How to turn off Contact sync on Gmail

I just got a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and when I go into my settings then add an account and add a gmail account, it gives me an option to choose what I want to sync. I unchecked 'photos' and 'contacts' and everything else except for 'gmail', but it still auto sync'ed my photos and contacts (and my apps and app data, even though I told it not to). I then deleted the account and tried again but this time, I didn't check anything at all (not even gmail) and it did not sync anything, which is good. But I want to sync only my mail, so then I went into the settings for my account and checked only the 'sync gmail' box and it synced everything again (app, app data, contacts, photos). How do I make it stop syncing everything? I just want to sync my inbox.

Google Contacts is a great alternative to iCloud Contacts to sync contacts between iPhones or iPhone and Android. However, you might end up getting confused if you use both of them on your iPhone. You can remove the Google Contacts from your iPhone if you want to sync them only with your iCloud account.

There are multiple ways to remove Google Contacts from iPhone. To start, you will need to turn off the sync for Google Contacts in Settings. That will stop syncing contacts from Google Contacts to iPhone, and if you have selected Google Contacts as a default contact saving location, it will be changed to iCloud.

If you want to avoid syncing new contacts to Google Contacts, you will have to change your iPhone’s default account. Further, if you only want to view iPhone contacts and hide Google Contacts, you can do that without deleting your Google Contacts from your iPhone. This post covers all of that.

Let’s see how to stop syncing Google Contacts to iPhone.

Note: The following methods will work on Apple iPad as well.

How to Turn off Google Contacts Sync on iPhone

This method will remove all Google Contacts from your iPhone. To do so, follow these steps:

Step 1: Open Settings on your iPhone.

Step 2: Go to Contacts. Tap on Accounts.

Step 3: Tap on Gmail.

Step 4: Turn off the toggle next to Contacts for your Google account. iOS will remind you stating that your Google Contacts will be removed from your phone. Confirm when asked.

When you turn off sync for Google Contacts in iPhone, the Google Contacts will be removed from your iPhone only. That is, they will disappear from the Contacts app, and you won’t be able to access them from your iPhone.

However, that doesn’t mean the contacts will be deleted from all devices. You can still access them from contacts.google.com on the web or other devices where your Google account is added. Disabling Google Contacts on iPhone will not impact other data from your Google account, such as notes, calendar, etc., unless and until the toggles available next to them are turned on.

Tip: Check out 13 amazing tips and tricks to use Google Contacts.

How to Remove or Hide Select Google Contacts From iPhone

In case you only want to remove a select few Google Contacts from iPhone, you will have to delete them. Deleting them on iPhone will delete them from all devices as well. So be careful before you use this method.

Tip: Find out how to restore accidentally deleted Google Contacts.

You can use this method if you want Google Contacts to stay on the iPhone but in a stealth mode. That is, you should be able to view them only when you need them. In other words, hide Google Contacts on iPhone without deleting or turning off the sync.

Here’s how to hide or remove a select few Google Contacts from iPhone.

Step 1: Open the Apple Contacts app on your iPhone.

Step 2: Tap on the Group option at the top.

Step 3: You will see various contact groups here. Basically, your contacts from different services are categorized into various groups, including one from Gmail.

So in case you want to hide Google Contacts from the Contacts app, uncheck the box next to All Gmail.

If you want to delete a select few Google Contacts, uncheck the boxes next to all other groups except Gmail so that only Google Contacts are visible. When that happens, go to the Contacts app’s home screen and delete the contacts as you normally do. That is, open the contact that you want to delete. Tap on Edit. Scroll down and hit Delete Contact. Repeat the step for other contacts.

Note: Deleting or stopping sync for Google Contacts will not affect iCloud contacts.

How to Stop Syncing Contacts From iPhone to Google Contacts

To save new contacts to a different service than Google Contacts, you will need to change the default account in settings.

For that, follow these steps:

Step 1: Open Settings on your iPhone. Go to Contacts.

Step 2: Tap on Default Account. Check the box next to iCloud or a different service apart from Gmail.

If you only change the default account without turning off Google Contacts sync as shown above, then existing contacts from Google Contacts will still show up on your iPhone.

Back up Contacts

We hope you were able to remove Google Contacts from your iPhone. Removing Google Contacts will put all the focus on iCloud Contacts if no other service is added. That should you in fixing issues related to iCloud Contacts too. To be on the safer side, we would suggest you regularly back up contacts to Google Drive.

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