How do I Sync Airtable Contacts with iCloud Contacts?

[Chloe_Dalton]

Hi there,

Is there any way I am able to sync my Airtable contacts with my iCloud contacts so all of the contacts on my Airtable will also be on my iPhone? And vice versa. Without having to do it manually of course.

Let me know, thank you.

[Justin_Barrett]

Welcome to the community, @Chloe_Dalton! :grinning_face_with_big_eyes: This would require you to enlist the help of a service like Zapier or Integromat. I built a system for someone a couple months ago that synced between Airtable and Google Contacts using Integromat, and have been considering building something similar for Apple, but just haven’t had the time (preparing for a cross-country move that happens in just over a week). A quick look at the Apple iOS module in Integromat, though, tells me that the process may be slightly more complex, but still doable. I’ll probably work out the details once the dust has settled from our move, and make plans to demo both systems on my new Airtable-focused YouTube channel eventually. If you have an urgent need for this system, I suggest posting in the Work Offered category to see if someone can do the job.

[Chloe_Dalton]

Thanks for that Justin! I ended up exporting the contacts into an excel spreadsheet, saving it as a csv., and then importing that into the contacts app. It was a quick solution but will have to do all of the contacts manually moving forward. It would be amazing if you created a way to sync them in the future, I’ll be holding out for that!

[Sam_Hancock]

I’d like to do that also! I’m a newbie to aurtable and would like to add from contacts to various records and entries. Would be nice to connect the apps or better yet, drag and drop from contacts.

[anna_johnson]

Step 1: Export Contacts from Airtable
Open Airtable Contacts
Select all the contacts you want to export and click on More icon […]. Select Download CSV

Step 2: Convert CSV to vCard v3.0 or v 4.0
On Windows use: Excel to VCF Converter
On Mac machine, use: CSV to vCard Converter

Step 3: Import vCard to iCloud
Log in to iCloud and open Contacts
Click Settings >> Import vCard
Select and add the vCard file
All Airtable Contacts will get synced with iCloud Contacts

[OfficeOurs]

Use google contacts as an intermediary. It won't make them icloud contacts but you'll have them on your iphone.

For adding & updating contacts:

1. Add your google account to your iphone and make sure you check off "Sync Contacts".
2. Add a last modified field to your contacts and have it watch whatever fields you want to trigger an update.
3. Set up a Make.com (formerly integromat) scenario
   1. The trigger is any change to that last modified field.
   2. Search google contacts for any matching names.
   3. Router: If it finds a match go to update google contact, if not to create google contact.
   4. Update or create google contacts as needed
   5. Update your airtable that its been synced - create another airtable field for this.

For deleting contacts:

1. Create an single select Airtable field called "Delete" with options of "Delete" and "Done"
2. Have that "last modified" field from earier watch this too.
3. In make:
   1. Add a route to the ake router: If delete is = "Delete"
   2. Delete google contact
   3. Update the Airtable "Delete" field to "Done" 
4. Back in Airtable:
   1. Create an Automation triggered if the delete field is "Done"
   2. have that run the following script

let table = base.getTable("Contacts");
let config = input.config();
let record = config.record;
await table.deleteRecordAsync(record);
console.log("Deleted record ", record);​