Database Users

How the hell did Google get my entire contact database?

Some of you are aware of how "paranoid" I am, and refuse to have my Calendar and Contact synced via google.
Just before I did my firmware upgrade today, I used an application in the market place called MyBackup, but I carefully avoided choosing to backup to local (SD card) and not Online.
After I flashed the new firmware and made the restore, I discoverd to my horror that all my contacts are now having the symbol "g" within a square, which I understood to be indicative of the fact that these contact are now also stored in Google's server somewhere, and none of the contact are coming from my phone! So, MyBackup restored my entire contact database from my phone to the cloud rather than my phone? There is not single contact entry on my phone now. Everything I have is shown to be from Google.
Anyone knows how the hell could this happen? Is MyBackup a sneaky program which steal all these information and put it to the cloud without my consent?
I'm really really pissed
Now I'm forced to put in dummy tel number and address, birthday to all my contact and let Google get the false data, before abandoning Google phone platform all together. THIS IS EVIL, SNEAKY, UNETHICAL !!!

You really are paranoid .
I don't think MyBackup Pro actually stores all your contacts on some Google server - I think the app just assumes they are Google contacts. I've stopped using it for backing up contacts for a different reason: because it duplicates everything when restoring it - a real PITA. And by everything I mean everything - linked contacts become multiple independent contacts, some of them without any details and impossible to delete without a factory reset. I'm actually using Kies for that now (ironic, no? ).
Do you have a Google account for using the phone with? The simple thing do is to log in there and check whether your contacts are actually in there. If not then they probably aren't.
If you are that paranoid perhaps put the phone into airplane mode when you backup?

I think you are being a bit paranoid here. Besides google might just keep changelogs on the contact which would render you attempt with dummy info useless.

I just checked. I don't see any entry under contact when I signed in. Whew!
But please explain to me why all my contacts now are displayed under the google heading? (You know the display option in contact lets us select contact on the SIM, Phone, or Google?), now all my entries are under google. Yet, I don't see any thing there (yet?)
According to this thread, I think there's still a possibility that my details has already been taken without my permission, although it's not reflected in the contact list in google account.
I'm confused...
To anyone of you thinking that I'm paranoid, one day you will know I'm right. The world just isn't as innocent as you think.
I have to very seriously re-evaluate whether I would want an Android phone. It's way too open, anyone can take information from me, since there is no QA done on the market place applications.

Think someone's had a bit too much wacky tobacco.

GOT you info
I could be wrong but all my contact say Google except the one i use my HTC Sync to transfer my work email from Outlook.
By the way i can see all of your contacts. You were too late!!!

eaglesteve said:
To anyone of you thinking that I'm paranoid, one day you will know I'm right. The world just isn't as innocent as you think.
I have to very seriously re-evaluate whether I would want an Android phone. It's way too open, anyone can take information from me, since there is no QA done on the market place applications.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, for starters,
1) The [G] means they have been imported into your Google account. Probably, as mentioned by your backup. Go to Google Contacts and you can wipe them. But no, I don't believe they took them without your permissions.
2) What makes your email addresses so valuable? Do you honestly believe Google cares? Hahaha... Clearly, you don't know anyone who works at Google. I met a bunch and they really are all legends, and they know your rights. They are normal people, not politicians. This is in comparison to Apple people I know, who I post stuff to on their facebook wall, they remove it secretly and tell me by email that they didn't want their manager to see it.
3) If you are concerned about privacy, why can you trust the "MyBackup" program. did you install an applications which isn't open source?
Perhaps you should get a dumb phone or hack up your own firmware and remove Google's services?
You should also consider avoiding entering ANY google account if you don't trust them. Why did you enter them in the first place? To enter the market where Google could track your downloads, your location and your firmware? Seriously, I strongly urge you to sell your Android phone if you don't trust them. Instead, get a dumb phone. I however believe my contacts list is useless to Google, so have no problems sharing information with them

i don't know about that backup program you are using.
however, if you are concerned about the contacts @ google.
just login to your google account, and select DELETE all contacts, in your account.
then it'll be all gone
you can do the same for all the emails too.
once deleted they will no longer have your data on their servers.
eaglesteve said:
Some of you are aware of how "paranoid" I am, and refuse to have my Calendar and Contact synced via google.
Just before I did my firmware upgrade today, I used an application in the market place called MyBackup, but I carefully avoided choosing to backup to local (SD card) and not Online.
After I flashed the new firmware and made the restore, I discoverd to my horror that all my contacts are now having the symbol "g" within a square, which I understood to be indicative of the fact that these contact are now also stored in Google's server somewhere, and none of the contact are coming from my phone! So, MyBackup restored my entire contact database from my phone to the cloud rather than my phone? There is not single contact entry on my phone now. Everything I have is shown to be from Google.
Anyone knows how the hell could this happen? Is MyBackup a sneaky program which steal all these information and put it to the cloud without my consent?
I'm really really pissed
Now I'm forced to put in dummy tel number and address, birthday to all my contact and let Google get the false data, before abandoning Google phone platform all together. THIS IS EVIL, SNEAKY, UNETHICAL !!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

