Set up Google Sync with your iOS device
Google now provides native iOS MDM support for your iOS devices. Learn more about Managing iOS devices.
Follow the steps below to set up Google Sync on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.
Requirements and Backing Up Data
- Perform a sync with iTunes to ensure that Contacts and Calendars from your iOS device are backed up to your computer. Learn more.
- Check your Safari cookies settings to see if it is set to "From Visited" or "Always". If it's set to "Never", you're more likely to be prompted to solve a CAPTCHA.
- For Google Apps users, your administrator needs to have Google Sync enabled before you can use Google Sync.
Note: After you set up Google Sync, your administrator may also have additional device management capabilities (such as remote wipe or password requirements). Contact your administrator for more details.
Getting Started
- On your device's home screen, open the Settings application.
- Tap Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
- Tap Add Account.
- Tap Exchange. iOS 4.0+ allows multiple Exchange accounts. However, if you're on a device that doesn't let you add a second account, you could also use IMAP to sync Gmail, CalDAV to sync Google Calendar, and CardDAV to sync contacts.
- Enter your full Google Apps email address in the Email field and password in the Password field and tap Next.
- In the Server field, enter m.google.com as your server address. Note: To access m.google.com, set the language to English (US).
- Leave the Domain field blank.
- In the Username field, enter your full Google Apps email address.
- Your password should already be in the Password field from step 5. If it's not, enter your Google Apps password in the Password field. Tap Next.
Notes about passwords- Be sure that you have a strong password for your Google Apps account.
- If you see an error message saying "Invalid Password", you may need to unlock your account by solving a short CAPTCHA. Go to https://www.google.com/accounts/UnlockCaptcha.
- If you are a 2-step verification user, please use an Application-specific password instead of your regular password in this field.
- Select the Google services you want to sync, such as Mail, Contacts, and Calendars and tap Save. To receive and respond to meeting requests on your device, you need to turn on both Mail and Calendar and New events in your Google Calendar settings. See below for more information.
Congrats! You've set up Google Sync!
Synchronization will begin automatically if you have Push enabled on your device. You can also open the Mail, Calendar, or Contacts app and wait a few seconds to start a sync. Note that if you've recently signed up for Google Apps for Work, Education, or Government, it can take a few hours (up to 24) before you're able to sync with your mobile device.
Encryption on iOS
Encrypt data on device sends a Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync® policy to these devices. See the table below to determine if your users' devices will sync to Google Apps when this setting is enabled.
| Device | Will my device sync when "Encrypt data on device" is selected? |
|---|---|
|
Yes |
|
These devices do not support encryption.
|
Customize your Mail, Calendar, and Contact settings
To enable 'New events', sign in to your Google Calendar using the web browser on your phone or computer. Sign in to Google Calendar with your account and go to Calendar Settings > Calendars > Click on the Notifications for the calendar you want to sync. Under Email check 'New events' (and any of the other Invitation settings you want enabled e.g. changed events, cancelled events, event responses), and click Save.
Enable "Send Mail As" featureGmail and Google Apps users can send mail from a custom "From" address using the web browser on their iOS device or computer.
- Sign in to Gmail using your web browser and go to the Accounts tab.
- Under Send mail as, click Add another email address you own.
- In the Email address field, enter your alternate email address. If you want this address to be your default one, deselect Treat as an alias.
- Click Save.
- Select Send through Google Mail and click Next Step.
- Click Send Verification. Gmail will send a verification message to your other email address to confirm that you own it.
- Open your other account and either click the link in the message Gmail sent or enter the confirmation code in the Accounts section of your Gmail settings.
- Go back into your Gmail settings and set this account as your default one.
After you've made these changes, your iOS mail app may still show you're sending mail from your primary account and not this new address. However, when your recipient receives the email, your address should appear as the new address you've set up in "send mail as". Send a test email from your device to make sure your email appears how you want it to.
For additional info, see Send mail from a different address or alias.
Additionally, Gmail and Google Apps users can send mail from their iOS mail app using a custom "From" address. To enable this feature, do the following:
- On your iOS device, go to http://m.google.com/sync/settings.
- Select your device and check Enable "Send Mail As" for this device.
To enable this setting, go to http://m.google.com/sync/settings in your mobile browser. Note that this page is only available to users who've selected English (U.S.) as their language.
If you accidentally delete a message that you didn't mean to delete, you can find it by signing in to your Gmail inbox in a web browser and going to the Trash. By default, the Trash is emptied from Gmail every 30 days.
Next see Using Google Sync with iOS Calendar.
Experiencing setup or sync issues? See the Known Issues page.