Note: This article was originally published in 2013. Some steps, commands, or software versions may have changed. Check the current iPad documentation for the latest information.

How to: Sync my (http://www.google.com/contacts “Google Contacts”) with my (http://www.apple.com/iphone “iPhone”) or any other (http://www.apple.com/ios “IOS”) device

One of the weirdest issues I´ve faced as of late is that my Google Contacts were not being brought in correctly to my iPhone. What was really going on behind the scenes was that all the contacts instead of being imported to my iPhone as First Name & Last Name they were coming in as Nicknames. You can imagine what kind of issues that caused me. Because the names were being brought in as Nicknames, iOS is unable to sort the names correctly. So I would have some of my contacts sorted the way I wanted and others would show up sorted by First Name not Last Name. This was a pain.

The Cause

Who knows, a lazy developer perhaps?. All I know is that I use (http://www.google.com/mobile/sync/ “Google Sync”) to get my email, contacts and calendars over to my iPhone. I am disappointed that I can only bring in my default contacts as I do like to group them on (http://google.com “Google”) but that’s another discussion. I tried to use the regular (http://gmail.com “Gmail”) option for my account but that would only bring over my emails, which is not doing much for me. All I could guess at this point is that Google Sync is broken and I needed an alternate method to get my contacts over into my iPhone.

Resolution

Google has come up with a new feature that allows you to sync your Google Contacts via (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CardDAV “CardDAV”). Using CardDav resolved my issues as now my Contacts come in as First Name, Last Name & Nickname so I can sort them the way I wanted it. You can read more about (</google/gmail/how-to-get-your-google-contacts-on-your-iphone-or-ipad-using-carddav/> “How to: Get your Google Contacts on your iPhone or iPad using CardDAV”)and to learn more about (</google/gmail/what-is-google-sync/> “What is Google Sync?”).

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