How to Sync Gmail Contacts to an iPhone

Get access to your Gmail contacts on your phone

by Jason Hidalgo
Jason Hidalgo is an award-winning technology and business journalist whose writing has also appeared in Engadget, USA Today, and the Reno Gazette-Journal.
Updated December 10, 2019

Between home, work, side businesses, and life in general, it's rare to have a single email address anymore. You might find yourself juggling multiple inboxes to stay on top of everything. Maybe you have an Outlook address for work and a Gmail account for personal use, with different contact lists for both. You can manage them both on your iPhone, however.

Here’s how to get those Gmail contacts into your iPhone.

These instructions apply to iPhones running iOS 11 or later.

  1. On your iPhone, open Settings. Tap Passwords & Accounts. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and select Add Account.

    Selecting Add Account in the Passwords & Accounts settings on iPhone

  2. The next screen contains all of the different email accounts you can add to your iPhone, including an "Other" category for ones it doesn't list. Tap Gmail, and then enter your Gmail address on the next screen. Select Next, and then put in your password and tap Next again.

    Adding a Gmail account to iPhone

  3. Check that the switch next to Contacts is on/green, and then tap Save.

    Syncing contacts with a Gmail account on iPhone

  4. All of your Gmail contacts are now available to email on your iPhone. You can sync contacts from different providers by picking that domain after you tap Add Account.