Programs for synchronizing Android with a personal computer. A program for synchronizing your phone with your computer: what is it for? Best Sync Apps

Users with a busy work schedule need to plan their tasks and in the 21st century, most of them refuse a diary and organizer. After all, contacts in conjunction with a calendar should always be at hand, and in the same state on all devices. Let's look at applications and online services for optimal data synchronization between a computer and mobile devices: be it a smartphone, tablet or a familiar mobile phone on a popular OS.

I mentioned diaries and organizers for a reason. For example, most of my colleagues painstakingly record their current affairs and upcoming events in these “miracles of printing.” If you are in the office, look around or walk through the offices and you will see that this type of reminder is popular. In turn, users of tablets and smartphones can allow themselves to relax, because they will receive reminders on time and in advance, and will also find out all the information about the contact at any time. Many people simply do not know or do not know how to use the functionality of their mobile phone. Those who prefer diaries store their contacts and meeting notes in notebooks or, in extreme cases, on their home PC in electronic form, while users of modern mobile devices keep the necessary addresses and phone numbers ready and receive automatic reminders about upcoming events. Nowadays, all mobile operating systems have a contact and calendar management feature that helps the user interact better. In most cases, difficulties arise when the user has to synchronize data with other devices in a way that is both convenient and reliable.
If we consider the simplest and most optimal method, then it is better to use the free cloud services of Google, Apple or Microsoft. Most modern mobile devices are built on the operating systems of these 3 companies. Each OS contains tools for synchronizing mobile systems with Windows-based computers and running smoothly in the background.

Sync your mobile phone and computer: apps for Android, iOS and Windows Phone

I will offer the best utilities for synchronizing data between your home computer and smartphones/tablets based on iOS, Android or Windows Phone. We will also consider online services that conveniently keep information up to date on devices for all mobile operating systems. The ability to conveniently integrate a computer running Windows OS into the Google and Apple clouds, as well as secure synchronization of Android devices with a computer running Microsoft OS on a home network, will not go unnoticed.

iOS Windows Phone
Synchronization with PC via the Internet
via iCloud - a free cloud service from Apple with the ability to connect an iPhone/iPad/iPod and save media files, contacts and events via Google - every owner of an Android device has a GMail service account, which allows you to manage contacts, files and calendar. via Outlook—Windows Phone device users with a Microsoft account can store contacts and calendars online at Outlook.com
using Outlook and eM Client using Outlook, eM Client or Thunderbird
Synchronization with web services of other systems
Google and Outlook.com iCloud and Outlook.com Google and Outlook.com
Synchronization with a computer via your home network
using iTunes or BirdieSync using BirdieSync and MyPhoneExplorer using Akruto and CompanionLink
using Outlook
Synchronization via home server

Simple calendar server based on Synology Network Attached Storage (NAS)

Synology has direct support for the open calendar protocol CalDAV.

iOS and Android can work with it.

Baikal (baikal-server.com) or ownCloud (ownclowd.com)

These server utilities synchronize both contacts and calendar, but do not work with the Windows Phone mobile OS.

Zarafa (zarata.com) or Tine 2.0 (tine20.com)

These sophisticated Open Source programs use the Exchange Active Sync protocol and work with all 3 operating systems.

iOS Windows Phone

Synchronizing data on mobile devices via the Internet

Synchronizing data between your smartphone and computer via major web services is especially convenient. Let's look at how to connect your mobile devices to Gmail, iСloud and Facebook services.

1. Connect your Android device to your Google account. Experienced Android users immediately create Gmail accounts and use its features the first time they set up their phone. But there are also owners of Android devices who ignore or are not aware of this functionality. The latter can set up a Google account using the option "Options | Accounts and Sync | Add account | Add Google Account" . Using this option, Android will automatically transfer all locally stored contacts and events, as well as many other data, to Google Cloud. To make sure online synchronization is working, just go to "Options | Google | Name [Google Account]" . Please note that you can manage your address book and calendar from any device with a browser and Internet access at the following addresses: google.com/contacts or google.com/calendar. To organize access, you need to log in to these Google services under your account.

2. How to add iPhone or iPad to iCloud. To synchronize an Apple device (iPhone or iPad) with iCloud, you need to open in the menu "Settings | iCloud", enter your Apple ID to register and confirm your consent to the transfer of contact and calendar information. iCloud also has a convenient web interface: contacts are stored on the page icloud.com/contacts, and events - on icloud.com/calendar.

