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cirian75

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 2, 2014
14
1
Manchester, UK, EU.
Back in the old days (iPhone 4s) exchange worked and gmail was good on the iPhone

Since then Apple and Google are not agreeing not to get GMail working natively on the iOS platform.

Google want you to use their app, and Apple wont use Google non standard API's, which we know google would then break if apple did as they want you to use their app.

So how do you get your Gmail (with reliable fast push), contacts and calendar working these days on the iOS device
 
Fetch can be used. Google apps can be used (at least for notification purposes). Other apps can be used, like Outlook or Spark or something similar.
 
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I use respective apps.

Gmail app has push notifications and shows on my lock screen.

I came from android so all my contacts are on google.
I just set my gmail account up in settings for contacts and down came all my contacts.

I do not use calendar sorry cannot help there.
 
You can get push mail through the native email app by running it through iCloud. I have done this for a couple years now without a single issue. You have to set up an iCloud address. All gmail gets forwarded to that adress. I also send through iCloud. Receivers only see the gmail address

A little complicated to set up the first time, but then works fine.

There are some tutorials online that explain the set up. This looks like the one I used:

http://jonwestfall.com/2014/07/get-true-push-gmail-iphone-ios-device/
 
Back in the old days (iPhone 4s) exchange worked and gmail was good on the iPhone

Since then Apple and Google are not agreeing not to get GMail working natively on the iOS platform.

Google want you to use their app, and Apple wont use Google non standard API's, which we know google would then break if apple did as they want you to use their app.

So how do you get your Gmail (with reliable fast push), contacts and calendar working these days on the iOS device

I add my Gmail account but turn off the email toggle so I can get my contacts and calendar. I use Gmail app for email.

If you want to sync contacts, there is an app called 'contacts sync for google ' that also works great as well. It keeps your iCloud and google contacts in sync.
 
I add my Gmail account but turn off the email toggle so I can get my contacts and calendar. I use Gmail app for email.

If you want to sync contacts, there is an app called 'contacts sync for google ' that also works great as well. It keeps your iCloud and google contacts in sync.

Thats looks be the way to go :)
 
I just use the stock iOS email app for gmail. Always worked with no issues.


You don't get instant notification when an email comes in, I recently gave the Gmail app another shot since it just got a makeover and it's not bad but it doesn't have an Apple watch app. I prefer MAIL.APP myself, I wish exchanged used on it like it used to.
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I use the Outlook app.


I am going to give it a shot, I used it a long time ago and I didn't love it.
 
I add my Gmail account but turn off the email toggle so I can get my contacts and calendar. I use Gmail app for email.

If you want to sync contacts, there is an app called 'contacts sync for google ' that also works great as well. It keeps your iCloud and google contacts in sync.

Exactly what I do, but I use Google's Inbox app. It's fantastic.
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I found GMail on iOS to be awful beyond compare, but it's fine on Android.

Try Inbox for iOS. It has a lot more functionality and my guess is that Google is going to focus on that at the expense of the gmail iOS app.
 
Personally, I have the Push for Gmail tweak on my jailbroken iPhone...but the Spark email app for iOS seems pretty good for Gmail push.

Why is there a special app for that? Messages in inbox are pushed to my device before they show up on a computer.
 
Personally, I have the Push for Gmail tweak on my jailbroken iPhone...but the Spark email app for iOS seems pretty good for Gmail push.
That's what I was going to add as well.

Push for Gmail. It does require the Google Mail app to be installed in order to work though.

Even without it though, Gmail is IMAP so it adds in to the Mail app just fine. I don't use Gmail as my main account so while push is nice, it's not a requirement for me.

All my contacts and calendars are Google. It's easier to use than iCloud when you have mixed devices. iCloud would never push to my PowerBook G4 running Leopard back when iOS 6 was new so I abandoned iCloud at that point.

2016-11-25 07.54.34.png 2016-11-25 07.54.45.png 2016-11-25 07.55.04.png 2016-11-25 07.55.14.png
 
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I add my Gmail account but turn off the email toggle so I can get my contacts and calendar. I use Gmail app for email.

If you want to sync contacts, there is an app called 'contacts sync for google ' that also works great as well. It keeps your iCloud and google contacts in sync.

I have Google set to sync contacts. Keeps everything in Google and I don't have to worry about them being in more than one spot. Tested it on my old nexus 5. Added a contact to that and it showed up on the iPhone in a few seconds. Did it the opposite way and it was just as quick.

44d818077b96a405ca8dbd683d054951.png
 
Why is there a special app for that? Messages in inbox are pushed to my device before they show up on a computer.

It's not for the Gmail app if that's what you're asking. What it does it monitor the Gmail app in the background and when a push is received it forces the stock iOS Mail app to check for email.
 
I don't mind if I get messages after 15 minutes so fetch is great here. Would be even better if this would be each 5 mins but it's ok.
If I would need push then there is Gmail app or Inbox one.
 
I use stock and gmail, no issues when I came from Android. Didn't lose anything. I really like Fantastical for calendar on my iPhone.
 
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