bug in iTunes sync for contacts in address book

Question

Level 1

0 points

bug in iTunes sync for contacts in address book

iTunes does not sync the address book contacts to the iPhone. It uses a copy that's been stored and saved at another time, but it does not use the current contents of the address book to sync. I am on the latest release of iTunes and the latest software version of OS Lion on a brand new iMac. In the "Info" section of iTunes, when selecting "Sync Address Book Contacts", and "All Contacts" is selected, iTunes should obtain the current copy of the contacts in the address book and dump it onto the iPhone, merging it with the contacts on the iPhone. If there is only 1 contact on the iPhone and 100 contacts in the address book, after the sync procedure, there should be 101 contacts on the iPhone. This should happen regardless of back up copies of the iPhone address book on the Mac. This process is simple and straight forward but broken and Apple should fix it.

iPhone 4, iOS 5

Posted on Oct 28, 2011 8:30 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Oct 28, 2011 11:06 AM in response to pincud

Look at the iCloud settings under Settings. You should have the same account defined on your iPhone and on your Mac.

Reply

Answer 2

Chris CA

Level 10

82,434 points

Oct 28, 2011 11:46 AM in response to pincud

Uncheck sync contacts then sync then recheck and sync.

Reply

Answer 3

Chris CA

Level 10

82,434 points

Oct 28, 2011 11:48 AM in response to JohnTheAppleFan

JohnTheAppleFan wrote:

Look at the iCloud settings under Settings. You should have the same account defined on your iPhone and on your Mac.

If he's not using iCloud (his post indicates he is not using it), nothing will be there.

Reply

Answer 4

pincud Author

Level 1

0 points

Oct 28, 2011 12:39 PM in response to Chris CA

I tried advice number 2. I unchecked the sync contacts and did a sync. This succesfully deleted the contacts off the iPhone. So far so good. I checked sync contacts and did a sync. This dumped the old list of contacts back to the iPhone, but not the contacts in the address book. I think iTunes should get the current list of contacts in the address book and dump it on the iPhone, not an old back up list. This is where the bug is.

I cannot try advice number 1 because I'm not using iCloud either on the iMac or on the iPhone. The iCloud has been disabled.

This is the reason that I say iTunes has a bug: it is looking at an old backed up list of contacts and puts it on the iPhone. The sync should be straight forward. If is says it will sync to the address book, it better does what it says. If it cannot do that, it should show me a switch prompting me to sync to a back up of the address book or the current version.

In any case, I appreciate the fact that you have taken the time to help. Thank you.

Reply

Answer 5

Chris CA

Level 10

82,434 points

Oct 28, 2011 1:14 PM in response to pincud

Try this.

Turn off sync of Address Kook sync in iTunes.
Backup the address book. File > Export - Address book archive.
Delete all contacts in the address book.
Quit then reopen Address book.
Restore the contacts. File > Import.
Enable Address book sync in iTunes. Make sure to select Choose the option to replace the data on the device during the next sync.

See this -> http://osxdaily.com/2011/09/19/backup-address-book-mac-os-x/

Reply

Answer 6

Aug 1, 2016 10:39 AM in response to pincud

I have the same issue... sync'd and unsync'd contacts... I can no longer use contacts as when it's launched it freezes the entire phone, not even able to pull up contacts thru phone... disabled icloud unchecked everything... i just need to get to my phone #'s

Reply

Answer 7

pincud Author

Level 1

0 points

Oct 29, 2011 3:49 AM in response to Chris CA

Hi Chris CA, I followed your procedure step by step. It did not work. iTunes still downloaded an old copy of the address book, and is not able to sync the address book contacts correctly. I don't know where it keeps the copy of the contacts that it uses - maybe if I delete that copy and try again it would work. I still think this is a bug that Apple needs to address and to fix.

Anyway, thank you for taking the time to provide this possible solution.

Reply

Answer 8

Nov 6, 2011 11:13 AM in response to pincud

I am seeing exactly the same issue. I have also tried removing the contacts from the phone and re-syncing, and I keep seeing an out-of-date version of my contacts on my phone. The Address Book application on my iMac shows the most recent version of the contacts. I even tried closing all applications and re-booting, but things remain out of synch.

Reply

Answer 9

Nov 6, 2011 11:50 AM in response to interfrastic

I have the very same issue. I have tried all of the solutions mentioned here and none work. Every time I sync it puts an old outdate contact list on my iPhone. I am not using iCloud.

Reply

Answer 10

Nov 15, 2011 7:37 AM in response to pincud

I have the same issue! Latest MacBook, lastest updated Lion OS and iTunes, latest iPhone 4S with updated IOS but old contact list on my iPhone!

I found out even the book, movies are also affected. I have deleted the books and movies and it still shows in the iTunes!

I tried all the steps above and still the same issue re-appear.

****, I even tried to reinstall (factory default) everything but still the same problem!

How the ****, can I get rid of these old files!!!

I feel like smashing the **** macbook, iphone.

Just can't get the contacts right! How are we going to make phone calls without the contacts? Manual key-in! So Stupid!!!!

Any guru out there can advice????

Thanks

Reply

Answer 11

Dec 12, 2011 8:12 AM in response to pincud

I have exactly the same problems - no matter what changes I make to address book it still puts up an old version in iTunes!

Someone has to have a solution!

Reply

Answer 12

Dec 12, 2011 11:21 AM in response to pincud

I finally got a solution to this by sitting on the phone for 1.5 hrs with Apple. It involved:

1. running this script in terminal to clear sync history:

/System/Library/Frameworks/SyncServices.framework/Versions/A/Resources/resetsync .pl full

2. backing up all my data from the iphone to computer and icloud

3. deleting the iphone software from user>library>itunes>iPhone Software Updates

4. doing a clean re-install of the iphone software through iTunes

5. setting the phone up as a new phone - not from a backup

6. syncing everything again

Hope this helps!

Reply

Answer 13

nycki3

Level 1

0 points

Feb 23, 2012 12:33 PM in response to John Biggins

Dear John

This seems the closest to a solution so far. But still does not do the trick. How did you run the script in terminal?

I get the answer no such file - but I can see the file.

I can not find the user>library>itunes>iPhone Software Updates under users.

I am on Lion 10.7.3

Thanks

Reply

Answer 14

Feb 23, 2012 2:08 PM in response to nycki3

Hi Nycki,

It's a while ago now - but I think I just called up Apple and followed their instructions. Took a while.

Best,

J

Reply

Answer 15

May 18, 2012 3:32 AM in response to pincud

Have exact same issue with 2 devices using IOS 5.1.1, but not with device using 4.2.1. where it works as expected.

Reply