It's BackupPro when it restores the contacts it assigns them as Google. I made the mistake of backing-up and restoring contacts with this and spent the next hour wondering how I've got contacts with 3 Google entries when I was expecting only two.

I have no problem syncing all my data with Google's servers, but I want to remember everyone that the right of privacy is an absolute requirement for a working democracy.
If eaglesteve does not want his data being stored at a central repository then he has every right to freak out when it appears as if his contacts were synced with Google's Servers.
Of course, if he should believe that Google is after him personally, well, then this is probably a bad sign of paranoia

flamingpitofhell said:
You really are paranoid .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought the same until I saw he's in Australia.... the government over there is screwed up big time. The crap they are trying to do to their Internet is appalling.

I'm also paranoid about the same...i did this to solve (ive not an english firmware so will try to give simmilar instructions):
go to contacts -> menu -> more -> import/export and save all contacts to a vcard on SD, and connect to pc and save that vcard on pc.
Go into settings -> privacy -> "erase all data" (dunno how its called on english firmware)
then i chose to erase data on SD also after unmounting it.
After that i restarted phone without simcard and with volup+home+power i cleared cache and hard reseted it.
After that the phone boots with factory settings and without simcard and keep it that way and connect to internet via wireless after booting.
Then i checked if i had no contacts, there were none so all okay... went to menu, definitions -> "accounts and sincronization" and i added my google account, but i unchecked first the auto sync and data in second plan above (the options above, dunno how they are called in english firmware). Then the google account was added. Then i disabled wireless and checked the options i disabled in last step (the auto sync and the other), i opened the google account i added in last step and disabled all syncs there (sync calendar, contacts and gmail).
After that i went to contacts and restored all contacts via the vcard, all are stored on phone after that (via the same import/export option).
As a final option i went to my gmail and deleted all contacts synced... now the phone is not syncing with google in any way but i can use the market because i have a google acc added...
dunno if i explained myself well, it worked for me that way.

I'd love to hear some worst case scenarios of what you think might happen if mr google checks your contacts and finds your mate Fred's email address.
And also why you'd think anyone would want to know your contacts.
are you worried that your network provider has a log of who you called and when?

if they find Fred's address, Fred is effed.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

well.... i dont like to give my info/data away, just really when needed.... some years ago maybe not, but today, google and other companies have so much info about so much people around the world, and you dont even know if they use it or not, you are not there to check... they can for example see the places you visit more because of gps tracking, if people in some zone visit shoppings a lot and at what times, who your friends are and if they use android and gmail also (by contacts), and assemble strategies for their business based on that, because all we are giving is free info about what we do, who we are, who our friends are....that, for business activities is very valuable. And im not talking about gmail, with all valuable info about everyone, they are able to see all your info since you have all stuff stored on their servers and they dont need to tell to you anything about it and you dont even know they maybe will do it... i may be wrong, but thats my point of view, i didnt had that oppinion since a friend i have, erased all his mails from gmail telling me "google can use all my info for marketing purposes or another stuff"...
They give us free services, but there is no such things as free services... we pay with info to improve their business, thats my point of view...

I'm not concerned with the email of my friends. I'm concerned that their photos, address, birthday, spouse's name, children's name, telephone number, work place number, fax number, and everything is on the cloud, which means any hacker could get it, and the consequence would be serious. It's not giving MY details away. It's giving my friend's details away, and I don't want to do that to my friends.
In Australia, we have this thing called the Privacy law. You just can't come around and grab my wifi address, email login password, and claim that you make a mistake unintentionally. All these data stealings are deliberate.
For those of you saying that it's not a big deal, could you all in your next post show me your real photos, address, name, telephone numbers, birthday, spouse's name, children's name, and the other typical contact info on this forum.
So, now they grabbed my contact without my consent. Have they also grabbed my eWallet password file and are now cracking it?
I can't believe you guys are not seeing problem here.
Nuf said.

as long as google don't try to sell me anything they can do what they want with my data.
I'm pretty sure my bank and credit card company know more about me than google and their sales and junk mail are certainly more annoying than anything google ever did to me.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

How to sync back Facebook info to Google Contacts?

