Is it practical to use Gmail for mail and calendar and Exchange for contacts while using iOS Mail?

Question

In the past I used the Google Mail provider on my iOS devices to sync mail and calendar. Major drawback was that it doesn't sync contacts. I had to use iTunes for that which is a mess.

I recently switched to the Exchange provider for GMail which can sync contacts but also has several disadvantages:

• Searching old mail on the server doesn't always bring accurate results
• It doesn't sync the drafts folder so you have to finish and send a draft from the same device you created it on. Usually I want to email a photo from my iPhone, create a draft, save it and finish the email on my computer or iPad.
• It doesn't use my default notification settings from GMail for new appointments in calendar. You can also only specify one notification (with GMail provider you can set 2).

Now I was wondering if I can set up a combination of the two. Using GMail for my mail and calendar and using Exchange for contacts. Could that bring any problems? Anyone tried that?

Answer 1

I had that configuration - and also used for friends & family - and it worked just fine.

The only drawback is that mail is no longer pushed to your phone. But apart from that, it's the best solution to have Gmail (actually working) and Google Contacts / Calendar on your iPhone.

Answer 2

Shouldn't do - might be a detriment to your battery life but my iCloud email is setup purely for calendar and contact sync so I can't see why it wouldn't work for someone else. Just don't enable mail when you create the account.