Contacts iCloud Sync Problems but only for 'Contacts'.

[Greg T]

Hi all,

I have a strange problem.
My photos sync seamlessly between my iPhone 5s, 2011 mac and 2017 iPad.
Contacts are another thing altogether.
I created 3 test contacts names 'Test iPad' on my iPad, 'Test Mac' on my Mac and 'Test iPhone' on.. you get the idea.
Waited for sync results and here is what I got:

iMac-iPad ✓
iMac-iPhone ✓
iPad- iPhone ✓
iPad-iMac x
iPhone-iMac x
iPhone-iPad ✓

I have tried unchecking the preferences contact iCloud sync for contacts on all devices, restarted them all and re-enabled all.

Still the same problem.

Googled it but cannot find an answer, I wondered if any of you wonderful people could help me?

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello,

I would focus on the two iOS devices that aren't syncing properly.

-What are the versions of OS X/macOS and iOS on all of the devices?
-Are they all using the same iCloud account?
-Have you verified the Contacts listed when you login to icloud.com?
-Do you have the same account(s) (Google/Exchange/etc.) setup on them other than iCloud?
-Did you verify you are creating the contacts on all devices in the iCloud account contacts, and not on the device contacts?

C

 

[Greg T]

Thanks Cory,
Here are the answer to your questions...

-What are the versions of OS X/macOS and iOS on all of the devices?
iMac OSX 10.13.6, iPad 12.1, iPhone 12.0.1
-Are they all using the same iCloud account?
Yes
-Have you verified the Contacts listed when you log in to icloud.com?
Just checked, only the iMac contacts upload to it, however, the photos from all devices are uploading to icloud.com. Oddly contacts sync from iMac to all devices, from all the mobile devices to each other, but not from mobile devices back to iMac or icloud.com.
-Do you have the same account(s) (Google/Exchange/etc.) setup on them other than iCloud? yes
-Did you verify you are creating the contacts on all devices in the iCloud account contacts, and not on the device contacts? I am a bit confused by this, I just opened the apple contacts app on each device and created a new contact by pressing the + button.

 

[Cory Cooper]

No worries...thanks for the additional information.

It sounds like you may be creating the contacts on the iPhone and iPad in your Google account, instead of your iCloud account. Check the following:

Settings > Contacts > Default Account

Make sure that is set to iCloud. If not, it will create a new contact in whatever account is set there, thus not syncing via the iPhone/iPad to iCloud, then the iMac. Sometimes the default changes to the last account that was added.

Let me know,

C

 

[Greg T]

No worries...thanks for the additional information.

It sounds like you may be creating the contacts on the iPhone and iPad in your Google account, instead of your iCloud account. Check the following:

Settings > Contacts > Default Account

Make sure that is set to iCloud. If not, it will create a new contact in whatever account is set there, thus not syncing via the iPhone/iPad to iCloud, then the iMac. Sometimes the default changes to the last account that was added.

Let me know,

C

Cory, you are a champion of the people!
Contacts app was set to my Outlook account for some reason.

I created 2 new test device contacts and both are now visable on my iMac

....The only problem I am left with is all of the contacts I have been adding over the last few years. I have no way of remembering which of these are new and these did not sync. Is there a way to do this? I was hoping it would automatically sync all my old iphone contacts (from when contacts default was set to outlook) to the cloud but is is only syncing new ones I create from now on.

 

[Steve Hope]

I recently had the same problem with 2 numbers, they showed red in messages and message continually failed to send. Cory got it right with the default account part. To help with the last concern from Greg, I saw the numbers in "contacts" and instead of simply clicking on that to open a new message, I clicked the top line "new message" and manually entered the number as shown in the contacts list and all was right with the world! My Mac sent the sms and the contact list became "sorted". All future messages go thru fine.

 

[Greg T]

Thanks Steve.
In the end I exported my outlook contacts then imported them in to gmail (outlook won’t export in apple format). Then exported from gmail in apple format then in to iCloud and merged duplicates.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Excellent...glad you found a solution.

C