Filed under: OS, Software, Productivity
Reminder: Apple keeps an official list of iSync-supported devices
No matter how you identify with the computing aspect of your life being able to take your contacts and calendar on the go can be pretty invaluable, especially if you have more than three friends and your iCal has more colored blocks than a Rubix Cube. But how can you figure out which device(s) on your wishlist will actually work with Mac OS X's built-in syncing app, iSync? Should you dig through the annals of individual manufacturer's support pages? Or perhaps post across multiple forums for someone - anyone - to answer the call of your syncing questions? No I say! Do not go gently into that convoluted mess of neglected support docs and clunky forum systems!Bad literature jokes and drama aside, Apple maintains a pretty up-to-date list of iSync-friendly devices on their own. If you're definitely looking for a phone that syncs, this list should help make the decision pretty black and white. However, I say this with a word of caution: while this list is thorough and updated fairly often (typically listing new phone models before they hit the street), it isn't 100% complete in that Apple doesn't always list related model numbers. For example: Cingular had a Sony Ericsson w600 available for quite some time, and it was listed at Apple's iSync devices page. I picked up an unlocked w800i a while back (killer non-Smartphone with a great camera, by the way) - a similar phone with a near-identical version of the OS that synced perfectly fine with my Mac, but Apple didn't list the w800 line until that phone officially came to US Cingular stores. Why is anybody's guess, but the point is: if you have your eyes on a phone that is related by model number to a phone on Apple's list, chances are that it should work with iSync just fine. That said, if you aren't too familiar with a phone that isn't on this list, you should probably still hit up a couple forums to make sure before you thrown down hundreds of dollars on a device that might not actually shake hands with iSync (in other words: that's a disclaimer so you don't sue me).
Lastly, for most Smartphone devices which aren't on this list (outside of Symbian, of course), there are always products like PocketMac and the Missing Sync which can handle syncing BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and Palm OS devices.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
SteveJ said 7:08PM on 4-19-2007
This has got to be one of the most useless posts I've ever read.
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Hawkman said 7:45PM on 4-19-2007
You misspelled Rubik's Cube, I'm afraid.
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Mitch said 7:55PM on 4-19-2007
How about a list of phones that are iSync compatible AND can be dialed via Address Book via Bluetooth.
I can't find a listing of this anywhere.
Anybody......Anybody......
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Foley said 8:46PM on 4-19-2007
Another caveat - I bought the Motorola K1M KRZR largely on the strength of it's inclusion on that list, and it doesn't work with iSync. I've scoured the support boards over at Apple, and many folks are having the same problem.
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mrtotes said 9:35PM on 4-19-2007
@3 Mitch; excellent point.
For SonyEricsson phones try http://mobile.feisar.com, anything else is a mystery though.
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PocketMac sucks big time. Even after 15years of using a a Mac I couldn't get this thing to do a single sync correctly without corrupting/duplicating or ignoring data. often it wouldn't sync at all and PocketMac hooks so deep in to the system I ended up doing a fresh Tiger install to get rid of it.
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mrtotes said 9:36PM on 4-19-2007
If anyone wants a free key and copy of PocketMac Pro I'm happy to dist; it's no use to me. Don't expect much though...
pocketmacsucks@mrtotes.co.uk
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Dripps said 10:46PM on 4-19-2007
I've had good results (compared to PocketMac) with Missing Sync for Blackberry. It has been working well and will sync photos, music, and notes if you wish.
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Todd said 11:31PM on 4-19-2007
Must have been a real slow news day!
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ra1n said 1:56AM on 4-20-2007
Actually it's fairly easy for some models to create new phoneplugins to get them working on isync, sometimes only a matter of modify a couple of rows into metaclasses.plist of another phoneplugin
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Josh said 4:02AM on 4-20-2007
What makes me so upset is that syncinc your address book to your phone REQUIRES .mac . Some people *may* say, so get .mac . HMMMM, i DID. I have had .mac for quite some time now and not once have my contacts copied over to the .mac address book online. And that is where iSync tries to retrieve your contacts to send to your phone. It worked just fine... but only with the few contacts I had online. I am using a K1m from verizon and the syncinc process works.... just not with my contacts on my computer. I hate this so much I almost crushed my phone today. Thank god the iPhone is coming out soon or I'd cry.
