is such a simple thing it seems silly.

I'm going to assume that you are using the "Microsoft Exchange" account type?
This account type only supports a limited field set so will only sync the data with labels that match the "Microsoft Exchange" sync specification.

Phone Number types:
mobile,home,work,home fax,pager,assistant,car,company main,radio
Email types:
just renames them email.

it's a little more complicated than above but the gist stands. as different servers use translation tables to approximate this list. ie Google mail.

Solutions generally involve exporting contact list, changing the field names onmasse and importing back in.

This seems to have been a problem for a long time (i found similar discussions from 2009) and I cannot understand why Apple are not doing anything to resolve it? It should be very simple to do - as you say the fields are there and being synced on the Mac and MobileMe. it's even more irritating because you cannot access MobileMe from the iPhone browser to find out the information when you need it.

Come on Apple, do us all a favour please and fix it ... We pay a lot for MobileMe ...

Not sure why Apple has programed the Contacts App to not display all the information (related fields for example) but a great app, that offer a free version, does allow you to view that information: ContactsTap - I have no affiliation with the developer...just a happy user.

I have the same problem.
Thinking that iphone, MacMini, Address Book, being products of the same company, I'd have my day when it came to syncing contacts was a HUGEEE mistake.
I spent 2 hours yesterday working on Address Book, transferring notes to relevant fields (spouse, mother, children) and performed a sync.
Now, I have to do just the opposite and put ALL that data back to notes.

I'd have thought that being the savy one in the market, Apple would have solved this since 2009.

Dr Pat
Thanks for te suggestion - I've downloaded the free version and while it looks useful, I still don't seem to be able to see the spouse/children details that I have in MobileMe. I think because when it imports the contacts at the start, it imports them from the iphone address book, and thise details are nit there? Are there any specific settings I need to enable?
Thanks

Open ContactsTap, select a contact that you want to view the details. A window open with a list of choices; Call, Send Text Messages, Send Email, Show Contact Details, Contact Groups, and Share Contact. Select Show Contact Details. Now at the bottom left of the window, you will see an icon of person next to a stack of lines, click on that - voila! "Related names for person" shows all the related names that are associated with that contact.
The app does a few other things but I'll let you explore those on your own.
The information does actually get synced over the phone, you just can't see it in the native Contacts app.
Cheers.

aoitsukinosuke wrote:
I have the same problem.
Thinking that iphone, MacMini, Address Book, being products of the same company, I'd have my day when it came to syncing contacts was a HUGEEE mistake.
I spent 2 hours yesterday working on Address Book, transferring notes to relevant fields (spouse, mother, children) and performed a sync.
Now, I have to do just the opposite and put ALL that data back to notes.

I'd have thought that being the savy one in the market, Apple would have solved this since 2009.

AMEN!

Found it! Excellent workaround ... Thanks very much!

I have the same problem with fields in Address Book and on MobileMe not showing up after synching on my iPod touch. I'm having to move this missing info to the data field. Like someone else mentioned, it seems to be the related fields (friend, wife, child).

I did notice that I can add a custom field to the phone number section or email address section of a vcard and the custom field will get copied to my iPod Touch. I guess that would be another hack (beside the data field) to record your boss's wife's name so you can look it up on your iPhone.

As others have said, it shouldn't take a rocket scientist to update the software so all fields synch. Let's get that fixed!

Very frustrating is the fact that the missing Related Names field has been criticized since iOS 2. This topic is being discussed ever since Address Book had the Related Names field implemented. Personally, I still have not lost my hope that the next iOS-Update might come with a correction, since there are third party apps displaying the Related Names upon the same database used by Contacts.

Yes!!! Please Help us oh Apple gods...We beseech thee! We are but simple folk wanting to go on with our mundane lives and we only ask this so that we might find simplicity again. NO MORE HOOPS TO JUMP THROUGH By, the way, I would like to also add a custom field for hours of operation. I like to know when my favorite stores are open.
Thank you