Millions of people have purchased the iPhone 4s over the last week or so. So many people have purchased the phone and have set the iPhone 4 as the fastest selling phone on AT&T, Sprint, & Verizon networks. With all of these purchases, tens of thousands of people have started migrating their contact information onto their new devices. The process for importing your contacts to your iPhone from Address Book is quick and painless, but if you’re converting from Android or another platform your contacts are all probably stored in gmail. Have no fear, adding your gmail contacts to your iPhone 4s, iPhone 4, or iPad is quick and easy.
How to import gmail contacts to your iPhone
If your entire address book is connected to your gmail account, the fastest way to add all of your contact information to your iPhone is by setting up gmail through their microsoft exchange configuration. Follow the steps below to pull in your gmail contacts to your new iPhone:
- On your iPhone 4S or iPhone 4, open the Settings app
- Scroll down to Mail, Contacts, Calendars and select it
- Next, add a new account
- At the add account screen you’re going to want to select the Microsoft Exchange option (Yes, this will help import your gmail contacts).
- Enter your gmail address in the email field. Leave the Domain field as “Optional” and fill in your gmail username (without the @gmail.com) and your password. Set the description to Gmail so you know what it is later.
- Click next, the form will update and now include a Server field. In the server field enter m.google.com. Click Next or Done.
- It will confirm that you want to sync your mail, contacts, and calendars. Slide these to On for Contacts and any of the other information you want.
Finish confirming the prompts and let iPhone pull down your gmail contacts. Once this is finished and you open your Contacts app you’ll see all of your gmail contacts added to your iPhone. It’s a bit confusing that to be able to easily import your contact information from gmail you have to configure the mail account through Microsoft Exchange but the process is quick and easy. I hope you’ve successfully imported all of your contacts and you’re off ready to use your iPhone!
116 Responses so far.
Marco H
October 17, 2011 at 5:58 amThanks! I'll try it tonight!
CharyJay
October 17, 2011 at 5:03 pmYAY! It worked! Thanks so much!!!!
@iconick
October 20, 2011 at 1:10 amThanks so much, I've been trying to find a way to do this all day. This worked perfectly!
Bob
October 20, 2011 at 3:23 pmBRILLIANT! Saved me a ton of time. I am VERY grateful for your assistance.
JaredtheBass
October 22, 2011 at 7:33 amYou, my friend, are a GENIUS!
hillyman
October 23, 2011 at 5:32 amI don't know how this works, but it does. It's magic!
Andy
October 23, 2011 at 8:08 pmThank you!
Marcelle
October 27, 2011 at 9:09 pmMine only uploaded 51 of 400 contacts =( any suggestions??
czg2005
May 31, 2012 at 8:58 amI got the same problem as yours, only 50 of the 600+ (total in Gmail) was added to the Contacts of my iPad2. Have you solved the problem and how? Any suggestions? thank you!
marc.noble77
June 20, 2012 at 8:17 pmWere you able to get all of your contacts transfered over, and if so how? I only got 50 of mine when I did it.
@jrecs
June 22, 2012 at 6:23 pmThis only syncs the "My Contacts" folder. If you have contacts in "Other Contacts", you must go into My Contacts, check the ones you want and move them to My Contacts. That is how I get the contacts over to my iPhone.
pointyp
October 2, 2012 at 6:11 amThis totally worked
czg2005
May 31, 2012 at 9:03 amI got the same problem as yours, only 50 of the 600+ (total in Gmail) was added to the Contacts of my iPad2. Have you solved the problem and how? Any suggestions? thank you!
Bobo
June 6, 2012 at 2:15 pmBack out from Contacts to the Groups screen and hit the refresh button in the top left corner!! Fixed it for me
mel
June 26, 2012 at 9:20 amThanks Bobo, that worked for me!! Wooooho
Sam
July 14, 2012 at 11:50 amThanks! Fixed it for me!
Thalia
October 28, 2011 at 6:52 amI am getting a message stating that my password for the exchange account "gmail contacts" is incorrect. It is the correct password, how do I get around this?
nik pap
November 10, 2011 at 3:32 ami have the same message as you. Did you find any solution?
