Gmail contacts not syncing iPhone 6

Hope this helps:

Not sure if my experience is related to others, but I found my iPhone 6 failed to retrieve all my contacts from Gmail. I have my gmail account setup as "Default Account". I found solution by doing the following on the phone:

1. Open Settings
2. Open Mail, Contacts, Calendars
3. Sync -> Switched from "Events 1 Month Back" to "All Events"

That retrieved missing contacts, hopefully all of them. Hmm, just found I had set FETCH to Manually, not sure if the issue is with that. I am changing that to Hourly, as I do not have any idea how to FETCH manually.

Raven Ray

I have this problem as well - and I have A LOT of contacts that I need on my phone - and they're all in Gmail. My email is syncing fine, but I can't get contacts to work - and they've worked on my other iphones... 😟

I've deleted my Gmail account twice and set it back up, but no luck.

I had this same problem: I set up my Google account and left it overnight but no contacts would import. Frustrating!

Know what fixed it? Rebooting the phone. Just hold down the power button until the phone asks if it should turn off. Slide to say yes. When you turn it back on, hopefully all your contacts will be there. So weird.

Plus ca change.

I too am experience the same problem. It seems that google is no longer supporting that type of service for contacts, calendar and notes free of charge. Instead, users who wish to sync that information from phone to computer or vice versa must now have a paid Google account. With paid Google account you will be able to set up and ActiveSync through Exchange. You still won't get your notes when you use Exchange but you will be able to get everything else.

To set up the Exchange you do the following:

1. Launch the Settings app
2. Tap Mail, Contacts, Calendars
3. Tap Add Account
4. Tap Microsoft Exchange
5. For Email, enter your full Gmail or Google Account email address
6. Leave the Domain field blank
7. Again, enter your Gmail or Google Account email address as the username
8. Enter your Gmail/Google password on the password line
9. Tap Next
10. When the Server field appears, enter m.google.com
11. Tap Next
12. Finally, select what you want to sync (Mail, Calendar, and Contacts)

If you decided that you don't want to set-up a paid account in order to use this service then you can always download the gmail app.

Google changed their policy a couple of years ago. Only premium accounts use Exchange-style syncing (Email, contacts, calendar, etc.). Though they grandfathered in existing devices, new devices must - as Barcafan2010 said - sync Calendars using CalDAV, and Contacts using CardDAV.

CalDAV: https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/151674

CardDAV: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/2753077

This makes perfect sense; I had mail setup via the typical "GMAIL" setup in iOS and contacts and calendar setup through "EXCHANGE." Look like I just need to disable that "EXCHANGE" account on my iPhone and enable 'Contacts' and 'Calendar' on the "GMAIL" account.

Any good tips on identifying those contacts that I've added after upgrading to the new iPhone that exist on the phone (under that EXCHANGE account) and not in gmail? I have a feeling when I switch to CardDAV, those new entries are going to vanish since they are not currently found within Gmail Contacts.

Hi Everybody,

I had the same problem with IPhone 6. I think I found answer. Go to your Google account and in the contacts make sure The contacts name belonge to the group my contacts. This what was my problem. I have few groups created and if they was not in My contacts only in the others group, did not sync to the phone. It help me, maybe will help you too, check. And you do not need any special programs or apps.

I did everything I could have found online including removing Gmail account from iPhone 6, adding Google via CardDAV, adding contacts to iCloud and else but none of them worked.

So I re-examined the vcf Export from Google Contacts and found out all missing contacts on iPhone were not exported from Google. I then questioned myself no wonder all fancy technical steps I did were all in vain simply because for those regular emails address and contacts I never formally stored them to Gmail Contacts! On Gmail they just show up automatically and that kind of "Add Contact" idea never came into my mind.

Soon after I added those contacts to Gmail Contacts and loaded to iCloud, everything shows up. Hope this helps.

**Hindsight 20 20, I don't even think I would need to upload that to iCloud but since I exported again so it is convenient to do so.

Just in case others are looking for this answer in 2016>
I've tried everything under the sun, even the ATT Transfer app.

Adding Mail, Contacts, Calendar gmail acct did not work for me.

Gmail set up in iPhone synced some of the contacts but NOT the newest ones.
I use google's INBOX app on my iPhone Plus. I deleted my Inbox app and re-used my original Gmail app (red white envelope) and voila, all contact loaded from gmail.

What I tried/failed to load contacts:

Set up Exchange acct(instead of Gmail account) > Mail, Contacts, Calendar>Add Acct> Exhange> I named it Google Acct> server: m.google.com, skip Domain, enter user and password for your gmail acct>Advanced:use SSL
After that set up > I even changed Push to every 15 min instead of Manually in Settings>Mail, Contacts, Calendar>Fetch New Data > Push> 15 min. It did not work.

- Download Gmail red/white app. Wait few minutes to sync.

- Open Phone on iPhone, go to Contacts and they should be in your phone.

If everything fails, double check them/copy them by hand at www.google.com/contacts

I had this problem with iPhone 7 and iOS 10. I confirmed the problem was very simple in fact... iOS only syncs Google Contacts that are in the group "My Contacts". After editing a contact and adding them to that default group, within seconds they appeared in iOS.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/242654/make_sure_all_your_google_contacts_sync_to _your_ios_device.html

In case someone is still trying to find answers for this contacts syncing issue, I found the following to work for a specific problem I had.

I'm using two iphones, 6 for work and 7 for personal use. I have however used my gmail account to sync personal contacts between the two phones. My problem was, I could add/update/edit contact details on one phone but it wouldn't appear as changed on the other phone.

Solution was in fact pretty obvious. Apple does not allow "Push" for gmails now, only "Fetch". Fetch has two settings (found inside settings - mail), every 15 minutes or manual. The solution therefore was to either 1) wait 15 minutes until gmail refreshes - thereby fetching mails - which effectively update the contacts too, or, 2) temporarily change fetch settings to manual and check emails manually - remember to revert fetch settings to 15 minutes afterwards. Both these methods worked for me.

I'm sorry if I have answered a different question, but I did not experience any of the problems mentioned by the other users, only the above minor irritation..

I spent two hours today with a senior level tech from Apple. When I add a contact on my iphone, the contact appears in my gmail contacts, but not on the phone. When I enter a new contact on my PC, the new contact will not appear on my phone as well. After restoring, redoing everything, Apple has said it appears to be a server issue with Google. I have posted on Google's (Gmail) message board regarding this. Who knows when I will get an answer. If I use Icloud, the contacts added on my phone do not get added to my gmail contacts. As you can imagine, this has become a very frustrating situation. Weird thing is, my wife's phone does not have any issues with sync at all.

I have a similar issue. Mail is syncing - but not my contacts!! 😟 Any tips anyone? It worked on my iphone 5... grr...