My primary contacts list is Apple based (I maintain it on a Mac) and it is naturally synced to my iPad and iPhone. However, I am currently running a Moto G as my primary phone for a temporary period (and will do so again from time to time) and I would really like a method of real time syncing between the two ecosystems. I currently have a version of my contacts list on my Moto G and I have no clue how it got there. Google havMy primary contacts list is Apple based (I maintain it on a Mac) and it is naturally synced to my iPad and iPhone. However, I am currently running a Moto G as my primary phone for a temporary period (and will do so again from time to time) and I would really like a method of real time syncing between the two ecosystems. I currently have a version of my contacts list on my Moto G and I have no clue how it got there. Google have a spooky way of just knowing stuff about me What's the best way of achieving this ?

My primary contacts list is Apple based (I maintain it on a Mac) and it is naturally synced to my iPad and iPhone. However, I am currently running a Moto G as my primary phone for a temporary period (and will do so again from time to time) and I would really like a method of real time syncing between the two ecosystems. I currently have a version of my contacts list on my Moto G and I have no clue how it got there. Google have a spooky way of just knowing stuff about me What's the best way of achieving this ?

It's possible you have some contacts synced with the email address you used to set up your android phone.

There are many ways to sync your contacts from your iphone to android. This link gives some examples

http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/...e-and-android/

Sync the iOS contacts to your gmail account. I run both os's and use gmail as my primary contacts store.

Same here, and one of my handsets tends to change every 4-6 months, I just sign in to Gmail and sync and all my contacts are there.

If you'd prefer not to use gmail for your contacts, you can also use something like CardDAV-Sync on your Android device which will pull in from your iCloud account. If you use Apple two-step authentication, then you will need to create an app specific password for the app to work on the Android device.

My apologies for the sort of double post above. I am traveling by road in Africa and my cell signal is very patchy. I thought I had lost the first post and in the process of posting it again I managed to duplicate some text in the first one. I am now going via a scratchpad and then pasting it in when happy with the text.

Is that an ongoing sync, or a one-off operation i.e. if I subsequently make a change to my Apple contacts will it ripple through to my Android contacts ?

No, when you look at that link they are one-time use solutions. I have no problem finding one of those. I was just hoping someone might say "oh yes I have exactly that problem, and this is how I solved it".

I used to use SmoothSync to have full access to the iCloud contacts and calendars on my Android devices. It worked quite well at the time. These days I just use MS Exchange for everything and don't bother with either Google or Apple for syncing my main notes, reminders, contacts and calendars. Still use iCloud for Photostream and device backups though.

Ongoing, both devices use the same online contacts store, updates/additions from either appear on the other. My defaults contacts in iOS is set to gmail, I may have had to export all my apple contacts from iCloud.com as a vCard and imported them into gmail.com via a pc but it was so long ago I can't remember. So technically it might have been one one one-off operation and one ongoing due to configuring iOS to use gmail as the default for all new contacts.

In my configuration old contacts will be updated in iCloud (I haven't disabled it) as the gmail and iCloud contacts are linked, but I don't believe new contacts will appear in iCloud due to all new iOS contacts defaulting to gmail. So ultimately it won't do what the op requires, my bad.

From the sound of it, it seems like I will have to settle for a one way street by finding an Android app that can dynamically keep my Google contacts refreshed from my iCloud ones - if such an app even exists.

Does such an app exist ?

Sorry, I should have said i.e. an app that is read-only as far as iCloud is concerned, but keeps my Android contacts synced (even once a day would be adequate).

Did you try the ones mentioned already. They are both from the same developer.

As I already said, those are one-off, not one-way. They do not solve my problem.
I think I will give up on my quest to use IOS and and Android seamlessly. I'm finding this Moto G pretty rubbish anyway, I shall relegate it to be my Sonos remote control

SmoothSync isn't one off. It gives you full read and write access to the iCloud contacts. They update in both directions.

Sorry, I thought you were referring to the link posted above by Stiggles. I'll take a look at Smoothsync, it does seem to do the job thanks.

I have now tried Smoothsync but I immediately hit a problem with my login credentials. Despite giving correct credentials it tells me they are invalid. I suspect it is because I have two factor authentication on my iCloud account. Has anyone else set up Smoothsync this way ?

Maybe misinterpreted what your asking
But I sync ios and google this way using the carddev option
http://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT202302
https://support.google.com/mail/answer/2753077?hl=en

Yep. You need to set up an app specific password if using 2 factor authorisation. http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT6186

Doh! I've noticed that app specific two factor thing but never taken any notice.
Thanks