Contents
iPhone Basics
How to Buy an iPhone
How to Charge Your iPhone
How to Activate Your iPhone
iPhone Controls and Interface
How to Sync Your iPhone
How to Make and Receive Calls with Your iPhone
How to Use Voicemail on Your iPhone
How to Use Email on Your iPhone
How to Surf the Web on Your iPhone
How to Use Your iPhone as an iPod
Other iPhone Applications
How to Troubleshoot Your iPhone
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How to Sync Your iPhone
Syncing is the process by which you can transfer data and media content from your computer to your iPhone, and—in certain cases—from your iPhone back to your computer. With the iPhone, you can sync:
- Applications purchased or downloaded
- Calendars
- Contacts
- Email account settings
- Movies
- Music and audiobooks
- Photos
- Podcasts
- Ringtones
- TV Shows
- Web bookmarks
Sync Preferences Page
The first time you connect your iPhone to your computer, iTunes jumps directly to the Sync Preferences page after you’ve completed the activation process. This page has tabs that let you control how to sync ringtones, music, photos, podcasts, video, applications, and data (contacts, calendars, mail accounts, and web browsers). It also has a general Summary tab that opens automatically anytime you connect your iPhone to your computer.
Sync Options
On the Summary tab are two options to control how your iPhone syncs each time you connect it to your computer:
- Automatically sync when this iPhone is connected: If you check this box, the iPhone will automatically sync all data on the iPhone (which can include changes to contacts and calendars, photos, and selected music, depending on your settings) when you connect it.
- Sync only checked songs and videos: Select this option to sync only items (songs and videos) that you have individually checked in your iTunes library.
- Manually manage music and videos: Select this option to turn off automatic syncing in the Music and Video setting panes.
If you select neither box, the iPhone won’t sync when you connect it to your computer until you change Sync Settings and click Apply in the lower right corner of the screen.
Capacity Bar
The capacity bar at the bottom of the Sync Preferences page tells you how much storage space you’re using on your iPhone. It uses color-coding to show the amount of space you’re using for different types of media content.
MobileMe
Apple Inc.’s MobileMe is an online service that stores all your information and sends updates to your iPhone, iPod touch, Mac, and PC. The service replaced the .Mac service in July 2008. MobileMe immediately syncs updates from your email, contacts, and calendars to your device. The Individual subscription plan ($99/year) is available after signing up for the free 60-day trial. The Family Pack plan is also offered for $149 a year. To upgrade, simply pay the
difference between the Individual Plan and the Family Pack.
How to Sync Data on Your iPhone
Using the Info tab in iTunes, you can sync your iPhone with contacts, calendars, and email accounts from popular software programs you may already use to manage this information on your computer:
- If you’re using a Mac: The iPhone can sync information with services such as Apple Mail, iCal, Address Book, Microsoft Entourage, Yahoo! Address Book, and Google Address Book.
- If you’re using a PC: The iPhone can sync information with services such as Outlook Express, Microsoft Outlook, Vista Contacts, Yahoo! Address Book, and Google Address Book.
No matter what type of information you sync, make sure the iPhone is connected to your computer via the USB cable and the Sync Summary screen is open in iTunes before starting. Once that screen appears, click on the Info tab.
How to Sync Contacts
- Sync contacts to your iPhone: Under the Contacts section, select Sync Address Book Contacts. Leave All Contacts selected if you want to sync your entire address book. If you want to sync only certain information, click Selected Groups. The groups that appear will be the groups you’ve created in Address Book, Outlook, or another software program.
- Sync contacts created on your iPhone into your computer’s contacts program: Select “Put new contacts created on this iPhone into the group” and select a group from the drop-down menu.
- Sync with Yahoo! Address Book: Check the box next to “Sync Yahoo! Address Book contacts.” Doing so will not affect your other programs.
How to Sync Calendars
- Sync calendars to your iPhone: Under the Calendars section, select Sync iCal Calendars. Leave All Calendars selected if you want to sync all your calendar data. If you want to sync only certain calendars, click Selected Calendars. The calendars that appear will be the same as the groups that you’ve created in your iCal, Outlook, or other software.
- Choose the number of days to sync: To specify the number of days of past events you want to sync, check the box next to “Do not sync events older than” and select the number of days you prefer.
- Sync events created on iPhone into your computer’s calendar program: Select “Put new events created on this iPhone into the calendar” and select a calendar from the drop-down menu.
How to Sync Mail Accounts
If you use Apple Mail, Microsoft Outlook, or Microsoft Entourage to send and receive email, chances are you’ve already configured those programs with your email account settings. These mail settings (for example, POP or IMAP configuration) enable the email programs to access the
appropriate email server.
You can load these email account settings directly onto your iPhone, which is the easiest way to configure your email accounts to work on your iPhone. To do this, choose “Sync selected Mail accounts.” iTunes should provide a list of configured email accounts such as Gmail, Yahoo!, or even a work account. Check the boxes next to the accounts you’d like to be able to read on your iPhone.
Syncing mail accounts with your iPhone will not affect the email program on your computer. It also won’t load any of your current email from your computer onto your iPhone. It will set only your iPhone’s email settings.
How to Sync Your Web Browser Bookmarks
To sync bookmarks from your computer with your iPhone-based Safari browser, check the box next to “Sync Safari bookmarks” or “Sync bookmarks from.”
Advanced Settings on Info Tab
At the bottom of the Info Tab, there is an Advanced option to “Replace information on this iPhone.” If you wish to do so, you may check next to one of the four choices—Contacts, Calendars, Mail Accounts, or Bookmarks—to replace the information on your iPhone with the information on your computer the next time you sync your iPhone.
How to Set up Microsoft Entourage to Sync with iPhone
If you use Microsoft Entourage on your Mac and want to sync with your iPhone, you must first follow these steps before going to the Sync Summary page:
- Install the Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.3.5 Update or later, available at www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.mspx.
- Open Entourage and select Entourage Preferences.
- Under the General Preferences menu on the left side, select Sync Services.
- Check the box next to “Synchronize contacts with Address Book and MobileMe.”
- Check the box next to “Synchronize events and tasks with iCal and MobileMe.”
- Click OK. A dialog box will appear that provides three options. Which you should choose depends on your specific situation:
- If all your information is in Entourage, select “Replace Sync Services items with Entourage items.”
- If all your info is in iCal and Address Book, select “Replace Entourage items with Sync Services items.”
- If you use a mix of the two, select “Merge Entourage items with Sync Services items,” which will preserve all your information in Entourage, iCal, and Address Book.
Click OK. Return to the Sync Info page in iTunes to complete the sync process.
How to Sync Media Content on Your iPhone
iPhone also syncs media content, including music, photos, podcasts, ringtones, and videos, through iTunes. Syncing media content on an iPhone works just as it does on an iPod (see the Quamut guide to iPod & iTunes).
Because your iPhone’s storage capacity is likely less than your computer’s capacity, you’ll probably want to be selective about which content from your computer you load onto your iPhone. For instance, the easiest way to manage music on your iPhone is to create a playlist in iTunes called “My iPhone.” Put all the songs you’d like to have on your iPhone into that playlist, then select that playlist to sync with your iPhone. Now you’ll have all the music you want in one place. If you want to change the music on your iPhone, just change the content in that single playlist.
How to Sync Ringtones
You can create ringtones for your iPhone in iTunes from any ringtone-eligible song that you bought through the iTunes store. To sync the ringtones to your iPhone:
- Click the Ringtones tab.
- Check the box next to Sync Ringtones. If you wish to sync all the ringtones in your iTunes library, check the button next to All Ringtones. If you want to sync only certain ringtones, check the box next to Sync Selected Ringtones. The ringtones that are available in your iTunes library will appear in the window. Check the boxes next to the ringtones that you wish to sync with your iPhone.
How to Disconnect Your iPhone
It’s important that you disconnect your iPhone from your computer correctly after syncing. Never disconnect your iPhone if the iPhone screen reads “Sync in Progress.” Interrupting the sync can cause data loss.
Once the iPhone screen is back to normal, and the upper window in iTunes reads “OK to disconnect,” click the Eject button next to the iPhone icon in the Devices menu.
| Acknowledgments & Disclaimer |
