How To: Sync Google Calendar, Apple iCal, and Nokia Phone Calendar

September 29th, 2008 • Mark Guim • Filed Under •

I found something really useful other Mac users might love. I have been able to sync my iCal, Google calendar, and phone’s calendar using CalDav and GooSync. Read on to find out how.

Sync Ical Ggal Nokia

As an introduction, this solution is all possible thanks to CalDAV support in Google Calendar and Goosync support on S60 phones.

CalDAV

With CalDAV support in Google Calendar, you’ll be able to view and edit your Google Calendar events directly in Apple’s iCal. Any changes you make in iCal will automatically appear in Google Calendar the next time you sign in (and vice versa). If you use iCal while offline, changes you make will be saved and updated in Google Calendar when you get back online.

Setup iCal. First you’ll need to enable Google Calendar in Apple’s iCal. Google wrote a detailed how-to so I don’t need to write it here.

GooSync

Goo SyncGoosync synchronizes the phone’s calendar with Google Calendar without the need of installing an application. I can enter plans on my Nokia N95 8GB’s built in calendar application and then sync it to Google Calendar. I signed up for the free account since all I need is to sync my calendar. You can opt to get the premium type for more features if you wish.

Setup GooSync. Before you can synchronise your Google Calendar and Contacts you must first ensure your GooSync account is correctly authenticated with your Google account. Follow the directions to authenticate which only takes about 3 mouse clicks.

Finished

That’s it you are done. The end result is iCal, Google Calendar and the phone calendar being synced together. You can now edit your calendar on your phone, Mac, or any computer connected to the internet.

The only problem is it requires manual sync on the phone. You need to initiate the sync. I haven’t found anything right now that allows us to automatically sync our phone with Google calendar.

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  • Steve
    Can I sync the calendar on my n97 to the calendar on my Windows Live Mail?
  • Haider
    Hi all. I just managed to sync iCal with an N95. The times in the N95 calendar are all 4.5 hours later than my iCal calendar (wouldn't be so bad if they were 10 mins earlier!). Does anyone know how to remedy this?
    Thanks in advance!
  • Andrew
    I installed a nice syncing app. It's SyncMate. The pleasant thing it's free. The unpleasant may be that it will only work for S40, though it should be checked additionaly.
  • Puneet
    How to: Sync Facebook Birthdays and Google Calendar with your S60v3 / v5 or any other mobile phone.

    http://bit.ly/2arTns
  • Why is this such a difficult thing to do? I'm a Mac user without an Iphone and I'm struggling to get my Nokia E71, MBP and Google Calendar all talking to each other.
    My best solution so far is Spanning Sync which effortlessly syncs my iCal and GCal, and then Google Sync to sync my pone to Google - It's all working fine.... except for now, Google Sync only supports Contacts on my phone - not calendars tasks etc....so near yet so far!
  • Free version of GooSync is discontinued on 19 October 2009. You can buy a lite version for USD 10/year.
  • tiuk
    Hi all. I got this working, and I thank you for that. However, it only syncs one of my google calendars. I have four. One for school, one for work, one for evaluations (assignments/milestones/exams), and one that I just named my name for ordinary everyday stuff like appointments.

    The only one that syncs is my main everyday one. This is fine if that's all this can do, since it's the one that I need to keep on top of, but I'd really like to sync all four if I could. Anyone know if this possible? I'll be monitoring responses because I'd really like to get this to work.

    Thanks, and thank you for getting me this far.
  • John
    Swim on the N95 can be used to automate synchronizations- works v well

    http://code.google.com/p/bergamot/wiki/Swim
  • Luis Miguel
    There's another way. I'm using Apple's iSync.

    First, download an application to sync your Google Calendars to iCal, once you've installed it, it will do the syncing automatically:

    http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/answ...

    Then download the necessary plugins for your phone:

    europe.nokia.com/A4299040 if you have a cool Nokia like N85 or

    http://www.mactomster.de/isync/
    For simpler Nokias (these have a cost of around 10 Euros but they work just fine)

    Changes on my Google calendar are reflected on iCal, Address Book and my Phone and also changes in my phone are reflected back.
  • Rez
    nuevasync is absolutely amazing and free! works flawlesly on my n95! better than s60

    for more info see:
    then82blog.cXm/2008/08/introducing-nuevasync-absolute-best-way.html?disqus_reply=4074944#comment-4074944
  • MUCH better solution: run CalDAV in iCal, and sync those with your phone (any phone). It's shockingly powerful and easy to use, and I love it since I've set it up. The sync is almost bi-directional (you'll have to move the event from your local calendar to the remote calendar, but other than that it's a piece of cake). It's 100% free, and I've had no problems with it since I've set it up. Instructions are here (for iCal or SunBird):
    https://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/ans...
  • Thomas
    I use nuevasync.com with my n82.
    They create a exchange server proxy for gcal to use with the mail for exchange app for s60 phones.
    It is free and all changes are synced both ways and across multiple calendars.
    Sounds too good to be true, right :-)
    Give it a try...it doesnt kill the battery either
  • CalSyncS60 provides two-way synchronization between Nokia S60 phone and Google Calendar.
    http://s60addons.com/calsync/
  • BV2312
    Nice article, for me I use Windows Live Calendar which syncs with Outlook and then syncs with my N73 and 6680 using Pc Sync
  • .:RUMI:.
    Thanks for the Tip.
    Its really handy.
    I'm thinking to go for the paid Subscription as I got multiple calenders in my Google Acc
  • Brian
    For Windows folks, the same approach works for Mozilla Sunbird calendar, or Thunderbird with the Lightning calendar extension. You need to install an extension, Provider for Google Calendar. I've been using it for a while, and it's fine. A little slow reloading with a half-dozen remote calendars, but not bad.

    Goosync's tag-based approach to mapping several Google calendars to S60's (missing) calendar categories works well. That's neat. Use caution with their contacts sync, though! I've found it to be buggy, and it's sure a pain to get your contacts messed up.
  • Thanks for the Windows suggestion. I use a Mac so did not know how it's done on that side =)
  • CalSyncS60 provides two-way synchronization between Nokia S60 phone and Google Calendar.
    For example, when you add an appointment to Google Calendar it will appear also in your phone calendar.
    Just start the application and hit sync.
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