Safari default calandar

[gaylawilson]

Do you have to have a gmail account and a gmail address to get all the benefits from the default calandar? I cannot get my two iPads to sync. All answers point to a gmail account with a gmail address. I don't want a gmail address. I have my yahoo email address for over 15 years and don't want to change. It seems I am being "forced" to use gmail. Am I missing something? Or, am I stuck with gmail if I want to have a fully functioning defauls calandar system? Thanks in advance for helping me with this.

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[twerppoet]

GMail, iCloud, or Yahoo. Any of these can keep your all your iPads in sync. All of them are free.

With GMail you need to set it up as an Exchange account to sync contacts, but that's not all that hard. It is the most flexible when it comes to hardware choices, since it can be synced to just about any device or computer.

Yahoo is pretty good with all it offers to sync (since the 5.0 update). However, unless you pay for an account you are limited to browser access on computers. Of the three services mentioned, it also gets the most complaints for temporary server problems, especially on the mobile side.

iCloud is the most flexible and powerful between iOS devices. It's ability to sync with Windows is limited, but adequate, and of course it works well with Apple's OS X computer line. The main thing it offers is more flexibility to create, manage, and sync your stuff. It is will not work with hardly anything else. You do have access to your Calendar, Contacts, and Mail from a desktop web browser.

So my recommendations:

Yahoo: If you already have the account you might as well use it.

Google If your primary concern is the ability to get your stuff from anywhere from any device, whether you own it yet or not.

iCloud: If you're an iOS/Apple person, or just want to get the most flexibility from the built in apps.


Of course, there is no reason why you can't have and use all these accounts. I do.

Set up either the Yahoo or GMail accounts go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Add Account. Be sure to follow the Exchange setup link for GMail.

For iCloud you must be using iOS 5. It has it's own set up in Settings > iCloud. Though you can set it up in the same place as the other account, you are bette off doing it here. No, I'm not sure why, but one user ended up with his set up in two places, and it cause a few problems.

[MelvinTopaz]

Like the OP iT would like to sync all my calendars between devices. I use Yahoo. Please explain in detail how even with a paid account I would go about getting them to sync across devices. Thank you in advance.

[twerppoet]

You would ask about Yahoo, the one I have the least experience fiddling with.

I can't help much with the computer side. I do not have a paid account, so I can't experiment. For the computer all I can do use the website. That works well enough for my needs.

For the paid account I've poked around enough to see that Yahoo offers IMAP (a recent addition) for email. If you set up a paid account on your computer's email client use that, not the POP setup. I'm not sure what they offer for calendar and contact syncing. You're on you own there.

On the iOS device side it's simple. Add the Yahoo account to each device. I doubt there is any difference between the free and paid accounts there. You can sync Mail, Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, and Notes between iOS devices using Yahoo.

To add the account go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars, choose Add Account, Yahoo, and enter the required information.

As for how well or reliably it works, you'd have to ask someone else. I barely use my Yahoo account, it being the backup to the backup.