Keeping contacts synchronised between an iPhone and a single computer, PC or Mac, is a simple process. Apple’s iTunes acts as the intermediary between the two and in most cases, the process is automatic, so you can leave it up to iTunes to do all the work for you. Whenever you connect your phone, your contacts are synced, so whether you update the information on your phone or on your computer, the latest change is reflected on both devices.
If you want more control over a sync, you can prevent iTunes from syncing automatically by pressing Shift-Ctrl (Windows) or Command-Option (Mac) while plugging in the iPhone cable, keeping the keys depressed until your device appears in the iTunes window. Once you’ve cancelled the automatic sync, click the Info tab in iTunes, tick the ‘Sync Contacts’ box and select your email client from the list.
For many of us, though, this one-phone, one-computer setup is completely inadequate. There’s a good chance you have a PC at work, a computer or two at home — maybe even a Mac — and an iPad, iPod Touch or a work BlackBerry in addition to your personal iPhone. As well as multiple devices, you have multiple email accounts: work, home, Gmail, Yahoo Mail and so on.
If your email setup has any sort of complexity, you need something a whole lot more flexible than iTunes-based syncing.
Soocial
Enter Soocial. Soocial (www.soocial.com) provides a central hub for syncing your contacts. It keeps all the contacts on your phone, computers and other devices in sync, and also backs them up online, so you can access them from any browser. It works with all versions of the iPhone and the iPod Touch, with the iPad, Windows Mobile devices and several hundred other phones. It handles contacts from Microsoft Outlook (2003 to 2010), Mac OS X Mail, Windows Live, Gmail and Yahoo Mail.
To use Soocial, sign up for a free account and then add connections for each device or service that you want to keep in sync. For example, you might set up connections for Gmail, your iPhone and Microsoft Outlook on your home computer. Install the Soocial app on your iPhone and the Soocial Sync Client on your PC, and then perform your first syncs.
Soocial’s free account lets you sync up to 250 contacts between three connections. If your needs are more demanding, there’s an unlimited plan, which includes some very useful online tools, for about $40 per year.
Your first sync
Syncing information is one of those processes that when it goes wrong, the results can be really disastrous. During syncing, it’s easy to end up with a whole pile of duplicates or overwrite new contact details with old ones. Soocial recommends you make a backup of your address book before you do your initial sync. Ignore this recommendation at your peril! Here are some tips for using Soocial safely for the first time:
- Back up your contacts. If you’re using Outlook, use its Export option to create a .csv (comma separated values) file containing all your contacts. Gmail and other online email services also have export options.
- If you want to ensure you have no duplicates or old data, consider emptying all of your address books except your primary address book before you perform your first sync.
- Choose your most up-to-date address book and perform a sync between it and Soocial’s online service.
- Once the sync with the first connection is complete, sync between Soocial and your other devices/address books.
After you’ve performed your first full sync, you can then set up automatic syncing between Outlook, online email services and Soocial. On your iPhone, you’ll need to open the Soocial app and tap the Sync button to update your contacts.
Not so sociable
Soocial doesn’t always get things right. Trying to act as the central hub for so many devices and services is fraught with difficulties, and Soocial has its share of problems. In particular, it has difficulties syncing contact photos and if you end up with a syncing loop between services, you’ll wallow in duplicates. Most problems can be avoided by backing up your data and following Soocial’s advice for safe syncing.
One of the handy extras you get if you sign up for a Premium Soocial account is a deduper to help you eradicate duplicates. Soocial also keeps multiple backups of your address books online, ready for downloading.
Soocial may not be perfect, but it’s one of the few services that manages to juggle contacts no matter where you store them.
Outlook to Gmail to iPhone
An alternative for syncing contacts between Outlook, Gmail and your iPhone is to set up automatic syncing between your phone and Gmail account, then use either the open-source GO Contact Sync (www.webgear.co.nz) or the commercial gSyncit (www.daveswebsite.com) to sync Outlook and Gmail automatically. The latter can synchronise calendars, tasks and notes in addition to contacts.
