Why no iPhone -> Outlook task sync?

November 6, 2009 12:14 PM

Why no iPhone -> Outlook task sync?

After two plus years there's still no elegant solution for users who want to sync Outlook tasks with their iPhone. There was some talk at one point of Apple releasing a native task app for the iPhone, but to date, this is vaporware. Task sync is a feature that is not deemed optional or a luxury on competing smartphone platforms--it's something that Blackberry users just take for granted. When I ask folks about this they either have no idea what I'm talking about or I get smug, unknowing responses like "just use the calendar!"

I've tried all of the various kludges that are available and they're so annoying (and also expose your personal data to uncertain security risks) that I just end up not using them. You mean to say I have to use the cloud to sync my local data? I do like my iPhone, but I've noticed that I'm just not as organized and as effective without having my tasks on my phone. I know that there are solutions for Exchange, but that's overkill for a single user who just wants to sync their tasks with their desktop.

Would someone please provide an explanation as to why Apple or a 3rd party developer cannot provide this seemingly modest bit of functionality? A functional spec would have to include at the very least a rudimentary iPhone task app that supports the core feature set of Outlook tasks, and also supports roundtrip task sync (desktop tasks sync to phone, phone tasks sync to desktop). Extra points for alerts on the phone (though Apple's prohibition on background tasks makes this a challenge).

posted by Izzy to technology (9 comments total)

When you say outlook, do you mean you're actually using an iPhone with Outlook-the-program on Windows, or you want to do this with an Exchange server?
posted by floam at 12:20 PM on November 6

The former.
posted by Izzy at 12:23 PM on November 6

Sorry, I re-read and your dismissal of Exchange solutions should have made that apparent to me.
posted by floam at 12:24 PM on November 6

I gave up and started using Toodledo and haven't looked back. It is really strange and annoying that the iPhone lacks native support for something so useful.

That said, I found myself really using my todo list even more with the Toodledo web site on my desktop/native iPhone client, even more than my old Outlook or Palm Desktop todo items.
posted by bottlebrushtree at 12:40 PM on November 6

Probably the reason there is no such solution is that Apple doesn't want there to be. It doesn't do Apple any good to encourage people to use Microsoft products.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 1:40 PM on November 6 [1 favorite]

Ha, I was just investigating this a few hours ago. I've been happily using a Palm with Outlook for years, as I have other useful software that only works on Palm. I recently got the iPhone, and was pretty shocked at this. I really haven't seen anything that beats the simplicity of the old Palm system's Tasks + Calendar + Contacts setup. I do recall that "productivity" blogs like 43folders were always Mac focused, and spent tons of time finding and tweaking new ToDo programs. I'm not a Mac user, but based on that, I wonder if Apple has somehow never gotten those three systems together.
posted by FuManchu at 1:54 PM on November 6

I did the same as bottlebrushtree, Toodeldo is quite a good service, and has the advantage of giving you offline access to your tasks, unlike many other iPhone ToDo apps. There is a free utility that will sync Toodledo tasks with Outlook tasks here: ToodledoSync Application. I used it it for a bit, but then ended up not even using outlook anymore, as I preferred the web interface.
posted by SNACKeR at 1:58 PM on November 6

Chocolate Pickle: Oddly enough, Apple supports e-mail and note sync between Outlook and the iPhone, so while your heart's in the right place, the facts speak otherwise.

I am not prepared to bail on Outlook. Lord knows I have no love for Outlook, but I use it every day and don't see the utility of having to migrate to another app to manage my tasks, given that Outlook already does an adequate job with this. Sure, I've tried Toodledo and the bit of 3rd party (or is it 4th party) glueware that syncs between the app and Outlook, but reading this make me really want a robust app that's gone through sufficient QA cycles. From the Toodledo site:

"Warning: We have received a number of complaints that the Outlook sync tool can sometimes accidentally delete all of your tasks from inside Toodledo. Please remember that Toodledo cannot be held responsible for misbehaving third-party applications."
posted by Izzy at 2:38 PM on November 6

Missing Sync for iPhone syncs Outlook tasks to a custom iPhone app they provide.

I have never used it and hear decidedly inconsistent opinions about whether or not Missing Sync is a good product or the worst thing since the original implementation of AcitveSync.
posted by fief at 3:35 PM on November 8