Did anyone find a way to sync back facebook information to google contacts? If you get birthdays, email and phone numbers from facebook in your phone, it would be great to have that back in google contacts when using the desktop.
Even when properly linked, this kind of information is only in the phone and gets lost, when you loose a contact as facebook friend.
Did anyone find a way to sync it back and preserve this information?
I looked already from Pontius to Pilatus on the web and can't find anything. ;(

Looks like nobody found any way yet...hmmmmm. :-/

Hm i think that you shoud sync phone contact with facebook, using Facebook aplication from market, and then try synching phone contact with google, I think this will work. Cause it works both ways, Google -> phone an Phone->google. Then if your contact list in the phne doest include contact photos from facebook, you should google for aplication Facebook Sync, or try to find it on market, this aplication will sync contacts photos, based on name comparisn. I hope this will help you.

Unfortunately that's what doesn't work at all. It should in theory.
But Facebook information is not synced back to Google Contacts this way. It's only in your phone. If you loose the facebook friend or they just deactivate their profile, you will loose the facebook link and the bits of info (email, phone numbers, birthdays) that may come with it.
It looks like the facebook info is not stored in the phone contact application (htc's 'people' app), but in a separate data base. It's really just a 'link' and nothing else. To be fair, it doesn't look like a pure htc sense problem, as stock android also doesn't do it.

the cool thing to do is to have an app that will copy the facebook info permanently to the contacts
check this tool out, maybe it helps AddressBookSync
or for windows try Fonebook
you could try also: memotoo which is webbased like soocial
or this greasemonkey script: facebook_phonebook_export.user.js

Hey I've managed to sync facebook birthday data about my friends into google account with app called EboBirthday Sync, it is free on market, and download a plugin EboBirthday Contact Sync too.

Thanks for the tips! Now we just need something to sync back emails and phone numbers from facebook back to google contacts.

There is today an article in golem.de, a german online magazine, that google would love to connect a new service called Google Me with facebook contacts and data. They are asking for facebook to open up for that.
Lol, what a joke! We have that data already in our google phones. Just add the option to sync it back to Google Contacts for gosh's sake!
No need for another 'buzz' or 'wave'.
Edit: and here is the WSJ article, golem was referring to.

I synced my contacts yesterday but now I have duplicates of every contact. Plus it's a shame that pictures don't sync.

nomad4ever said:
There is today an article in golem.de, a german online magazine, that google would love to connect a new service called Google Me with facebook contacts and data. They are asking for facebook to open up for that.
Lol, what a joke! We have that data already in our google phones. Just add the option to sync it back to Google Contacts for gosh's sake!
No need for another 'buzz' or 'wave'.
Edit: and here is the WSJ article, golem was referring to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Facebooks TOS does not allow for that, that's what they want Facebook to open up.

Any source for that info? I mean, the facebook info is in our phones already.
Is that not a violation of the TOS then also? I just want to have a backup of that data.
And if google can't do it, some modder should be able to, no?
Ah, that's frustrating! ;(

grandioso said:
I synced my contacts yesterday but now I have duplicates of every contact. Plus it's a shame that pictures don't sync.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using SyncMyPix to sync facebook photos with my contacts, seems to work okay, found on Market.

3 years gown the road - has anything changed? No!!
It's end of 2013 now, more than 3 years and the problem still persists.
Whenever I set up my phone or flash a new ROM, Facebook will mess up my phonebook with duplicate entries for the same person.
Did anyone find a way meanwhile, to extra emails and phone numbers from the Facebook contacts and sync them back into Google Contacts?
I can't believe this annoying problem hasn't bothered any capable programmers until now?

[Q] Contacts don't sync by default?

I've been on Windows Mobile for years, but my wife has been using the Aria the last few months. I just updated her phone to the latest Stock ROM (trying to keep things simple), and I'm kind of shocked that after re-syncing it with her Gmail account, none of her contact synced! I have very little Android experience, but I kind of figured that, synced all this time to a Gmail account, her phone would have saved all of her contacts there, and not just on the device's internal memory.
Before installing the ROM, I backed up call logs and some apps with Astro, but I didn't think I'd need the Contacts or her email accounts, stuff like that. Did I just wipe her address book, or are they supposed to be saved somewhere out there?

