Author Topic: Contacts not syncing  (Read 2707 times)

Offline kimmer

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Contacts not syncing
« on: February 25, 2020, 01:47:22 PM »
  • iMac (27-inch, Mid 2011)
  • High Sierra OS 10.13.6 (17G11023)
  • iPhone and iPad are both running whatever the latest iOS is.
For some reason my Contacts app on my iMac is NOT syncing to iCloud, so my iPhone and iPad aren’t up to date. It’s really frustrating and I don’t know how to fix this.

In SystemPrefs/iCloud: both iCloud Drive and Contacts are checked as on. My calendar updates, as does Photos, Notes, Reminders, Find Friends. (Just noticed that Mail doesn’t sync either, but I use it so seldom that it’s not a concern.)

In the past I have opened Contacts on my iPad and manually entered all the info, and that keeps the iPad and iPhone up-to-date, then I type the same info in Contacts on my iMac. This is time consuming and irritating; plus I’d rather do this ONCE on my iMac with the nice keyboard and big screen, as dealing with tiny keyboard and screen on iPad/iPhone.
Any good suggestions how to make this work?

Offline Xairbusdriver

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Re: Contacts not syncing
« Reply #1 on: February 25, 2020, 05:50:53 PM »
I can only look at the iCloud data/settings as shown in Mojave macOS 10.14...

How much space have you used in iCloud?

Are all your devices displayed in the iCloud System Pref->Account Details->"Devices" tab?

Is your Apple ID email address shown in the "Contact" tab? Are any other "Apple" email addresses shown as "Verified"?
THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF COUNTRIES
Those that use metric = #1 Measurement system
And the United States = The Banana system
CAUTION! Childhood vaccinations cause adults! :yes:

Offline kimmer

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Re: Contacts not syncing
« Reply #2 on: February 25, 2020, 07:38:10 PM »
Quote
How much space have you used in iCloud?
I have loads of space available.

Quote
Are all your devices displayed in the iCloud System Pref->Account Details->"Devices" tab?
Yes

Quote
Is your Apple ID email address shown in the "Contact" tab? Are any other "Apple" email addresses shown as "Verified"?
Yes and no.

Offline Xairbusdriver

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Re: Contacts not syncing
« Reply #3 on: February 26, 2020, 02:18:16 PM »
Have you tried using iTunes syncing?

Have you missed any of these Apple Support steps? :dntknw:

Have never heard of this procedure:
Quote
force a refresh by going into "Contacts" on your iPhone and dragging down with your finger from the top of the screen, this will automatically refresh your contacts to reflect any recent changes.
:coolio:
« Last Edit: February 26, 2020, 02:24:34 PM by Xairbusdriver »
THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF COUNTRIES
Those that use metric = #1 Measurement system
And the United States = The Banana system
CAUTION! Childhood vaccinations cause adults! :yes:

Offline Xairbusdriver

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Re: Contacts not syncing
« Reply #4 on: February 26, 2020, 02:20:08 PM »
Have you tried holding your iPhone in front of the iMac's camera? About 4-5 inches I think is preferred. :scram:
THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF COUNTRIES
Those that use metric = #1 Measurement system
And the United States = The Banana system
CAUTION! Childhood vaccinations cause adults! :yes:

Offline kimmer

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Re: Contacts not syncing
« Reply #5 on: February 26, 2020, 06:49:18 PM »
I did try all the things on the Apple page. I've never used iTunes syncing, I thought it no longer worked?
Have never heard of this procedure:
Quote
force a refresh by going into "Contacts" on your iPhone and dragging down with your finger from the top of the screen, this will automatically refresh your contacts to reflect any recent changes.
:coolio:
Tried this, doesn't work on either my iphone or ipad.


Offline Xairbusdriver

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Re: Contacts not syncing
« Reply #6 on: February 26, 2020, 07:01:19 PM »
It's still in Mojave macOS 10.14 and you're still using macOS 10.13 High Sierra, right? Can hurt to open iTunes, connect your iPhone (either via cable or WiFi) and select its icon just under the Title bar. Then select "Summary" under Settings. The "Sync" button is in the lower, right-hand corner of the window. The Title bar will show the progress as it goes through 5 steps. It may take a while... :yes:

Whether this will help in iCloud or WiFi syncing, I don't know. :dntknw: I have not used this function in iTunes for a very long time. I usually only use that app for manual backups. Good luck!! And there's always the "hold the phone in front of the camera" method! :thumbup: :yahoo:
THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF COUNTRIES
Those that use metric = #1 Measurement system
And the United States = The Banana system
CAUTION! Childhood vaccinations cause adults! :yes:

Offline kimmer

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Re: Contacts not syncing
« Reply #7 on: February 27, 2020, 03:37:48 PM »
Okay, I did the iTunes sync. That loaded a bucketload of music onto my phone. Since it didn't eat up a load of space on my iPhone, it's fine. However, it didn't do anything with Contacts. I did find this:
Quote
Your contacts are being synced with your iPhone over the air from iCloud.Over-the-air sync settings can be changed on your iPhone.
I logged in to iCloud with my browser, opened Contacts, and it's NOT up to date. So the issue is that my iMac is not syncing Contacts with iCloud. I've looked at every preference I can find, and am unable to find something that will correct this. :(

I am going to try unsyncing and then re-syncing per the info on this page:
https://appletoolbox.com/icloud-sync-issues/
« Last Edit: February 27, 2020, 04:54:53 PM by kimmer »

Offline Xairbusdriver

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Re: Contacts not syncing
« Reply #8 on: February 27, 2020, 04:35:38 PM »
It could very well be that signing OUT and back IN could get things better connected. Be sure to give Apple's servers time to get their act together...
Could you tell anything about when iCloud stopped syncing when looking at the web-based info?