3. Synchronization of the eM Client program with Google. To synchronize your web account with your home computer, you can use the eM Client application, which is a convenient alternative to Outlook. The free version of the application can synchronize two accounts. During installation, at the import stage from Outlook, select "Skip import" , and then click the button "Further" . When setting up automatically, enter your Google account in the appropriate field. Before completing the setup, the program will ask what exactly you want to synchronize: emails, contacts or calendar. Then it will (automatically) match all the data on your Google account, Android smartphone and your Windows-based PC.

4. How to add Apple Cloud to eM Client. iCloud is also integrated into eM Client by adding an account. To do this, open «Tools | Accounts | Create an account" . Then go to the bookmark "Calendar and Contacts" and double click on "iCIoud Calendar" run the setup. Enter your iCIoud username, password and confirm everything with the button "Further" . In the settings, specify the need to synchronize calendars, contacts and mail. To synchronize mail, you need to activate the function "iCloud Email" on Mac OS or iOS, otherwise you will receive an error message.

5. Uploading Facebook calendar via GMail. Using the eM Client application, you can also import contacts and events from Facebook, but with read-only access. The address book is downloaded via "File | Import | Import contacts from Facebook" . You can't import calendars directly, so you'll have to turn to Google Calendar for help. To do this, open your browser, log in to Facebook, left-click on the item "Activity" , then next to the calendar icon in the upper right corner - the gear symbol and select the option "Export" . In the window that opens, you will see two links, one of which leads to the birthday calendar, and the other to the events calendar. Right-click on the desired link and save it using the option "Copy link address" . Now, to add a calendar to Google, open the web page in your browser google.com/calendar and click the arrow next to "Other Calendars" and then select from the drop-down menu "Add by URL" . Here enter the copied address and import it using the option "Add calendar" . Now, to download your Facebook calendar to your personal computer, you only need to restart eM Client. This way you can export both links from Facebook: birthdays and the event calendar.

Using the free Windows program MyPhoneExplorer, you can synchronize data between Android and Thunderbird or Outlook, which is installed on your home PC.

1. Local synchronization of Android devices. Install the MyPhoneExplorer client from the Google Play Store on your mobile device. Since this procedure requires a Gmail account, your smartphone is likely already syncing data with Google. This feature can be disabled by opening "Options | Accounts | Google | [Username]" and unchecking the boxes "Calendar" And "Contacts" . Unfortunately, Android does not allow you to save contacts without linking them to a specific account, so users are simply forced to link their contacts to Gmail. Because of this, there is a risk of transferring data to third parties against your will, for example if an operating system update automatically reactivates disabled synchronization. The MyLocalAccount app from the developers of MyPhoneExplorer eliminates this shortcoming by creating a local phone account. Install the application from the Play Store, go to "Settings | Accounts | Add a new account" and select . Now click on the list of accounts and check the box next to the item "Contacts" to link them to your account.

2. Setting up the MyPhoneExplorer application. To create a local calendar, launch MyPhoneExplorer on your smartphone and click on "Settings" . You can create a personal calendar in the menu «Calendars for synchronization | Create a new local calendar" . Using the option “Add new events to... | [Calendar name]" Set the calendar as the default location for saving events transferred from your PC. Contacts are linked to your phone account via “Add new contacts to... | MyLocalAccount" . Option "Telephone" There is no need to select, since Android will re-link the contacts to Google after restarting. In addition, you can set the synchronization program to turn on itself at home: this can be done by opening “Start client automatically | [Wi-Fi connection name]" . After clicking the Home button, the application will start running in the background.

3. Installing Thunderbird and Lightning. Users who don't like Outlook use Mozilla's Thunderbird email client with the Lightning calendar add-on to synchronize with their PC. To get started, install Thunderbird on your computer and when you start the program, to set up your mail account, select the option "Skip this and use my existing email" . Then, by clicking on the symbol in the form of three stripes, which is located in the upper right corner of the program window, go to the menu "Extras" , find the Lightning calendar extension and click on the button "Add to Thunderbird" . To complete the installation process, you must restart Thunderbird and close it again.

