How are contacts synced?

the_brein · 07-04-2009, 01:58 PM

I got a weird question. and remember, there are not stupid questions.

i use outlook and have several contacts saved in outlook. I regularly add contacts. I also use an iphone 1g and add contacts through the phone as well.

My question is, How are my contacts synced? I'm sure I've seen contacts from outlook show up on my iphone. And I'm sure I've seen iphone contacts show up in outlook. How is my stuff syncing and is anything getting deleted in the process? is there a master list on one of these devices? does one override the other?

Europa · 07-04-2009, 06:14 PM

I use Mobile Me and it pushes them. I'm not sure about Outlook, but it think it does it the same as Mobile Me. Gmail/Yahoo just update them when you sync the phone with iTunes.

Ramesh · 07-04-2009, 07:23 PM

It syncs several ways, but it depends on your settings. You're using outlook, but that's almost irrelevant. Are you using an exchange server or not? That's the first question.

PS - There are no stupid questions... but there's a lot of inquisitive idiots.

(not aimed at you, just being "funny")

the_brein · 07-04-2009, 08:52 PM

yeah, I'm using exchange. I never sync through itunes. I'm running tmobile and I'm afraid of either getting locked and being unable to use tmobile, or overwriting and erasing contacts.

I'm wondering if the contacts get merged. which would be best. since I'm adding on both sides.

Ramesh · 07-04-2009, 09:13 PM

Originally Posted by the_brein

yeah, I'm using exchange. I never sync through itunes. I'm running tmobile and I'm afraid of either getting locked and being unable to use tmobile, or overwriting and erasing contacts.

I'm wondering if the contacts get merged. which would be best. since I'm adding on both sides.

Ok. Since you're using exchange, you are syncing over the air (ota). You're merging. You've been adding contacts and such - you would have observed if you were having problems, no?

Honestly in the end, no matter the how, you're merging unless you specifically reset one or the other.

Also, you're safe to sync your phone to iTunes. Just don't update your firmware willy-nilly. Read up first and then update when there's an unlock. Check out modmyi.com and also the dev teams blog for updates.