Kim
November 24, 2011 at 3:35 pmsame message so frustrating!!!!
joe
December 14, 2011 at 8:57 amset up and account activation code from your gmail account settings. i had the same problem, then this generates a specific one time use code and its all good
Charles
April 5, 2012 at 2:32 pmHow do I do this please?
smarterthenu
July 10, 2012 at 1:56 ammake your username your email address
Elena
September 28, 2012 at 2:55 amit works, thanks
jr.k.maier@gmail.com
December 10, 2012 at 5:25 amcould you please explain in more detail as i am getting the "password incorrect" too but do not understand your solution. thanks
sumit
April 9, 2013 at 3:12 ammy exchange account password is not correct
Thalia
October 28, 2011 at 8:24 amGot it working.. Thanks!!
Julie
October 28, 2011 at 10:15 amTHAT WAS AWESOME!!! So easy! And I'm way lame with gadgets and stuff! I'm so excited to have all my contacts back on my phone!~ What a relief.
Diganti
October 29, 2011 at 10:17 amSuperb
Tammy
October 30, 2011 at 6:01 pmHi
I am getting the password incorrect message for exchange server. any tips please? Tammy
Carolyn
November 1, 2011 at 11:13 amYou are my hero….. serious karma headed your way…..
AOCY
November 3, 2011 at 8:35 amThanks! You are a genius!!
jestomwil
November 5, 2011 at 2:43 pmSLICK! Easy to follow instructions that worked like a charm, thanks!
eekconway
November 7, 2011 at 4:42 pmTHANK YOU!!! Your a Life saver, have been searching and asking everyone how to pull my 1500+ contacts from my old garbage windows based phone and couldn't find this last tsep anywhere!
slict
November 7, 2011 at 8:20 pmI'm struggling. So excited about my new phone, but it's asking me for my exchange password. I don't have an exchange account. Any help?
slict
November 7, 2011 at 8:34 pmHa! Nevermind. Fixed it.
Charles
April 5, 2012 at 2:32 pmHow did you fix it please?
Jeremy
November 11, 2011 at 3:02 pmHey it' not working for me.. I followed the directions and added exchange but it didn't import any contacts at all. I have the contact box checked as 'on'. Any suggestions?
Dan
November 11, 2011 at 3:05 pmTry again? Maybe restart your iPhone see if giving it a few minutes provides better results.
Shane Miller
March 15, 2012 at 4:03 pmMAN THIS WORKS AS FAST I JUST DID IT AND DID EVERY STEP HE SAID AND POW IM BACK
Shane Miller
March 15, 2012 at 4:04 pmBUT IT ONLY DID 55 OF MINE AND I HAVE 400 OR 500 I NEED IN MY CELL SO DO I GET THE REST
mikey
November 29, 2011 at 8:49 amWhat do you do for the exchange password?
Dan
November 29, 2011 at 8:54 amJust use your gmail password.
brian
November 30, 2011 at 8:12 amI did this and it worked except there's no info for the contacts. The names are there but no phone #'s or email addresses. Sucks…
Cobi
August 28, 2012 at 4:09 amYou need to change the type of the phone number on the "mobile" or "home."
Try this, it helped me.
Caz
September 27, 2012 at 6:34 amI'm having the same trouble. Could you explain what to change? Thanks
Aida
December 5, 2011 at 8:17 amDude! What a relief! Your assistance is most appreciated…
Andrew R., New York
December 6, 2011 at 10:21 pmDan is da Man!! I've been going in circles all day trying different things. This way is so simple! Thank you sir!
Linda B
December 13, 2011 at 4:51 pmcan I delete the existing google account on the iphone?
Gary
December 20, 2011 at 11:24 amAck! No this did NOT work .. but did delete all the contacts from my phone!
And ever since upgrading to iOS-5, the calendar no longer updates from yahoo. Any ideas?
Anon
December 21, 2011 at 8:33 pmIs there a way to use this method, THEN back up the contacts to iCloud and then remove the Exchange profile on the iPhone?
Victoria
January 3, 2012 at 10:25 amPrecise advise! Thank you
VILLY
January 4, 2012 at 2:34 pmamigo su explicacion es de mucha ayuda.. muchas gracias de verdad….
scott Black
January 5, 2012 at 8:10 amwhy would this only import 52 of 1400 contacts?
Sean
January 6, 2012 at 7:15 amback out from Contacts to the Groups screen, then hit 'refresh' at the top left. that imported the rest of my contacts. hope it works for you!