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rdas7 said 4:19AM on 4-20-2007
News flash. Apple keep a "web" site with information about all their products. You can see it by using the "internet".
Come on guys, a little editorial work please? Best apple news/rumors:
http://apple.originalsignal.com
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Joe said 4:58AM on 4-20-2007
For info on how to make iSync plugins for non-natively supported phones check out http://en.isync-hilfe.de/
If anyone needs a plugin for the Sony Erricson W300i then I've got one uploaded here: http://blog.joelambert.co.uk/?p=135#comment-3455
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Andreas Tellefsen said 4:57AM on 4-20-2007
I wouldn't get too caught up in this list anyways. As soon as the iPhone is out, Apple will ditch support for all other devices. I know it, you know it. We saw what happened to iTunes once the iPod was released...
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Kai said 9:55AM on 4-20-2007
Check out Nokia's iSync plug-ins for phones that are not (yet?) on Apple's official list.
http://www.nokia.com/A4299040
Hope that helps. Kai
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Scott said 10:46AM on 4-20-2007
Apple's support in this area leaves a lot to be desired. As one whose livelihood depends on knowing about wireless I can tell you that I wrestled with syncing my new RAZR V3xx (Cingular) because it's not a standard SyncML phone and iSync doesn't support it at all. No plug-ins found anywhere will work.
There is, however, a solution that wil work with ANY phone to sync iCal with the phone, and it works beautifully. However, there's a cost involved - about $65/year. For me, $5/month (about the cost of a latte or two) is well worth having a fully synced calendar on my phone; I don't carry any other devices anymore... no more Blackberry (I was one of the original thumb-mailers), no more Treo (jeez, what a clunker - and the sync software from Missing Sync sucks, btw), just the phone.
If it's worth the cost to you - and I understand if it's not so I've put a "Cheaters Note" below - then try this:
The trick to getting the sync to work is using iCal, Google Calendar, SpanningSync (by the MissingSync folks, somehow this software is vastly better than their own native stuff) and GooSync (http://www.GooSync.com).
1. Get a Google account if you don't already have one.
2. Set up a series of calendars with the same names as your iCal calendars.
3. Purchase SpanningSync for $25 (annual fee) and set it up to sync your iCal calendars with Google Calendars. It's very simple, completely intuitive and worked right out of the box for me.
4. AFTER your data is all fully synced to Google Calendars, open an account at GooSync and upgrade it to sync multiple calendars (cost is $40/year, charged in British pounds).
CHEATERS NOTE: If you don't mind putting all of your iCal calendars into ONE Google calendar you can use the free version of GooSync's service. I don't find that a reasonable solution for myself, but you might, and this would reduce the cost for the whole process substantially.
5. Set up your phone according to the GooSync instructions to sync with your Google calendar account. Also, very intuitive and quick.
6. Do your first sync, run a few tests back and forth and you're good to go.
I've done syncs in both directions, with various calendars, repeat events, overlapping times, etc., and the process seems virtually fail-safe so far.
While I'd love to have a simple iSync plug-in, the delay in Leopard's release and the lack of any other plug-ins drove me to this other solution.
And please, spare me the moaning about the cost... if it's not worth the cost then just DON'T DO IT. But don't moan and groan about $5/month when this could be a valuable solution to someone else. Let others make their own decisions.
For the record, I don't like paying for stuff like this when it should be native within the OS. I further don't like paying what I consider a high price for these sync capabilities (GooSync and SpanningSync) but they took some development, they need to make money and I need the product. This is the way the software ecosystem works, folks... use it if you choose it.
Just my 2 cents.
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Tim Dorr said 11:28AM on 4-20-2007
Wish my Treo 750 was on there...
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Juan-Antonio Garcia said 6:50PM on 4-20-2007
I just wish I can buy a phone off the shelf and have it sync with my PB with no extra software that will only sync partially like PocketMac for Pearl by Blackberry, argh! It makes me wish for a PC everytime I have a new device, specially a new phone (I upgrade every six months or so).
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Dave Chartier said 7:42PM on 4-20-2007
#17: Uh, that's exactly what this list is about; all the phones on this iSync list will sync with Mac OS X right out of the box - no extra software necessary.
Or am I missing something in your comment?
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