Outlook desktop sync with iphone, given that iTunes support going away

x509 · 21 Sep 2022

In the absence of a reliable iTunes function for sync'ing desktop Outlook with iphones and ipads, I have been trying to sort through all the available options. I'm drowning in alternatives that may or may not involve Google as an intermediary.

One thing I have already established is that just adding a Google calendar to my Outlook account does NOT do 2-way sync'ing. And the process for contact import is really bogus.
So I need to hear from people who have managed to solve this problem.

So it comes down to which tools and services I should use. CalDAV and CardDAV looked promising, until I discovered that there is no iphone/ipad client.

Can I use an Outlook.com account to do syncing? Do we need to upgrade to Office 365?

A lot of the services that do this sync'ing are really aimed at businesses, with pricing to match. We just two recently retired people who don't want to waste our money.

I tried some of the sync products listed on slipstick.com, but at least two of them simply don't work. One of them changed all old, recurring appointments from an end date to indefinite. Those were from all the business trips and client meetings and visits from 2012 to recently. Hundreds of them. Yeah, I'm going to name that software: Companionlink. Copytrans was so unstable when I installed it that it froze up my machine and I had to kill the process with Task Manager. Don't these companies test their software before releasing it?

quandary · 22 Sep 2022

What apps/data are you trying to sync between the Desktop and iPhone? I do not have an iPad so may be missing something.

Thunderbird is my email client and the Microsoft Calendar app is used for calendar functions. Outlook is the email client on the iPhone and it incorporates both email and calendar. The Calendar app on the iPhone also has access to my calendar (not sure how). I have Office 365 but not sure if that is a requirement.

bro67 · 22 Sep 2022

It is because Outlook can now natively sync with iOS and iPadOS through the Outlook app. You no long need iTunes on Windows to do stuff that can be done through native cloud connectors in iOS/iPadOS.

You also do not need a outlook .com account to do this. Only if you use the desktop Microsoft office apps will you need a license at $6.95 a month.

mngerhold · 25 Sep 2022

x509 said:

Can I use an Outlook.com account to do syncing? Do we need to upgrade to Office 365?

I may not be doing what you want but...

Until recently, I was using the calendar and contacts parts of Outlook-2010 (desktop), and by saving the data in my Outlook.com account, I was able to access, and thus share, with my iPhone. But recently O-2010 has been declared unsafe by MS, so connection via Exchange is no longer possible. I looked at using a Gmail calendar, but discovered that when connected to O-2010, it was read-only - no use. I thought I was going to have to switch to a Gmail calendar on the web, and set the iPhone to sync to that - but found that the easiest solution was to manage my existing O.com calendar on the web, logging in to Outlook.Live.Com (free), and the iPhone can still see and change/insert things as required. I still run O-2010, but have delegated the calendar aspect to the cloud. It is not as handy, and does mean that my contacts in O.com are not up-to-date on the desktop PC, but I can live with that for now - O-2010 doesn't know what to do with phone numbers anyway, only email addresses.

In due course I will have to pay for O-365, and then everything will be back in my O.com account, and synched as required.

If that helps I will be surprised! Martin

bro67 · 25 Sep 2022

You do not need to use Outlook .com to sync to your iphone or ipad, you just need to install Outlook on the phone and then add those accounts like your iCloud or gmail accounts to add that info and same in Settings for iOS. You then choose what you wish to sync and off you go. Only if you want to have updated Desktop apps, then you have to pay the fee which is cheaper than paying outright. There are ways to get Office 365 at discounted prices, including if you belong to a church you can get the web stuff for five bucks a month.

x509 · 27 Sep 2022

bro67 said:

You do not need to use Outlook .com to sync to your iphone or ipad, you just need to install Outlook on the phone

But my wife and I want to keep using the native Apple tools.

and then add those accounts like your iCloud or gmail accounts to add that info and same in Settings for iOS. You then choose what you wish to sync and off you go.

Only if you want to have updated Desktop apps, then you have to pay the fee which is cheaper than paying outright. There are ways to get Office 365 at discounted prices, including if you belong to a church you can get the web stuff for five bucks a month.

Sure but what do you mean by "updated Desktop apps?" What fee?

What if I don't belong to a church, but a place of a different religion? Do I need to prove some sort of membership?

bro67 · 28 Sep 2022

The Apple tools in Windows are going away since there are now ways to cloud connect to various email providers that also offer Contact and Calendar (ie iCloud, gmail, Office365 Cloud connect as part of the service).

There are requirements for the non-profit Enterprise license offered by Microsoft.

I pay $4.99 a month for my personal email domain, 6.99 for Office so that I can have Outlook, etc for my Macbook. You do not have to pay for the portable apps for Android or ios/ipados to use the Office apps or Outlook on your device.

bro67 · 28 Sep 2022

Also Apple has pretty much stopped doing anything with the remaining Windows services from iTunes since before 2019.

x509 · 28 Sep 2022

bro67 said:

Also Apple has pretty much stopped doing anything with the remaining Windows services from iTunes since before 2019.

That seems pretty obvious. And they have even announced that they are deprecating parts of iTunes. How many non-techie types even know what that word means?

bro67 · 29 Sep 2022

They have just concentrated on macOS for how the iDevices interact on that platform. Microsoft has decided to concentrate more on integrating Android and Linux into their OS. itunes is now known as Apple Music.