Synchronize Phone Data with a Mac

Synchronize your Nokia Series 60 smartphone with a Mac OS X computer.

The Nokia PC Suite does not run on Mac computers. Fortunately, iSync, the default data synchronization program on Mac OS X, supports synchronization with some Nokia Series 60 devices. Please note that you cannot synchronize Series 40 devices with a Mac computer via iSync.

You can find a complete list of devices supported by iSync at http://www.apple.com/isync/devices.html. Even if your device is not listed, it is still possible to hack iSync configuration files to get around artificial limitations imposed by Apple. For instance, to set up an unsupported Nokia 9300 with iSync, visit this site: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20050422125043439.

To use the iSync program, first you should make sure your phone is connected to the Mac computer. I recommend a Bluetooth connection for Nokia phones. The iSync program's main window displays all the mobile devices that are currently being synchronized with the Mac. For example, the list could include all paired Nokia Series 60 phones and all connected iPod devices. Click any of the device icons to configure their synchronization settings. If your device is paired but it does not appear in the list, you can use the Devices Add Device menu to search for it and then add it.

You can choose to synchronize any of the listed devices by clicking it and then clicking the Sync Now button. If you click the Sync Now button without choosing a device, it goes through all the listed devices one by one and tries to synchronize them. If a device is not available, iSync silently moves on to the next device, but gives you an error message at the end.

The iSync program uses TCP/IP port 3004 to communicate with the phone. Make sure you have that port open if you have an active firewall on the Mac.

For Nokia Series 60 devices, iSync synchronizes all the contacts (including thumbnail pictures) to the Mac Address Book program, and synchronizes all calendar items and to-do lists to the iCal program. Email messages are not synchronized.

Using a Nokia Series 60 phone as a bridge device, you can synchronize a Windows PC and a Mac computer. This is a three-step process. First synchronize the PC with the phone, then synchronize the phone with the Mac, and then synchronize the phone with the PC again. The first two steps guarantee that the changes on the PC are passed to the Mac, and the last step ensures that changes in the Mac are synchronized back to the PC.