jeremyrandall /

I’ve been trying for awhile to get an iPod touch to sync fully with Google Calendar.

I had a bit of a false start recently: Google Calendar can sync with the current version of Apple’s iCal and iCal can sync with an iPod touch. But the synced calendar on the iPod touch can’t be edited, so it’s not very useful as, like, a usable calendar. Wacky.

Now Google has added ActiveSync to Google Calendar, which an iPod touch or an iPhone can sync with directly via wireless. Basically an iPod touch or an iPhone thinks the Google Calendar server is an Exchange server running the ActiveSync protocol so the magic ensues.

For this to work, you need to have the latest 2.2 version of the iPod touch or iPhone software installed on the device.

For more information about syncing with Google Calendar, see: http://www.google.com/mobile/apple/sync.html.

For instructions to set it up, see: http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?answer=138740

And yes, this works with the Google Apps version and the standard Google Calendar.

The tricky part is choosing which calendars to sync; up to five are supported.

To choose which calendars to sync — after the initial setup — go into the Safari browser on the iPod touch or iPhone and browse to one of the following URLs:

• For the standard Google Calendar, go to http://m.google.com/sync.
• For the Google Apps version, go to https://m.google.com/sync/settings/a/[yourdomain]/ — you must include the https at the start and the slash at the end or it will redirect somewhere else. This one isn’t well documented, but I have confirmed it works.

Once all your calendars are selected, this is pretty great stuff. Of course this is still beta, so backup your information and expect there may be some hiccups along the way.