Sean
January 6, 2012 at 7:07 amlike scott – it only imported 50 or so of my contacts – anyone have any ideas why this is?
sv@ixc-usa.com
January 7, 2012 at 7:43 ameeemail.net extracts not only contacts but all email addresses from your correspondence. supports hotmail, gmail, yahoo etc.
son2380
January 14, 2012 at 12:58 pmHow do I export my Phone contacts to my gmail account
Mrshill
January 15, 2012 at 5:51 pmThank you. It worked like a charm. I was pulling my hair out before trying to figure out how I was going to transfer all my contacts without having to do it manually
tamaz
January 17, 2012 at 10:43 amimported only 50 contacts from 235 , how can i fix this?
tamaz
January 17, 2012 at 10:43 amcan someone help me ?
Tstyles
January 20, 2012 at 11:43 amYOU ROCK!! Worked great!
Adrian
January 24, 2012 at 3:45 amThanks so much! Saved me a lot of messing around. I set up mail in Exchange and it worked a dream, my contacts synced within seconds.
New iPhone User
February 8, 2012 at 1:14 amThis is the best info I have ever received on one of these help blogs…you are AWESOME!!!!
dan
February 8, 2012 at 8:42 amThanks@ Be sure to like us on Facebook for more helpful tips!
Nancy
February 11, 2012 at 12:56 amIt works! Thank you very much!
Joy
February 19, 2012 at 4:14 pmThis is a very simple & easy to follow guide!!!!!!!! I've been on this for over 5hrs. before I got your guide & it's so good. Thanks very much. Joy.
Stef
February 20, 2012 at 8:33 amThank you, you saved my day
Ricky
February 24, 2012 at 2:30 amYou are a genius Mr Dan Hinckley! I salute you for having saved me tons of work! A million thanks to you! … Would you know how to do it for yahoo Mail?
noname
February 28, 2012 at 4:06 pmAbout ‘exchange password’, do in description ‘My Exchange Account’
It’s'important
JP2020
April 1, 2012 at 1:30 amIn description field I wrote "My Exchange Account"
I get all account accepted.
Then "Enter the password for the Exchange account "My Exchange
What to do next?
Kind regards,
Juan
Kelli
March 9, 2012 at 3:38 pmAwesome!! Thanks so much!!
Liz L.
March 22, 2012 at 12:52 pmHelp please, I setup my gmail yesterday as an exchange server all was well had my contacts, but i kept getting a message that the password is incorrect. So i researched it and did a few things i was told. I turned off i cloud, reset network settings, removed the gmail exchange account and then when i tried to put it back on now i get nothing, no contacts, no mail, nothing. From what i can tell this "wrong password alert" has something to do with the IOS 5 update…. but so far i have not found a fix and now i am without all contacts. Please some one help, this is frustrating.,…..
Colleen
March 28, 2012 at 6:22 pmDan, you are a genius. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!! I cannot say it enough. This was so easy with your handy dandy directions. Thank you so much for sharing the knowledge!! Awesome!!!
Steve
March 29, 2012 at 12:15 pmPhew… thanks
Jessica
March 31, 2012 at 6:27 pmworked great thanks!
Patty
April 4, 2012 at 4:54 pmI followed the instruction carefully and it did bring it all my contacts from the gmail account via the exchange setup. Thank you so much.
Amyt Dahiya
April 8, 2012 at 7:13 amamazing its really quick and easy
Satish Kandukuri
April 9, 2012 at 10:57 amIt worked. Thank you so much
Michael R
April 12, 2012 at 5:38 pmRecently resynced gmail with Ios5 contacts and it used to show Bdays and Anniv but now they are gone from Ios though they are in Google contacts. Any suggestions?
Celine McGuire
July 12, 2012 at 12:36 amThank you but like someone else above it only let me import 51 contacts – what do I do now?
Giselle
April 14, 2012 at 6:40 pmThank you so much, I was really happy for your help and the easy process.
Ben
April 20, 2012 at 3:37 amThank you!
Once this is done, is there any way to delete the Microsoft Exchange account from the phone but retain all the contacts? I already had my Gmail set up on the phone via iPhone's Gmail account function, and I don't want a duplicate.
Dan
April 20, 2012 at 7:59 amTry syncing with Address Book on a Mac. Then remove the exchange account.
Jerry Walker
April 29, 2012 at 2:31 pmReally expected this to fail, but it worked exactly as it should. Thanks for caring enough to go to the trouble of providing this help. Maybe Apple and/or Google has an answer for this, but I was unable to find it. I've had an iPad for over a year and had no trouble importing all parts of my Gmail to it, so it was a surprise to run into this problem with my new iPhone. Thanks again.
madamew
April 30, 2012 at 11:43 amIt only imported a few of mine as well.