You sure they were saved to Google's servers? Syncing only saves your contacts if they are linked to your GMail account. They won't save if you saved them to Phone or SIM (although they will still be saved on the SIM, unless that was wiped too).

jeebuz said:
You sure they were saved to Google's servers?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At this point, I'm sure they weren't saved to Google's servers. I'm so surprised that Google, who automatically adds people to your Gmail contact list if you email them a few times, and tightly integrates the phone with a Gmail account, wouldn't automatically back up all phone contacts without specifically asking you to your Gmail account. My Windows Mobile phone contacts don't ask me if I want to save them to Exchange; they just do.
Since when does Microsoft "just work"? And Google doesn't?

blognc said:
At this point, I'm sure they weren't saved to Google's servers. I'm so surprised that Google, who automatically adds people to your Gmail contact list if you email them a few times, and tightly integrates the phone with a Gmail account, wouldn't automatically back up all phone contacts without specifically asking you to your Gmail account. My Windows Mobile phone contacts don't ask me if I want to save them to Exchange; they just do.
Since when does Microsoft "just work"? And Google doesn't?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you check her Google account to see if the contacts are saved there? If they are then you should still be able to sync them. If they're not then unless you did a nandroud they're gone. If you did a nandroid them you can just nandroid her current setup and restore the old nandroid, sync her contacts, and then reflash back to the current setup.
Sent from my cm7 Aria using XDA App

CallMeAria said:
Did you check her Google account to see if the contacts are saved there? If they are then you should still be able to sync them. If they're not then unless you did a nandroud they're gone. If you did a nandroid them you can just nandroid her current setup and restore the old nandroid, sync her contacts, and then reflash back to the current setup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They're definitely not in her Google Account. And I installed the latest Stock ROM, which I'm told cannot be rolled back, unless someone's cracked that yet.

blognc said:
They're definitely not in her Google Account. And I installed the latest Stock ROM, which I'm told cannot be rolled back, unless someone's cracked that yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh yea, no you're stuck then. I misunderstood, i thought you meant stock as in Liberated.
Sent from my cm7 Aria using XDA App

[Q] Outlook <-> Android sync without gmail account

Hi everyone,
I just bought new Motorola Defy and was quite excited about the phone. Finally a smartphone that can survive a little bit rough handling. It has quite good HW and for a reasonable price. There was nothing to think about; I just had to have it! Device of my dreams!
Now the dream is turning into a little nightmare. It seems like I can only use my phone if I let it send every piece of information straight to google (and Motorola). Have you read those thousand lines long agreements telling you, that you must obey this and that while they are responsible for nothing? Did you too think: “What the hell, do I no longer have any rights?” Never mind I tried my very best to avoid this. I created a dummy gmail account (to be able to use android market), disabled as many background data as possible and did my best to have everything under control.
And now the crucial part of my story: I desperately need to use my calendar. I have everything there. I need to sync my work calendar with my mobile and when I’m out of office, I need to be able to plan anyway and then sync it all back. We MUST use Microsoft Outlook. And the most important part (which many may try to discuss about, but there is really nothing to discuss as it is just a fact): everything MUST stay just in my phone, no kind help of google storing my data who knows where.
It was quite difficult to find a free program that would be able to sync my data just from Outlook to Android and back without google. Finally I found two which seemed to be OK: MyPhoneExplorer and Android-Sync. Life was great once again! So I created a test Outlook calendar at home, filled it with some events and tried to sync it with Defy. It was working! Splendid! When I went to Calendar -> More -> My calendars, there was a calendar named “Default”. OK.
As the calendar options were bit less than I expected from it I downloaded from android market application “Calendar Snooze”. Everything was as I was used from Windows Mobile 6.1 and as I needed it to be. I was prepared to sync my real work calendar.
The horror! While playing with my new mobile exploring even more settings and abilities I saw it. Suddenly my calendar was named as my dummy google account. What? Why? What if it sent all information to google despite all my efforts? IT REALLY DID! Though I tried so hard, it was all there and I wasn’t even asked whether I want it!!! I was furious! Unbelievable! Such arrogance! I was only thanking God for my paranoia and using test calendar. You can never be paranoid enough with google obviously!
I deleted all information from google calendar, reset mobile to factory default and started to try again. No google account this time. Knowing which applications I wanted I downloaded them from every possible website except android market (thanks God for such websites!). Then I wanted to sync my calendar once more, but hidden from google’s all-seeing eye. “Surprise, surprise,” said Mr. google. It was impossible! My beloved phone kept telling me: “You must synchronize a calendar before creating a new event. You can set up a calendar using google Mail or a Corporate Sync account.” WHAT???! So I created an fake e-mail account. No, it had to be an exchange or google account! I cannot use exchange. Security policy denies that. (Again, I saw many desperate people searching for solution of same problem as I have and many wise guys saying: “Go to your IT specialists and tell them to allow that.” (or something like that) NO, it’s nonsense! They know why it’s so and no company will change their security policy, just because of one employee trying to sync his mobile. So, please no such suggestions (even well meant), it doesn’t help. Just take it as a fact, please, as I have to.)
I also tried to set google account and then cancel sync settings (an advice I saw somewhere). After creating google account I went to Settings -> Accounts -> selecting google account and there are options: “Sync Calendar”, “Sync Contacts” and “Sync gmail”. None of them can be disabled. And once created it is impossible to remove google account from my phone (except from resetting it)!!!
So here I am and I don’t know what else I can do to sync my Outlook calendar with Android’s calendar, without being scared I’ll find sensitive data in google’s greedy hands. Can anyone help me, please?
If I may humbly ask: please no questions like: “Why did you buy android phone if you don’t want to use all google applications?” I can imagine that it may be a great advantage for many of you, but I think it should be a choice, not a must. What’s more my e-book reader, music player, camera, internet browser, games, photo gallery, SMS, QuickOffice and much more works perfect even without google. (Let’s hope it will not change, but who knows if people don’t treasure their privacy and freedom… ). Also if there was same hardware with Windows Mobile I would buy it after this frustrating experience.
I’m sorry for this loooooooooooooooooooong reading, but maybe this will prevent some people from “attacking” me, just because I don’t have the same needs and preferences and opinions as them. This thread may even be much more brief and helpful without it.
Also I’m sorry if I sound offensive, it’s meant to be defensive after what I saw at many forums.
I’ll be very grateful for any constructive advice or solution. I wish you all a nice day!

www.syncdroid.net

Hello 999phonebug!
Thank you for your tip. When I was looking for the software to use for syncing, I used website you recommended. Based on information there I’ve chosen Android-Sync and MyPhoneExplorer. They really should sync my data without sending it to google. But there’s a problem: if I don’t provide information about my google account, calendar doesn't let me to create any event. When I connect phone to computer and run MyPhoneExplorer it doesn’t sync nothing. When I run Android-Sync it says: “Warning: Default calendar not found on this Android device. Please fix this issue to enable the calendar sync function.” I could just provide gmail info and create google account and it would all work fine, but then (once connected to network) it would sync with google again. Creating account, synchronizing and then deleting account in my phone is not an option too as phone won’t let me delete that account. Is there any solution for that? Something I cannot see? Thanks in advance for any advice!

You can disable calendar sync by going into the account details. That should do.
Or if you've rooted, you can altogether delete the calendar sync adapter from /system/app

I have tried to disable synchronization by changing account settings. I went to Settings -> Accounts -> selecting google account and there are options: “Sync Calendar”, “Sync Contacts” and “Sync gmail”. None of them can be disabled. Rooting the mobile is the last option for me, because I have it only 5 days now and I don’t know much about such things. Also I don’t want to lose warranty (I guess the process is irreversible, right?). But it’s good to know there’s any way how to solve this situation. If there’s nothing else, I’ll have to choose whether to loose warranty or life without being able to sync my calendar. Tough choice… Do you know whether my problem could be solved by official Android 2.2, which should be released very soon? I'm very grateful to you for trying to help me...

google-the_big_brother said:
I have tried to disable synchronization by changing account settings. I went to Settings -> Accounts -> selecting google account and there are options: “Sync Calendar”, “Sync Contacts” and “Sync gmail”. None of them can be disabled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's odd, I can deselect "Sync Calendar" in my account settings page

Im going to respond to this thread seriously in the hope that it isnt a wind up, because thats how it reads
maybe im missing something but the only way to wirelessly sync a calendar to your phone is to have your calendar on a server such as exchange, yahoo, google etc.
there are some apps you can pay for which will sync with any calendar but I have looked into them. they are available in the market, but seeing as you dont like this it may be an issue
Sorry, I know im going to sound like a pigheaded troll which I always try to avoid being but in your own words...
"Why did you buy android phone if you don’t want to use all google applications?"
Its a google phone, its made by google and its based around their services. Why not get a windows 7 phone and its likely your problems are solved, even my old nokia n95 would sync with outlook without a google account. You could even try HP (palm), blackberry or good old symbian. Its like youve got a deep hatred for google and then for some unknown reason gone and bought the ONLY phone operating system made by them as part of some sadistic way of trying to make your own life difficult.....
honestly I would consider selling, yes its a tough little phone but there are cases to toughen the weaker ones.

I use MyPhoneExplorer to sync over USB, it works well. The phone will not auto sync with the Google calender unless you go into the 'MyCalenders' option and then it will start syncing.

Hi everyone and thanks for replies...
Stunno, according to what you say, it seems, that this could be ROM dependent problem. Info about my phone:
System version: Blur_version.2.51.1.MB525.Retail.en.DE
Firmware version: 2.1-update1
Basdeband version EPU93ST2_U_03.0A.01
Kernel version: 2.6.29
Build number: JRDNEM_U3_2.51.1
Maybe updating to official Android 2.2 (once released) would solve the problem. (?)
Diggedy, I don't need to find an application for syncing. Adnroid-Sync and MyPhoneExplorer seem to be OK. But the problem is that calendar won't let me work unless I create an account. It cannot be exchange and when it's google, it sends all my events to google calendar which I don't want it to. And as for the google Android phone: This is the only phone that has everything I need from it. You are right about protective cases, but if I can have mobile (smartphone to be correct) which is so well made so it can defy D) dust and water, I prefer such phone. And except this google issue, there is absolutely nothing I could charge the phone with. And the last reason: I don't want to give up so easily, especially now when it seems this problem can be solved. Anyway, thanks for your reply and for being nice to me even though our opinions differ.
SimboXXX, my phone tries to sync as soon as I connect to wi-fi (Edge and others are disabled). It's strange how same model can act differently. Maybe it again depends on ROM version etc.

Don't know about an upgrade, your phone is a newer version than mine, I'm only on firmware 2.21 on a sim free UK phone, completely stock.
Sent from my MB525 using Tapatalk

stunno said:
Don't know about an upgrade, your phone is a newer version than mine, I'm only on firmware 2.21 on a sim free UK phone, completely stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm afraid I don't understand you. My firmware is 2.1-update1, yours is 2.21 so your phone is a newer version, right? But never mind, I guess I found something useful there: supportforums.motorola.com/thread/43287. I'm gonna try that...

would this be useful
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.dreamstep.wYahoo_Calendar&feature=search_result
you can sync outlook to almost anything so that side of it wouldnt be an issue
or try
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.companionlink.clusbsync&feature=search_result
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.vecal.vcorganizer&feature=search_result

Here is my recent progress: I obeyed the advice from website mentioned at my previous post. You can find there: “Put the "Power control" widget (in Downloaded Widgets) on the screen and it has a button to en/disable sync. Enabling sync in the widget brings the check boxes back.” So I enabled sync in the widget and than went to Settings -> Accounts -> selecting google account and there were options: “Sync Calendar”, “Sync Contacts” and “Sync gmail” each with checkbox to enable or disable! Hurray!!!
Then I unchecked all those checkboxes to make sure nothing is going to by synchronized and started testing. I created some events in my calendar. Then I disabled and enabled sync button at the Power control widget. It didn't affect the account settings, all checkboxes remained unchecked. I also restarted phone and turned wi-fi on. Then I checked google calendar, and no events were there.
Then I installed calendar snooze to extend calendar functions. I enabled and disabled sync button few times at the Power widget and turned wi-fi on and off few times. And all my events appeared in the google calendar! So I suspect application “calendar snooze” for being responsible for the background sync... Unfortunately I cannot be sure. Checkboxes for “Sync Calendar”, “Sync Contacts” and “Sync gmail” at the google account settings remain unchecked. When I saw all my events synchronized I changed some at my phone and again started enabling and disabling sync button (at the Power widget) and wi-fi and the phone itself too. But no change as for those events at my google calendar (meens no synchronization took place so far). I guess I'll have to test it all again.
However at least I know about the magical sync button at the Power widget.

out of curiosity, why do you not trust google with your calendar information?

It’s not just about me not trusting google. I have company sensitive data in my calendar. No company will entrust its data to any third party.
Anyway, even if I didn’t have such data in my calendar, I would follow my golden rule which is: “Minimize your electronic foot-print!” If I don’t need that information uploaded on the web, why would I let google have it? My privacy means very much to me. That’s the reason why I never yielded to facebook, twitter and other madness, willingly spreading tons of information about myself and why at the great days of cloud computing I’ll have all my data stored and encrypted on my hdd. I’m sure I sound extremely paranoid to many people, but such paranoia never cost me anything, it can only pay.
Even though I’m not so naïve to think I can protect my privacy from everyone and every company. My mobile operator and even google knows abou me more, than I like. Isn’t that scary???

From the man who has tried it all. Here we go
You can most definately disable Google sync (calendar, contacts, email) in accounts. No need for rooting. If this is not available to you then I guess something is wrong.
I do NOT use Motoblur as I do not want my personal information on the internet.
I do use google sync for calendar, email and contacts as follows:
Calendar - full sync as this is my personal calendar and the information here isnt something that I need to keep secure
eMail - same as above
Contacts: for each contact type Android will create an identity - e.g. google contact (and that will be PER google account you have - you can multiple google accounts and for each account you can chose what you want to sync from settings > accounts
I chose to sync my google contacts for my main google account as this basically holds only people's email addresses. In addition to this android will also create a Liteadress book category. When adding a contact in google (online via internet) it automaticlaly syncs to android if sync is enabled in settings > accounts. If you creat an account ON the android phone itself you chose which of the android accounts category that entry should go in (you can chose for it to go to just Liteaddress book or one of the google accounts or all google accounts or liteadrress book and google accounts). If you chose for it to go ONLY in liteaddressbook then it will NOT sync to google even if you have contacts sync on in settings > accounts. Example as follows:
Google account 1
google account 2
Liteaddress book
In settings > accounts I have contact sync enabled for google 1, calendar sync enabled for google 1, mail sync enabled for google 1 and 2. In contacts, settings I chose that contacts are added to liteaddress book and google account 2
I create create a mail on android and send it - it will be syncd to which ever account i send it from
1 create a calendar entry on android - it will be syncd if i create it google 1
I create a contact entry on android - it will by linked to two caregories namely; Lite address book (this will stay on the phone) and google 2. Since google 2 is set NOT to sync contacts it will not send this contact to the internet.
I create a contact entry on android but this time tell the phone to create it in Lite address book and google account 1 - the information will be sent to google account 1 on the internet
I create an entry on adroid but tell it to creat it in liteaddress book - it will stay on the phone
end of example
For outlook sync I use a product called touchdown - the best you can buy and ive tried a few. this however requires to sync via exchange which I beleive you dont want to do. However, since your reason for not using exchange is because your company says the information must stay on the phone (unless im mistaken) then you need not worry. Touchdown works independently of Android sync. Everything you sync via touchdown will stay on the phone - its a completely independent applicaiton and VERY use to use and extremely flexible. You DO have the option to copy (auto or manuall) your contacts, downloaded from exchange via touchdown) to your phone. These contacts will be in a seprate cateogry and as such will not sync to google.
Does the above solve your problem or are you looking to sync ONLY to outlook without using Exchange? there is an option for that too which I can go in to but since above post is long enough already I wont bother with it unless you specifically ask.
NOTE: just to clarify, it IS possible to keep all your info on your phone - just a matter of working the best way to achieve this. You WONT need to root your phone for this.

Hi jean001luc, thanks for your reply.
I’m not looking for an application for Outlook <-> Android synchronization. I found MyPhoneExplorer and Android-Sync and they both seem to be OK. However, that application touchdown seems to be very good and completely separate calendar is what I would need. Unfortunately I cannot synchronize directly with Exchange (I think it’s because all protocols except for the one needed for Outlook <-> Exchange communication are blocked) and even if I could I’m not allowed to use non-freeware program. So even if I bought touchdown, I wouldn’t be allowed to use it (again company policy which I cannot change).
But what I definitely need to know is how did all my calendar events uploaded on the internet to my google calendar despite my tries to block this action. I unchecked all checkboxes at my google account settings (checkboxes for “Sync Calendar”, “Sync Contacts” and “Sync gmail”) and it has copied anyway. But only once. Since then no changes were synchronized… It’s very odd and it makes me angry because obviously I don’t have it under control even though I try so hard.

google-the_big_brother said:
Hi jean001luc, thanks for your reply.
I’m not looking for an application for Outlook <-> Android synchronization. I found MyPhoneExplorer and Android-Sync and they both seem to be OK. However, that application touchdown seems to be very good and completely separate calendar is what I would need. Unfortunately I cannot synchronize directly with Exchange (I think it’s because all protocols except for the one needed for Outlook <-> Exchange communication are blocked) and even if I could I’m not allowed to use non-freeware program. So even if I bought touchdown, I wouldn’t be allowed to use it (again company policy which I cannot change).
But what I definitely need to know is how did all my calendar events uploaded on the internet to my google calendar despite my tries to block this action. I unchecked all checkboxes at my google account settings (checkboxes for “Sync Calendar”, “Sync Contacts” and “Sync gmail”) and it has copied anyway. But only once. Since then no changes were synchronized… It’s very odd and it makes me angry because obviously I don’t have it under control even though I try so hard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends when you stopped the sync. It's possible that you synchronised your calendar wth outlook and then terminated the sync option for google?
OR, you created the google account after the outlook sync? When the google account is created the default option is to sync everything and this sync can take place fairly quickly. So, is it possible that sync took place before you had the option to disable google sync. I cant see any other way calendar would have synchronised.
Going forward though you can test by editing your calendar to make sure it doesnt sync by creating entried on the phone (after unchcking the sync option in settings > accounts).
Not sure how Android sync works but there are syns applications which RELY on google sync - e.g. when you do your outlook sync it will send the data to google and then the phone downloads it from google to complete the sync. If Android sync uses that then it explains why your data is on google.
Quite suprised your company doesnt allow paid application to be used. Its normally the other way round - most corporates do not allow free apps as they have limited support and possibly full of bugs.
You could always try Missing Sync to sync with Outlook, although I have had problems with synchronisning contacts with this software as it wont sync contacts that are created or edited on the android...this is a known problem with product but the company isnt doing anything to fix it...ive supplied them with all the information they need but they are too busy doingn other things - even though they acknowledge there is a problem.
As an aside, are you aware you can chose to display different google calendars within the calendar app on android? this way you can have multiple calendars but only display/sync the one you want - sync of course wont take place for a specific calendar unless settings > account sync is enabled

Well the thing is I first filled all information to connect my phone to my google account (in my phone), immediately after that disabled all three checkboxes for synchronization, then created some fake events in my phone calendar, did some turning on and off (wi-fi, sync button on the Power widget and even the phone). Meanwhile I was checking internet google calendar if synchronization took place. Negative. Then I installed calendar snooze, did some turning on and off few times and it was all there! But since then no changes done in my mobile synced to my google calendar. But in whole process I never synced my phone with Outlook, I was just using phone calendar and did all changes there… I’ll have to do all this once again and check whether sync didn’t take place just after installing calendar snooze.
jean001luc said:
As an aside, are you aware you can chose to display different google calendars within the calendar app on android? this way you can have multiple calendars but only display/sync the one you want - sync of course wont take place for a specific calendar unless settings > account sync is enabled
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess you mean more calendars created in one google account, right? So I could create one more calendar in my google account, leave it empty and then display it in my android calendar app and if something would try to sync it would be this empty calendar. Then when I would like to see my real calendar or sync it with outlook I would just unchecked that fake one and checked the real one. Did I get your point? But it seems quite too complicated and fiddly.

I've only skipped through your thread & much of what's mentioned I've never used so don't fully understand it but if you still get the problem where the google calendar is still syncing even though the sync checkbox is disabled you can disable wifi/data access for the google calendar sync by using Droidwall BUT you would need to be rooted for that. Without going through the thread again I can't remember if you didn't want to root the phone.
*edit - having re-read a couple of your posts I'm not sure if my post is what you are after.

Calendar Syncing Warning

I went ahead and moved all my contacts, etc. over to start using as my phone. Here is a word of caution to all. I'm sure it won't be an issue with most users, or people familiar with Android already. I used MyPhoneExplorer to start syncing all my contacts from Outlook, and my Calendars from Thunderbird Lightning. I did it this way specifically to avoid storing these on an outside server. I was not careful enough...in the background over the last 10 hours, it took all my business client contacts and merged them into my gmail account...which sucks but fixable with some time. But along with this it took all my client accounts calendar info and put it online and public viewable...2 years back worth of private client info! I would have never noticed, but I just happened to come accross google dashboard, and thought it would be interesting to see what info google collects from their various programs. Bam...front and center, under calendar was my clients name, address, time of our last meeting..and everything discussed. Took me a while to figure out how delete all this.
Just a warning to double check all settings before using this for any work related storage that you don't want pasted for the world to see.

So, really stumped here. I've tried 4 3rd party calendar applications, all with the same result. Under Settings, Accounts, Google, I for sure have calendars unchecked. I've used 3 or 4 different syncing programs to transfer my Thunderbird calendar to Atrix. Everything works flawlessly...syncing between Thunderbird and device is especially nice using MyPhoneExplorer. I constantly check the settings tick box...and calendar always remain empty = NOT SYNC. Except my calendars always end up uploading to the internet and appearing in my gmail calendar. Ultimately, I need to use this for business...and this is unacceptable. Is there some other setting I'm missing. I realize Google wants to get their hands on your info at every chance...and yes I know there is a trade off to use their services for free. But I'm not seeing a way to even use a 3rd party calendar w/o it getting sucked up by Google. I have no idea what that tick box is for, if it is going to sync no matter what you tell it.
Anyone know of a solution, or workaround? Been at this for weeks now with no luck. Have a nice new phone, and still have to carry around my old Tilt with me everywhere I go. I'm actually using the Tilt more, since I can't seem to get this hardware superior phone to do what my dinosaur does flawlessly.