GooSync - Sync Your Mobile Phone with Google Calendar

The Pros 

A list of reasons why you should consider GooSync

1. It works with any SyncML-capable phone. This is big, because so many of the tools that I've tried just did not work.
2. No software to install. As long as your phone is SyncML compliant, you don't need to download any java applications onto your handset nor install any software on your computer. Note: for many "Smart Phone", including Palm OS devices such as the Treo, you will need to download a SyncML application available from the the GooSync Web site that is preconfigured to work with GooSync.
3. Free from Outlook! Most solutions that I've seen for synchronizing Google Calendar with a phone involve using Outlook as an intermediary.
4. But if you like Outlook... When you synchronize your Google Calendar with Goosync on a smart phone that you also synchronize with Outlook, you can keep your Google, Outlook, and smart phone calendars all in sync. But this assumes that you are using the default calendar application on your device. Some productivity software for mobile devices may use their own databases, such as Chapura KeySuite. You may not be able to synchronize Goosync with them.
   
   Another option is to use the Funambol Outlook Synchronization Plugin. This allows you to Synchronize your calendar and contacts with Goosync's server. This will allow you to directly synchronize your Outlook to Google Calendar and Contacts. Now that GooSync supports synchronizing multiple devices, you can use GooSync to sync with your phone directly, over the air, and also with Outlook using the Funambol plugin.
   
   You can download Funambol from the Goosync site or get the latest the open-source installation files here: http://www.funambol.com/opensource/downloads.html
5. It is EASY, so long as you know how to access your SyncML settings on your hand held device.
6. Staying Power. The developers are an established company with a history of developing successful synchronization tools.
7. Supports Recurring Appointments. For some reason, this is a feature that many programs and services do not support or they support it poorly.

Premium Account Benefits 

1. Expanded Date Range. You can sync events up to a year into the future and a year into the past with an advanced account. The free account limits you to one month.
2. Multi-calendar Support. You can sync multiple calendars, including shared calendars, with an advanced account. The free account will only sync the main/default calendar for your Google account.
3. Multiple Device Support. If you want to synchronize your Google Calendars and contacts with multiple phones (our your phone and Outlook), you will need a Premium account. With a Premium Account, you can synchronize up to four devices.
4. Contact Synchronization. See my write-up on this on the "Cons" section below. The contact synchronization is only available with a premium account.
5. Automatic Synchronization. The newer versions of the Windows Mobile and Palm OS Goosync client's support automatic, timed synchronization.
6. Category support for Calendar and Contacts. This is very helpful if you want to filter your events on your device by Google calendar. Each Google calendar that you select for synchronization will be assigned a category. Note that the Palm OS calendar only supports 15 categories, so you'll be limited to 15 calendars if you are using a Palm OS device.
   
   Note that category support only applies to contacts if you synchronize with GooSync's on-line contacts service, not if you sync with Google Contacts directly. When I was using Outlook, I used Taglocity to tag my contacts. Because Taglocity saves the tags as Outlook categories, all my tags are brought in as categories in the GooSync contacts list. Very cool! But now that I no longer use Outlook, I just type any keywords into the notes field in Google Contacts. I wish I could apply labels to contacts and events and have a filter-by-label pull up everything with that label (events, contacts, e-mail, and notes), but until then, separate searches and keywords in the notes fields will have to do.
7. Task Synchronization You can use GooSync to synchronize your phone's task list with their web-based task tool. Although this data is not synchronized with any Google service (see my write-up on this on the "Cons" section below), GooSync does provide a widget so that you can manage your GooSync tasks from you Google Home page (iGoogle or Google Apps "Start" page) or within Gmail itself.

The Cons 

Why GooSync may not be for you

1. Does not sync tasks. GooSync currently only syncs Google Calendar events and contacts. GooSync does offer a simple on-line task list, which enables you to sync your phone's tasks to GooSync's servers and access them when you log into your GooSync account on-line, but nothing in your task list is synchronized with Google.
2. Manual setup instructions could be more user-friendly. For those of you lucky enough to have a phone that can configure itself from an SMS message sent by GooSync, this doesn't apply. But for the rest of us, the manual configuration instructions are confusing.
   
   During your account setup, GooSync presents a page stating that your phone (in my case a Motorola Razr V3i) does not support automatic configuration and then provides common manual settings.
   
   For those of us who never heard of SyncML before signing up for GooSync, this isn't very helpful. Yes, I know that there are too many phone models to provide instructions for all of them. It is easy to say "look at your phone's manual." But my phone's manual doesn't have the word "SyncML" in it. I tried entering the GooSync URL into my Razr's browser, which returned an error message. I thought it was another service that just didn't work for my phone.
   
   A post on the GooSync Google Group pointed me in the right direction and after playing around with my phone I found the SyncML settings under Settings-->Connection-->Sync
   
   A SyncML for dummies type instruction would help.
   
   Heck, how hard would it be to set up a Wiki that would allow users to post the SyncML settings instructions for their particular hand held devices? Google Groups beta has an editable Web page function that works just like a wiki. Why not use that. GCalSync has done that to create a list of supported phones.
   
