Q: Is iCloud compatible with Outlook 2016?

Looked into switching to a Windows Phone.  You're kid of stuck syncing Outlook 2016 with Outlook.com then on to the iPhone.  MS support was never fully able to explain how to continually sync contacts and calendars with any degree of regularity.  EAS has no on line support system with detailed instructions.  I went to Go Contact Sync Mod and it runs with Google just fine.  And its free.  Phone Companion in  Widows 10 will allow access to the phone for [ictures etc.  Not perfect - but it does run.

Using the outlook app in a Windows phone does all this.  There is no reason on a Windows phone to go to outlook.com and sync, the app is available for the phone and syncs on its own.  A good friend has a Windows phone, gmail address, and the Outlook 2016 app for months now and has never gone to outlook.com.

Download iCloud for Windows - Apple Support

For the Windows iCloud download, it still says:

iCloud for Windows currently supports Outlook 2007 through Outlook 2013. Support for Outlook 2016 will be available in an update to iCloud for Windows in December. Until then, if you use Outlook 2016, you can access iCloud Mail, Contacts, and Calendars on iCloud.com.

Still dated 11/24/15 also.

Link above and I agree, it is and has been frustrating

Well, it's December now. Which means I can start kicking and screaming again.

" Using the outlook app in a Windows phone does all this.  There is no reason on a Windows phone to go to outlook.com and sync, the app is available for the phone and syncs on its own.  A good friend has a Windows phone, gmail address, and the Outlook 2016 app for months now and has never gone to outlook.com."

I was never able to successfully able to sync Outlook 2016 PC desktop using any MS based app with anything.

Can't we use the Outlook app on iOS instead of switching to Windows Phone?  There is a downside to Outlook on either platform in that one must use IMAP email instead of POP email.  But is there some reason to need the Windows Phone version of Outlook instead of the iOS version of Outlook?

I have a new Windows 10 computer that is not being put into use until we decide what to do.  Should we try to install Office 2013 and upgrade later?  Is there a problem moving Outlook pst files back and forth between different computers with Outlook 2013 or 2016?  Should we switch all email accounts to IMAP and use Outlook on iOS?  Should we just wait because a fix is coming "in December" or does Apple changing that to "soon" mean no fix until February?

It would be good to get some hard information.  However, the apparent backtracking on the release of this fix suggests that some problem was found during testing, so it is possible that Apple isn't saying much because they don't know when they'll be able to fix the problem.  But it doesn't sound like they consider this to be a priority, which seems shortsighted because the response to this and other iCloud mess-ups is likely to be people jumping to Outlook for iOS or jumping all the way to Outlook for Windows Phone or later to the rumored Surface phone.

Apple's lethargic response is a danger to its major revenue generator.  

I checked Get help using Outlook with iCloud for Windows - Apple Support and it is now referring to a fix in December:

iCloud for Windows currently supports Outlook 2007 through Outlook 2013. Support for Outlook 2016 will be available in an update to iCloud for Windows in December.

I refreshed the page, so this seems to be current position.  Hopefully there has been no backtracking from the December timeframe.

Yes.  The Outlook app on iOS works just fine.  And because they seem to require a one time upload of contacts & calendars to outlook.com from Outlook 2016 it essentially is saying that Outlook 2016 PC desktop and Outlook.com has no way of continually (lets say every two hours) actively and automatically syncing contacts and calendars.

My previous post and solution work just fine and I have no need for much else but I share your ire at Apple for not making this one time essential feature work.

Funny, it said that before too, but 2 days ago they changed it to "an update to be released soon".  Look back one page on this subject, there is a copy of it.  They must have just changed it back.

Yes, I saw the post with the "released soon" language instead of "December".  I can't tell whether Apple has been changing the wording back and forth or whether there is a caching issue, but the "December" language persists when I re-load the page so it seems to be the current position.

If you are referring to using http://sourceforge.net/projects/googlesyncmod/  to sync contacts and calendar, we can't do that because we can't use Google because of their data collection.

Does the problem of "no way of continually (lets say every two hours) actively and automatically syncing contacts and calendars" apply to the Outlook app on iOS but not on Windows Phone?  That would seem to be a deal-breaker flaw for iOS if that is the case.  If so, I'm not getting a new iPhone unless this problem is resolved; my contract finished two weeks ago and I'm delaying to see whether I need to switch to Windows Phone.

BTW, there is a thread on the Microsoft Community about this issue:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2016-outlook/outlook-2016 -syncing-contacts-and-calendars-with/ebd…

They have no magic answers, only the same horizon of a fix sometime in December.

Hmmm, NOT HAPPY! As some others have stated the support page ( What is iCloud for Windows? - Apple Support ) seems to have reverted back to 'soon' for the update rather than 'in December'.

WHAT IS GOING ON APPLE?

What is preventing you from solving what would appear to be a pretty simple problem? You must know how Outlook 2016 works by now, So lets have a solution to syncing contacts, calendars and other items like we used to do. A little more info for your customers, please!

I' m very far from being merely content, as well. As for  Apple support community "experts", furthermore, who read into my posts and choose to delete them because I express quite inconvenient, for them, hard facts,  I only suggest this! Get down to your job and start producing a fix right away because your company  has already proven very short of the circumstances in this particular topic which has already generated over 55,000 views Ina period of 3 months! It' utterly disgraceful and instead of comment filtering, an apology would be in place! SHAME!

Hi Everyone,

I'm pretty sure someone referenced this a few days ago, but it's worth looking at, again.  I took a look at Phone Companion in Windows 10.  I decided to give it a try.  It was very simple to set up for my iPhone.  I have Windows and Mac computers, so I left the iCloud setup on all the Apple machines.  Honestly, I'm quite impressed with the syncing performance of Phone Companion.  So far, it's working perfectly.  I can add an appointment on any device and it syncs to all devices.  It's not as pure as a single sync-point, like just iCloud, but it will sure get me through until Apple decides to fix this ridiculous problem.