With each passing year, smartphones take over more functions from PCs and laptops. Many things we used to do on our desktops we are now doing on mobile devices. This transition has already happened with multimedia, video calls as well as with business communications, schedule planning and managing daily tasks.
Which way to choose for syncing iPhone 7 with Outlook
AppStore is full of productivity apps releasing almost once a month, but only a few of them can compete with Microsoft Outlook. Outlook has many advantages and it is one of the few Microsoft products that really deserves an applause. However, syncing Microsoft Outlook with iPhone 7 is still complicated. Even in 2016, after several significant updates of Outlook and iOS, there is still no reliable way for syncing iPhone 7 with MS Outlook. You can easily transfer Outlook data to iPhone via iTunes (except Notes). However, problems appear when you need to sync changes in Outlook calendar that you’ve made on your iPhone back to desktop Outlook. At this stage users often have issues with duplicating contacts, partial syncing of Outlook contacts or lack of two-way syncing at all.
It is still unclear why Apple is still missing a solution for that. Maybe that’s because Apple wants its users to rely on cloud services rather than keep their private data on their own computers. But let’s leave Apple’s policy alone and get back to the most important question of how to make your iPhone sync with your desktop MS Outlook and vice versa.
Types of synchronization
Aside from iTunes, we only have a few alternatives: cloud services and third-party software. Let’s take a brief look at the advantages and disadvantages of each method.
Cloud services that can be used to sync with Outlook
Everything is quite clear with Cloud Services. iCloud and Outlook365 allow you to synchronize Outlook calendars and contacts with your iPhone. However, this is not an option for people who want to sync notes from Outlook to iPhone as well as for those caring about their data privacy. That’s because when using Cloud services you don’t own your data. When you put your personal information in the cloud, the risks of losing all your data due to a server failure or hacking is still real. With all these big scandals with celebrities’ accounts being hacking could be the perfect illustration of what could happen with data stored in the cloud.
Many of small and medium-sized businesses are using Outlook for managing their tasks and business contacts. Security threats and vulnerabilities of cloud solutions is what cuts off a huge number of users who value data security over a comfort of cloud services. Keeping your data safe is key to a long-term success for every business. As a result, this makes people search for third-party applications that can provide high-end data security level together with a flexibility of the cloud services.
Third-party applications for syncing iPhone 7 with Outlook
Third-party applications that sync data directly between Outlook and iPhone surpass the cloud with a number of features. Some applications provide a data backup function while others allow synchronizing Outlook data through a USB-cable, which is probably the most reliable way to sync with Outlook. Some software solutions even provide encrypted syncing logs making it possible to restore accidentally deleted or changed data. Third-party applications are also ahead of cloud solutions in terms of data security as they often sync everything without storing even a bit of data on any 3-rd party servers. That means can connect your Outlook with iPhone and other iOS devices and do not store any copies of your personal data outside of your own devices.
Which way to choose?
There are only a few cloud solutions for syncing Outlook data with your mobile device. But when it comes to 3-rd party software, there are much more solutions to choose from. First, you need to identify what functions are in priority for you:
- Do you need an option for syncing through USB cable?
- Are you planning to sync data using WiFi?
- Do you need a synchronization via your wireless data plan?
- Do you need to be able to see the history of changes in your data to restore accidentally deleted contacts?
- Are you planning to sync Outlook data with iOS or want to be able to connect Android devices?
Depending on how you are planning to use your Outlook to iPhone syncing software, you can stay with one of a few software solutions available on the market. But if you need a seamless way to transfer data to iPhone, choose AkrutoSync as it provides syncing via Wi-Fi network or over the Internet. It has all the features described above except working through USB.
It costs $35 as a one-time purchase and $2.99 per month within a subscription plan, which is perfectly good for a long or short-term use. You can get more details on how this software works on its official website in this sync iPhone with Outlook guide.
What can you do with AkrutoSync?
This software is extremely easy to use. It allows syncing calendars and contacts with your iPhone 7 within a minute (Outlook Notes and Tasks are also supported). AkrutoSync supports syncing over WiFi and the Internet but does not support synchronization via a USB. Cloud sync is also not supported. This software is being positioned as a stable and a 100% secure alternative to the cloud. Another great feature is support for syncing Outlook with multiple devices running on different platforms. That means if you have iPhone 7 and Samsung Galaxy and want to sync both devices with MS Outlook, there would be no problems with that. Even more, changes you will make on any device will be automatically transferred to another two.
This software supports an unlimited number of connected devices, which works the best for business owners willing to connects all their employees with PC running Outlook in the office. In this case, every device will have its own credentials to access Outlook and can be synced through desired channel (Wi-Fi or Internet).