Irma
May 11, 2012 at 7:30 pmAnybody know if this will sync the changes you make on your iphone to your gmail contacts. Like adding new ones or changing emails or phone numbers?
@cirian75
May 14, 2012 at 8:47 amworks well, it does not add new contracts back Gmail contacts
Sally
May 26, 2012 at 9:32 pmThis worked great!!!!
Meredith
June 17, 2012 at 1:56 pmAmazing. You rock.
Riley
June 21, 2012 at 1:15 pmworks great.
Diana Morrison Martin
June 22, 2012 at 3:48 pmThis is awesome! It worked on my iPad2 also!
Khalil
July 2, 2012 at 1:26 pmMy contact list on iphone is importing, exporting, deleting, replacing and adding contacts that are not mine and deleting some of them! What is happening ? How can inresolve that problem
serj
July 5, 2012 at 6:53 pmi've been using free web tool email addresses extractor for gmail , yahoo, etc . extracts not only contacts but all email addresses ever met in you mail box
Sabrina
July 7, 2012 at 3:59 amWow….that was easy! Thanks so much for the help.
serj
July 7, 2012 at 6:19 ameeemail.net extracts email addresses from gmail, yahoo , aolmail etc. free service
Using Autofill
July 8, 2012 at 7:42 am[...] Two ways, among others: iOS: How to transfer or sync content to your computer Add Gmail Contacts to iOS 5 | Maciverse Reply With Quote + Reply to [...]
Manoj
July 10, 2012 at 6:39 pmhow do i transfer my contact list from my iphone 4 to my gmail account?
Leslie
July 26, 2012 at 4:59 amQuick & easy … Thank you!!
bef2111
July 27, 2012 at 9:43 pmIf you're like me you have numerous phone numbers and numerous email addresses (as well as your contacts having the same situation). The unfortunate thing about this is that it only imports a max of 3 (three) email addys and 3 Phone numbers. AND, you're unable to edit the name of the phone or email (like, I have, Brian's Personal, Brian's Work, Brian's Other, Second Gmail account, etc). This used to work but for whatever reason, going through Exchange it only gives this option (See: http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=e…. When will THIS be fixed!?!??!?! Help Google/Apple….Gapple?
Kendra
July 30, 2012 at 7:13 pmIt doesn't give me the option of contacts. It only lists mail, calendars, and notes.
Jenn
August 13, 2012 at 3:05 pmGreat until it asked for my Exchange password…i entered the same password for my gmail account but it keeps saying it's wrong! I don't know what to do..
David
August 18, 2012 at 5:12 amJust did this for my wife. If you get the incorrect gmail password error, change the username so that you include the @googlemail.com or @gmail.com on the end.
Error should disappear and things should sync fine.
Deepak
August 30, 2012 at 10:43 amYay, that does the trick. Thanks a lot.
Lisa marshall
September 19, 2012 at 3:03 amI often update or add contacts on my mobile phone iPhone 4s. I notice that my contacts are not sync/copied to my gmail contact list. Please tell me how I can enable this feature. Thanks
Jayant Kumar
September 26, 2012 at 10:48 amThanks a ton. The best comprehensive and accurate help I have ever seen on this topic. Take care!
Suren
October 4, 2012 at 6:52 pmThank you very much for the simple and straight solution. It worked very well.
christine
October 6, 2012 at 1:15 pmThank you so much. This was so easy. Why don't they give you these instructions. LOL
Mingma
October 23, 2012 at 8:43 pmThank you for giving the process of importing gmail contacts to the iPhone.
Just a small question, since I already had a gmail account so setting up with Microsoft exchange led to a duplicate gmail account in my mail. So if I get rid if the gmail account I that i created from Microsoft exchange will the imported contacts be deleted automatically?
Thank you once again for the help.
Mingma
sotavento bcn
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Rama
November 15, 2012 at 4:41 amIt worked! Thanks so much. I'm not sure why but when you add a gmail account to iPhone 5 it doesn't give you the option to sync contacts!
amg
November 21, 2012 at 7:24 pmEven works on the iphone5, just slightly different screen layout. Thank you sooooo much!!!
Kathy S
November 26, 2012 at 4:58 pmI just got my iPhone5 when it came out and have been trying to get my Google contacts on it. I tried this and it worked.