CardDAV-Sync FAQ

Please append your question to the end of this page.

Is CardDAV-Sync open source Software?

Currently it isn't, but it is planned to make it open source once it evolves to version 1.0.

Update: Some parts are already open source. See open source status for details.

Why don't you make it open source right now?

Because it's not ready yet. Some parts of the source code are quite messy, it would be too embarrassing to publish it ;-)

Is it safe to use two-way-sync?

I'm using two-way-sync myself and I know of many users using it as well. So far I've not heard of any serious data loss or corruption. Still, the source code it not stabilized yet and every modification can bring new bugs, so use it with care. (Making backups on a regular base is a good idea anyway).

How do I setup CardDAV-Sync with ...

Please see the list of Supported servers & services then select your server/service to see the set up instructions.

I can create/edit a contact's name and photo only!?!

This is a known issue in Android 2.x. The stock contact editor is not capable of editing contacts from custom sources (please see Issue 5988). To address this issue I've taken the editor from the Android 2.1 sources and made it work with custom sources. Its available at the market as Contact Editor free or Contact Editor Pro (the later one has several improvements over the stock editor)

I can not add contacts to my CardDAV account on my HTC One device!

That's known bug in HTC Sense. Please read HTC Sense issue.

It doesn't sync! What can I do?

Please have a look at Supported servers & services first. Maybe there is a known issue with your server. Otherwise please read "How to report bugs" and send me a bug report.

My accounts are gone when I reboot the phone!

You've probably moved the app onto the SD card. Android loads all sync adapters during boot. If a sync adapter is not found, a "clean up" method is triggered. This method is important to remove dead accounts when you uninstall a sync adapter. If you move the app to SD then it may not be available during the account check (as the SD card may be mounted at a later time) and your accounts will be removed. So the fix is: Move the app back to the internal memory.

Two-way-sync doesn't seem to work!?

There is one major misconception when it comes to syncing contacts that already existed on the phone before CardDAV-Sync was set up! By design, Android separates contacts from different accounts internally. CardDAV-Sync creates a separate empty address book (i.e. account) and keeps it in sync with the server. Contacts from other address books are not taken into account on sync. To sync a contact to your CardDAV server you'll have to create it explicitly in your CardDAV account. This is the behaviour most people expect, your address books don't get merged (Android just merges them when it presents the contacts list to you). Google contacts don't get synced to your CardDAV server and vice versa! Same is true for local contacts or any other contacts source. There are apps to copy/move contacts from one account to another (just search for "copy contacts").

I've a new self-signed certificate, how can I get the app to accept it without recreating the account

After changing the certificate CardDAV-Sync will show a notification in the notification bar during the next sync with an option to accept the new certificate.

Does CardDAV-Sync support auto-provisioning? How does it work?

Please see auto-provisioning for an explanation of this feature.

My Motorola device does not sync automatically, I always have to sync manually

An user reported this is due to a default setting on some Motorola devices. Please see https://forums.motorola.com/posts/d276744989 for the solution.

Contacts are added to the wrong account. How can I change the account?

In Android 4 the stock contacts app only asks once for which account to use when adding new contacts. However you can change the account afterwards using the account selection field on top. see "Change account in contacts app".

My phone is rooted / I have a custom ROM installed and your app behaves weird.

Custom ROMS, like CyanogenMod may have special privacy apps ("privacy guard", "PDroid", etc) which can restrict the permissions of an app. This is a useful feature e.g. to prevent free apps from loading ads but also causes problems for legitimate ones. Please make sure that you have given our app the necessary permissions.

I have Two-Step Authentication enabled for my Apple account and can't login.

You probably need to set an app specific password. Have a look at Two-Step Authentication for iCloud.

The automatic synchronisation doesn't work! I always need to manually trigger a sync.

Make sure that the option "auto-sync data" is enabled on your device. It can be found in the system settings under "Data usage". Note that sometimes an Upgrade/Update of the Android version implicitly disables the option.

How can I set a custom message (SMS) tone?

Short answer: you can't. Slighty longer answer: there's no official way documented in the Android SDK. Apparently it works on some devices but this is vendor specific. We'll need to do some more research on this matter.

Why does my phone always open the pre-installed contact editor app and not your Contact Editor Free / Contact Editor Pro?

There are two possibilities:

1.) another contact editor app is set as default. Do you see a list of apps to choose from when you want to edit a contact? If not, go to: system settings - apps - all - <the app that's opened by default>. You should an option to clear its default status here.

2.) for some reason your Contacts app doesn't support third-party contact editor apps. If that's the case please install an alternative app, e.g. "DW Contacts" or "True Contacts".

The account setup was successfully and according to the log my contacts were synced correctly. Why can't I see them?

You need to make sure that your address books are set to visible in your contacts app. This is especially important when you've already made a custom list of "contacts to display". New address books, ie. the ones that are synced by CardDAV-Sync are not enabled by default then. In case of doubt switch the settings back to "all contacts".

Why do I see the same address books twice in my contacts app?

Probably because you typed the full URL to the address book during account setup. Please only enter the URL to the principal. For most servers, the URL is mentioned here