4. Create a connection between your smartphone and PC. Install MyPhoneExplorer on your computer. In the program that opens, select "File | Settings | Connection | Phone with Google Android OS" and confirm by clicking on “OK”. The smartphone and computer are connected using the option "File | To plug" . Whether you use a USB or WiFi connection, in both cases the MyPhone Explorer application must also be running on your mobile device. To connect via USB, you will also need to activate the “No USB Debugging” mode in the “For Developers” smartphone settings menu. Because if you lose your smartphone, it could pose a security risk to your data, turn it off immediately after syncing.

5. Synchronization with Thunderbird. To have MyPhoneExplorer synchronize data with your program, open the menu "File | Settings | Synchronization" and in the fields next to the items "Contacts" And "Calendar" select accordingly "Thunderbird" or "Outlook Express" . Under the “Start” item, you can set automatic connection to your smartphone and multi-sync for contacts, events and other data. To use the capabilities of automatic synchronization even more fully, on the “Multi-synchronization” tab, activate all the items in the section “Starting multi-synchronization...” . Now the utility will automatically synchronize data when establishing and ending each connection. To synchronize, confirm your actions by clicking “OK” and click on the blue circle with white arrows or select «Miscellaneous | Perform multi-sync" . When you first launch, you must agree to install the plugin for MyPhoneExplorer, and henceforth synchronization will be performed automatically.

Therefore, synchronizing a PC with Android is quite problematic.

Android phones are pretty good for listening to music and using a calendar, provided you can download all of this to your gadget.

Some gadgets have their own developed solutions, but the basic package does not provide any features. For example, HTC Hero and Motorola Devour offer certain synchronization methods, but these are the exception rather than the rule. But even though they give you the ability to connect to a PC, this feature is quite limited. Since the Android OS comes in several versions and differs across different device models, below are tips and solutions that work for most of them.

Getting Started

If you are just starting to use your phone, you will simply need to set up a Google Gmail account. There is no need to neglect her. It may seem a little unreasonable that you have to use a new email address just to use your phone, but trust me, it's easier than other methods. First of all, sign up for a Gmail account and link everything you can to it. from a PC, calendar and some other functions is possible using this service. Everything on offer - Maps, Buzz, YouTube and more - is all linked seamlessly to the Android interface, so using all these features with one account on your phone will make your life much easier.

Sync PC with Android: Multimedia

To sync photos, music and videos on your device, DoubleTwist is your best choice. This service imports iTunes playlists and automatically reformats almost any type of multimedia into the format you require for your phone. The app itself is a bit imperfect, but it will do a good job of helping you download audio and video files to your smartphone. However, remember that videos purchased from iTunes will not sync with your phone.

Of course, you can also copy files to a MicroSD card. But dragging data like this will not allow you to save your playlists and will not help you convert video files. DoubleTwist can help you with both issues, and syncing your PC to Android this way is quite easy.

Email

In case you want to integrate email with your Android device, you need to use Gmail. this service is truly more advanced than any other option. If you don't intend to use Gmail as your personal email, you'll have to manually set up your email using POP3, Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, or IMAP, which is supported by almost all Android phones. Select the general E-mail icon on the screen and enter your details.

Contacts

Once you create a Google account, you can immediately copy your contacts to it. To get your contacts into your Google account, you need to export them from some program as a CSV file. Synchronizing a PC with Android is also possible using other services - you can import data from various applications.

Global solution

There is also software like The Missing Sync for Android and CompanionLink for Google, but they are only available for a fee and are not very cheap. Both of these services will cost you $39.95. However, thanks to them, it is possible to fully synchronize an Android tablet with a PC, as well as a smartphone of any model.

All users of the Android operating system know that thanks to built-in synchronization, it is possible to synchronize accounts on social networks, email services, cloud storage and other places with the device. However, Android can be synchronized not only with Internet services, but even with your personal computer. This can be done using special free applications, but how exactly to do this? - We'll talk about this below!

Synchronization program for Android: Video

How to sync Android with computer?

Synchronization using the My Phone Explorer application. The application allows you to synchronize your smartphone with your computer using either a USB cable or a Wi-Fi router.

Synchronization via USB cable:

Synchronization using a Wi-Fi router

To sync using Wi-Fi, you need to download an additional app to pair your devices.
  1. Install the add-on following the installer's prompts;
  2. Select and enter a password to connect;
  3. Ready! The programs will synchronize with your computer via a Wi-Fi network.
The application has a very simple interface, thanks to which even a child can cope with installation and configuration.