A related note: I had problems with one app that refused to connect to the correct version of a multi-device app/account. While I kept entering the correct user name and password, I was always getting a message that one of those items was incorrect. :wallbash: No they are not!!!! :nono: :Hurt:  :boxing: Turns out that one device was not updatable to a recent enough OS! The app just could not work on the installed OS. It apparently also could not report that!! :whistling: I already knew my iPad could not be used with the family-use version of the app, last iOS update it can use is 9.3.something!
:jawdrop: I forgot SWMBO's iPad is no longer updatable...

Moral of my story?
     Make sure your MacOS & iOS's or fairly up-to-date.

BTW, is there a reason while you didn't make that url 'live'? :dntknw:
THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF COUNTRIES
Those that use metric = #1 Measurement system
And the United States = The Banana system
CAUTION! Childhood vaccinations cause adults! :yes:

Offline kimmer

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Re: Contacts not syncing
« Reply #9 on: February 27, 2020, 05:03:56 PM »
It could very well be that signing OUT and back IN could get things better connected. Be sure to give Apple's servers time to get their act together...
Well, it didn't work.

Quote
Could you tell anything about when iCloud stopped syncing when looking at the web-based info?
No.
Quote
Turns out that one device was not updatable to a recent enough OS!
I'm starting to wonder if this is an issue. I've read at several forums that High Sierra is the culprit, especially when iPhone/iPad is running the latest, greatest software. I can't upgrade my iMac, so I may have to live with this issue. I did find a work around that I will try, and if it works I'll report back here in this thread.

Quote
BTW, is there a reason while you didn't make that url 'live'? :dntknw:
Yeah, I find this board software a bit odd, and I'm using, I think it's rich text or something, and I can't find the setting to change it. I'm used to a board automatically turning a url into a "live" link. I'm too lazy to type all the code or stop and highlight and fix. Either the board software is smart, or it ain't -- but don't rely on me.  :rofl:

Offline Xairbusdriver

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Re: Contacts not syncing
« Reply #10 on: February 27, 2020, 05:16:40 PM »
Quote
I'm too lazy to type all the code
That's why text replacement tool's were invented. For example, to enter your quoted text, I first just copied it in your post, them I typed a period and tscq in the Quick Reply box and hit the Post button.

Later,
I use Typinator but there are many other similar apps. I also have preset texts for adding a url, centering text, adding a list, a users screen name, and one for several of the latest macOS names (in different colors) and including their numbers. All these shortcuts start with a period and two letters (TS) and then another letter or two. Why manually type stuff (especially if you only use one finger per hand!)? :blush-anim-cl:
« Last Edit: February 27, 2020, 05:25:57 PM by Xairbusdriver »
THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF COUNTRIES
Those that use metric = #1 Measurement system
And the United States = The Banana system
CAUTION! Childhood vaccinations cause adults! :yes:

Offline Xairbusdriver

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Re: Contacts not syncing
« Reply #11 on: February 27, 2020, 05:41:05 PM »
For your viewing pleasure:
THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF COUNTRIES
Those that use metric = #1 Measurement system
And the United States = The Banana system
CAUTION! Childhood vaccinations cause adults! :yes:

Offline Xairbusdriver

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Re: Contacts not syncing
« Reply #12 on: February 27, 2020, 05:48:51 PM »
The non-WYSIWYG Editor includes a bunch (sorry for the technical terms) of buttons cleverly labeled as to their function (mostly). And hovering your cursor over those that may not be obvious will bring up a text tip (label).
THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF COUNTRIES
Those that use metric = #1 Measurement system
And the United States = The Banana system
CAUTION! Childhood vaccinations cause adults! :yes:

Offline kimmer

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Re: Contacts not syncing
« Reply #13 on: February 29, 2020, 01:54:21 PM »
I've not been able to fix this, and I give up. Thanks for the help.

Offline Xairbusdriver

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Re: Contacts not syncing
« Reply #14 on: February 29, 2020, 04:05:29 PM »
Here's another Apple Forums thread that is a bit old, but could be appropriate to macOS 10.13 High Sierra. And here's another 5-step process that does not need a Mac.

Several sites I saw mentioned a couple of third-party apps that were supposed to make transferring things easy. I'd never heard of them nor have I read any reports by users. I'm always a bit leery of the same app appearing in supposedly different sites... OTOH, it might be useful. :dntknw: Anyway, do a search for [i[reviews[/i] of "EaseUS MobiMover Free" (ignoring any reviews at a esaeUS domain) and "iSkysoft Toolbox - Switch" and see if anything bogus shows up.

It might be wise to install a shareware app called DetectX first as it seems pretty robust in notifying me when an installer makes changes in the System (user or OS) areas.

What else do you have to do on a Saturday afternoon?! It's an extra day this year, anyway!! :clap:
THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF COUNTRIES
Those that use metric = #1 Measurement system
And the United States = The Banana system
CAUTION! Childhood vaccinations cause adults! :yes: