Using iPhone Exchange with Your Google Account

Anyone who has seen my iPhone can immediately notice three very obvious facts about me:

1. I am an iPhone lover.
2. I am an app addict. 
   
3. I would be lost without my iPhone and the immense amount of organization it has brought into my life.

I can easily spend an hour loading apps onto my phone, then spend another 6 hours testing them all out to determine whether they make the cut or not.  Some may call it obsessive, while I call it a hobby.

Quick Explanation of iPhone Exchange

Although the iPhone offers an option to sync your iPhone directly with Gmail, I give praise to the iPhone's exchange capabilities and recommend using that instead.  For those of you with an iPhone, you can access the exchange (after it has already been set up) by clicking on:


The "Settings" app -> "Mail, Contacts, Calendars" -> "Exchange" 

If you haven't yet activated it, read on for further explanation.

For anyone unfamiliar with the iPhone, Exchange allows you to sync an email account with the phone in order to share your mail, calendars, contacts, and notes.  The apps that it shares this information with on the phone are the preset apps that come already installed including "Mail," "Calendar," and "Notes."  You may also share contacts as well.  (Pretty self explanatory.)

B.I. - "Before iPhone"

Before I go too far into this, I must quickly note that I am extremely over organized when it comes to my calendar.  In the time, which I like to call, B.I. (Before iPhone) I kept a pocket calendar that made it's way into every purse I left the house with.  Yes, I was that girl who, when out to dinner with friends, would pull out the little blue book to see if I was available for a girls night the following week.  Between color coding utilizing highlighters to special symbols used to designate categories, I had a distinct organization method I refused to deter from.

I hadn't really explored Google Calendar much before, because during the time B.I. I didn't have access to this calendar 24/7, as I wouldn't always have a computer handy.  Accessibility is key.  Once my iPhone came into the picture I had greater flexibility, and my whole world got just that much brighter.

iPhone Calendar App

While iPhone's calendar app wasn't a complete waste, it (alone and not tied with any fancy accounts including those on Exchange) missed some key ingredients I sought out.  For example, by itself:

• It doesn't allow you to create invites,
• It lacks a system of organizing events, and
  
• It doesn't directly allow you to create tasks (unless you create events that "last a whole day").

These were some reasons I disliked it along with other minor flaws.  Google calendar on the other hand gave me the one capability I needed most, organizing categories of events by having multiple calendars.  To clarify, I have a separate calendar each for work, social activities, education & training, sports, and then the default for miscellaneous items.  Having multiple calendar categories allows me to specify which events I want to view in a more organized fashion while also color coding them.  In case you haven't noticed by this point, that is an extremely useful tool for a person like me.

iPhone's Sync Options

The iPhone allows you to connect with Gmail directly, also connecting your account calendar with the phone.  This is a similar process to creating an account using exchange except you select the Gmail option instead of Exchange.  I tried this, but it would only sync my default Google calendar with the iPhone.  This was obviously NOT OK.

By using the Exchange too hook my Google account up to my phone, like magic, I was able to get all of my categorized calendars on to my phone.  Not only this, but each calendar was color coded on my phone AND I was now able to send invites.  One quick flaw to mention is that it still limits how many different color categories you may use.

Syncing Google Using Exchange

1. Go to "Settings" -> "Mail, Contacts, Calendars" -> "Add Account"
2. Click on "Microsoft Exchange"
3. Email Field: Put your full email
4. Domain Field: Leave this blank
5. Username Field: Put your full email again
6. Hit the next button
7. When a new window pops up there will be a new input field called server
8. Server field: Put "m.google.com"
9. Hit the next button

From this point you are able to specify the settings you would like, such as which services to sync with your phone.

Who can have multiple Exchange accounts?

The capabilities of the iPhone iOS 4 differ from those of older models.  Those with the iPhone iOS 4 may sync multiple accounts using Exchange.  Unfortunately, this is not the case for the others.  If you are not an iOS 4 user, choose which account to use Exchange with wisely, as you may only connect one.  Sometimes you may need to save that 1 sync option for a work email, for example.  Keep in mind that at any point, however, you may change that account to a different one if you find the currently linked account is not the one you wish to use.  It isn't a one-time deal!

There you  have it!  You have now outsmarted your iPhone and given yourself a world of opportunities.


Disclaimer: I am not a representative of Google or Apple, but have a simple passion for both services and hope to share my findings with other users.  As my knowledge has been gained purely through trial and error over the last month or two of using the iPhone iOS 4 with a little bit of reading to help along the way, I openly appreciate any compents on corrections or additional advice.