   Note the new forums have a section on device configuration instructions. Check here first if you are having difficulties configuring your device.
3. GooSync could become obsolete in an instant if Google releases its own SyncML application. I've need read anything about what value-added services GooSync would provide beyond basic PIM data synchronization. Perhaps they would focus on enterprise applications, like many of Toffa's other applications. But what value would they add for individual users?
   
   Google recently released a plug in for Microsoft Outlook, which synchronizes your primary Google Calendar with your default Outlook calendar. It is not a GooSync killer, however, for the following reasons:
   
   (1) it doesn't support over-the-air synchronization, you have to sync on your desktop and then sync your phone to Outlook.
   
   (2) Many people do not have or want to use Outlook, Google+GooSync provides a much more affordable, yet feature rich to using Outlook to manage your schedule.
   
   (3) The Google Calendar Sync application only supports an account's main calendar, whereas Goosync's premium subscription supports multiple calendars.
   
   (4) The Google application does not sync contacts, whereas Goosync will sync your Google Calendar contacts.
   
   Even with the recent release of Google's sync application, I just paid for a lifetime subscription of Goosync Premium.

In the Works 

1. Attendees: "Allowing you to see who is invited to an event."
2. Full access to sync logs: "Allowing you to see exactly what sync'd etc."
3. Additional Sync Modes: "Supports all SyncML sync modes."

The Ex-Cons 

Issues, problems, and bugs that Toffa has resolved, solved, and squashed.

1. May Mix Info from Your Calender with Other People's Calendars. At one time, a very small number of users of the Goosync SyncML client for Pocket PC and Windows smartphones found their calendar data merged or mixed with that of another person. This only occurred where two Goosync users' Pocket PC or Windows Mobile devices had the same device ID.
   
   GooSync has fixed this issue. Since the fix was very recent, however, I'm keeping my full report of this bug on this lens for several days to make sure it does not reappear. For more information about this bug see: http://www.squidoo.com/goosync/#module1809998
2. You must give them your Google login and password to use the service. This used to be the case, which prevented many people from using GooSync due to privacy concerns. But, as of Friday, December 22nd, this was no longer the case. The new version of GooSync uses Google's "Account Authentication Proxy for Web-Based Applications" so that users can grant Goosync permission to access your Google data without revealing their credentials.
3. Does not Sync Recurring Appointments. This was a BIG strike against GooSync, which let me to use href="http://www.scheduleworld.com">ScheduleWorld, another web-based SyncML service, until GooSync fixed it. Now that GooSync properly syncs recurring appointments I have moved back to GooSync exclusively for my Google-calendar sync needs.
4. Does not Support Multiple Calendars. Goosync now support mutliple calendars, including shared calendars. This feature requires a paid subscriptions.
5. Does not sync tasks (yet). Goosync will now synchronize your phone's task list with a task list kept on GooSync's website. Google does not have any real task-management features, so there is nothing to synchronize it with on the Google end. Someone may be able to mess around with Grease Monkey scripts to display the GooSync task list with the calendar, but I have not seen this done as of yet. Having your tasks (and contacts, see above) on a separate website from your calendar is hardly convenient, but until Google creates task functionality and fixes the contacts API, that's what we have to live with. UPDATE: While GooSync tasks are still not synchronized with any Google service, including the new Google Labs "tasks" feature in Gmail, GooSync does not provide a widget that you can add to you iGoogle page, your Google Apps "start" page, or to the menu & applications pane in Gmail.
6. Does not sync contacts When it first came out, GooSync only synchronized Google calendars. Its first version of contact sync did not automatically synchronize with Google's contacts. Goosync's server would synchronize your phone's contacts, but it was not a direct sync with Google calendar's contacts. Google's API for its contacts service did not support this at the time. Therefore, you had to export your contacts from Google (as a CSV file) and then import them into GooSync's service. Once you imported your contacts, you could sync them with your phone. The problem with this was that any changes to your contacts on GMail or Google Hosted Apps would require you to manually perform another export-import in order to "sync" them. Basically this service was just another place to store your contacts.
   
   Now, however (thank gOD), Goosync will synchronize your Google Calendar contacts directly with your phone. It works wonderfully with my Treo 680. I've not yet tested it on my old Motorola Razr, but not that multiple devices are supported, I'll test it and report on my experiences.
7. Does not sync alarms. Toffa removed this feature in January 2007 and alarm synchronization was not support for a number of months. According to Toffa
   "[t]his decision was made because of a problem Google Calendar has with always sending events containing alarm data even if no alarm was set."
   
   This feature is not supported and you can set alarm preference for each of the calendars you decide to sync (note: you need a Premium account to sync multiple calendars).
   
   Of course, you can always use's Google Calendar's SMS notification feature to receive event reminders. But since none of the cell phone companies I use are supported by Google's SMS service, I'm glad I'm now able to sync my calendar alarms.
   
   One limitation to be aware of is that only the following notification periods are supported (this is a Google limitation):
   
   * 5 minutes
   * 10 minutes
   * 15 minutes
   * 20 minutes
   * 25 minutes
   * 30 minutes
   * 45 minutes
   * 1 hour
   * 2 hours
   * 3 hours
   * 1 day
   * 2 days
   * 1 week
   
   If you try to select a different alarm period on your device, it will not be synchronized with your Google calendar.