Synchronization using FTP server method

In order to synchronize your smartphone with your computer via FTP, you will need to turn your gadget into a real FTP server. To do this, you need to download and install an application called -. This utility allows you to activate a functioning FTP server with just one click.

After installing the application, a large red button will appear on the main screen in front of you, by clicking which you will automatically activate the FTP server.

Android time synchronization app: Video

The application creates a kind of shared file network between your smartphone and computer, thanks to which you can exchange files and even edit them.

The program will give you an IP address to connect to and all you have to do is enter this IP address into the FTP client on your computer or in Explorer (in the remote desktop connection section) to connect and gain access to files.

Synchronizing time with PC

To synchronize the time of your smartphone and computer, I recommend using an application called ClockSync. This application will allow you to synchronize the displayed date and time on your PC with the date and time on your smartphone.

This is useful if you travel long distances around the world and move between different time zones.

The program is easy to use and install; you can understand how to synchronize with it by following simple prompts in the program itself.

Synchronization of SMS and contacts

To synchronize SMS and contacts, there is a program such as. It is very easy to use, after installation and launch, the program will give you a unique IP address, you can enter this IP address in the browser on your computer and thus gain access to your smartphone.

The application allows you to easily manage contacts and SMS on your smartphone using your computer. The program interface is made as clear as possible, so even inexperienced users should not have any problems.

Synchronizing Android devices with PC: Video

Data synchronization is the process of eliminating differences between two copies of information. In our case, this is eliminating the differences between the data on the Android device and its copy on the personal computer. It allows you to duplicate important information so as not to immediately lose valuable data stored on your smartphone.

For Android devices, synchronization with a computer is carried out by connecting the smartphone using several methods: via Wi-Fi and via the USB interface. To synchronize a gadget with a computer via a wireless interface, the Airdroid utility is widely used; for wired synchronization, the best solutions are MyPhoneExplorer and MoboRobo.

MyPhoneExplorer

I use this particular program for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is free, and secondly, it synchronizes data, making backup copies on the computer, and not just an interface for transferring data with additional functionality, like many analogues. MyPhoneExplorer is capable of synchronizing address book contacts with Microsoft Outlook, Google Gmail and other services. It can also archive text messages, import or export them, view call history, contact history, export and import organizer entries.

A special feature of the application is that you need to install the server part on your PC, and the client part on your smartphone. After connecting your Android phone to your computer, the utility will prompt you to synchronize automatically.

To connect your phone to your computer via MyPhoneExplorer, you must enable USB debugging mode on it. The latest version of the program allows you to connect to a PC using a wireless Wi-Fi connection.

Google Play: download MyPhoneExplorer for Android free

Airdroid

Unlike MyPhoneExplorer, the development from SAND STUDIO has a more modern interface, but at the same time is very different in functionality. It is more aimed at managing the device. Airdroid allows you to get full access to your Android device and perform virtually any action with it. The list of utility features includes:

  • transfer any files between devices;
  • duplicating application notifications from phone to PC;
  • viewing, transferring and editing phone book entries;
  • replacing signals on a smartphone;
  • viewing the gadget screen (if you have root rights) on your computer;
  • import and export of installation files (apk);
  • using a computer keyboard to enter text into your phone;
  • sharing clipboard contents between computer and phone.
  • search for a phone on the map, similar functionality to .

One of the features of synchronization via a wireless network via Airdroid is a significantly lower data transfer speed and the need for a Wi-Fi network, which is not always convenient, especially when using a computer rather than a laptop. The developers have introduced such a feature into the program as taking a photograph using the front camera of someone who incorrectly enters the password to enter the application.

Google Play: download Airdroid for Android free

MoboRobo

A new free utility with a wide range of tools for managing your contact list and applications on iOS and Android devices from a personal computer. The application is Russified, but many of the inscriptions contain errors or are not translated at all.

You can download it from the iTunes store or GooglePlay. MoboRobo features:

  • transferring information from the phone to the computer via a USB interface;
  • creating backup copies of contacts, messages, call logs, wallpapers, etc.;
  • batch installation of programs from the PC file system or from the GooglePlay store;
  • editing contacts and transferring them between devices on Android and iOS platforms;
  • transferring data to a new phone.

In addition to the indicated programs, there are many less popular ones that have a rich set of functions. Let's briefly consider their capabilities and features.

Android-Sync– designed to synchronize an Android phone with Outlook via the Internet or USB interface. The application transmits data through your local account, which prevents unauthorized persons from accessing the information.

PC Suite for Android– a Chinese program for synchronizing contacts, setting themes, wallpapers, viewing device data and reading SMS messages on your phone from a computer.

DoubleTwist Sync– a quick utility for synchronizing multimedia data between a computer and an Android gadget.

Despite the fact that modern mobile phones (smartphones) themselves can be called pocket computers to a fairly high degree, to control them or to perform some important actions that are not available on the devices themselves, all kinds of programs are often used to synchronize the phone with a computer ( desktop terminal or laptop). What they are for and which applications are the best in their class will be shown below.

Quite roughly, all applications can be divided into two main types: universal utilities and applications created by mobile device manufacturers exclusively for their devices. In addition, control applets and entertainment software, including emulators of mobile systems in a stationary environment, can be combined into separate categories.

Why do you need a program to synchronize your phone with your computer?

Let's start with the fact that most applications of this type allow you to use all the functions included in your smartphone directly on your PC. Also, exporting contacts and creating backup copies for recovery if something happens to the phone are considered one of the most popular tools among users.

Of course, this is not the entire list of tools. There are also specialized applets like Mobogenie. This program for synchronizing your phone with your computer can not only provide management tools, but also serves as an Android emulator among other operating systems. In other words, on the same Windows systems based on this platform, you can run any Android application installed on a smartphone. In addition, it has something like a store with applets recommended for installation, which can be tested directly in the program, without even installing it on a mobile device.

Main actions performed

As for the main tools that are present in most of these utilities, the main ones include the following:

  • synchronization and export/import of contacts;
  • creating backup copies;
  • call and message management;
  • presence of an organizer (calendar, alarm clock, etc.);
  • tools for organizing files and folders;
  • device status monitoring;
  • smartphone protection and the ability to search for it using GPS if lost, etc.

Please note that this is only a general and not a complete list of tools. Some specialized utilities designed for use with smartphone models from a specific manufacturer have many additional functions. Today, such management software can be found for almost every well-known brand. In addition, such utilities can use several types of connections (USB, Bluetooth or Wi-Fi) in their work. Data from the phone can be saved both on the computer’s hard drive and on removable media, and even moved to a cloud storage that is different from those offered by the operating systems themselves that run mobile devices.

The best universal programs for synchronizing your phone with your computer

Let's leave aside applications for specific models for now, and pay attention to universal utilities that can be used to synchronize with smartphones from any manufacturer.

  • MyPhoneExplorer;
  • MoboRobo;
  • AirDroid.
  • iTunes;
  • iCloud;
  • Cydia.

Windows Phone

  • Zune (you can also use built-in desktop OS tools).

In principle, any program for synchronizing a phone with a computer presented in the list has a standard set of tools for managing mobile devices, and the difference between them can be quite insignificant (although for Windows devices there are somewhat more possibilities, since you can also manage the phone from a computer, and computer from phone).

Specialized utilities

Now a few words about utilities that are produced directly by mobile device developers.

For example, for synchronizing a Samsung phone with a computer, the Kies program is best suited (it is, as they say, tailored specifically for models of this brand). The Samsung PC Studio utility also looks quite interesting.

To manage Nokia smartphones, Nokia PC Suite is the most advanced tool available.

To synchronize a Lenovo phone with a computer, the Lenovo Idea Tool program in Russian is the best option (although it is not very widespread). You can equally use utilities like Lenovo PC Suite.

For Sony smartphones, one of the best utilities can be called Xperia Companion.

Any such program for synchronizing your phone with a computer takes into account the features of each smartphone model and offers completely different capabilities. It is worth mentioning separately that the kit may contain not only control modules, but even tools for installing new firmware or restoring factory ones.

What is better to use

As for the question of preferences, we can only advise one thing: if you have software designed for a smartphone from a specific manufacturer, it is better to use it. You understand that there will be more opportunities in the utilities themselves, and there will be no failures when connecting or performing any actions. In the case of universal utilities, MyPhoneExplorer can be recommended as the simplest but most powerful program, since the application works with almost all types of well-known mobile devices (with the exception of Apple devices).