MobileMe: Sync intervals in Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows
Symptoms
In the MobileMe pane of System Preferences (Mac OS X 10.5.6, or .Mac pane in Mac OS X 10.4.11), or the MobileMe Control Panel (Microsoft Windows), you can choose how often your computer syncs your contacts, calendars, and other data with MobileMe.
Changes are synced with MobileMe at certain intervals as explained below. The interval period resets once the current sync finishes.
Automatic syncing
With "Automatically" selected in the MobileMe/.Mac pane (Mac) or Control Panel (Windows), whenever a change is made to a data type a sync will begin as follows:
Mac OS X 10.5.6, or later
| Data type | Up to MobileMe | Down from MobileMe |
| Contacts, Calendars, Bookmarks | Within a minute | Within a minute |
| Other data types | Every hour | Within a minute |
Mac OS X 10.4.11
| Data type | Up to MobileMe | Down from MobileMe |
| All sync data | Every hour | Within a minute of changes being made |
MobileMe Control Panel 1.3 for Windows, or later
| Data type | Up to MobileMe | Down from MobileMe |
| Calendars and Contacts syncing with Microsoft Outlook | Within a minute | Within a minute |
| Contacts syncing with Windows Address Book (XP), Windows Contacts (Vista), Google Contacts, or Yahoo! Contacts; Bookmarks | Every 15 minutes | Within a minute |
Hourly/Daily/Weekly syncing
When "Hourly", “Daily”, or “Weekly” is selected in the MobileMe pane (for Mac OS X 10.5.6; .Mac pane for Mac OS X 10.4.11) or Control Panel (Windows), changes sync once an hour, day, or week, depending on your selection.
Manual syncing
When "Manual" is selected in the MobileMe pane (for Mac OS X 10.5.6; .Mac pane for Mac OS X 10.4.11) or Control Panel (Windows), changes sync between your computer and MobileMe only when a sync is manually performed by clicking Sync Now in the MobileMe pane or Sync menu icon (Mac), the MobileMe Control Panel or the MobileMe taskbar icon (Windows).
If syncing is not occurring at the interval you have selected as outlined above, follow the troubleshooting steps below.
Products Affected
MobileMe
Resolution
Manually sync
In the Sync tab of the MobileMe pane or MobileMe Control Panel, click Sync Now. If the sync does not work as expected, there probably is a sync issue which not related to your sync interval. See the following articles for more information:
Update software
Use Software Update for Mac OS X or Windows to make sure your software is completely up-to-date, and that you are running the latest version of Mac OS X or the MobileMe Control Panel for Windows.
Change your sync setting
In the Sync tab of the MobileMe pane or MobileMe Control Panel, change the sync interval from it’s current setting, and then close the window (Mac OS X) or click OK (Windows). Reopen the MobileMe pane or Control Panel, and change the setting back to your desired setting, and then test again.
Check your connection (for automatic syncing)
If changes made on another computer, device, or on the web at www.me.com are not automatically syncing to your computer as outlined above, your network configuration may be preventing automatic syncing from occuring. When this happens, a sync with MobileMe will occur every 15 minutes (Mac OS X 10.5.6 or Windows Control Panel 1.3) or every hour (Mac OS X 10.4.11) until the issue is resolved.
To check your connection in Mac OS X
- In the Finder, choose Utilities from the Go menu.
- Open Terminal.
- Type or paste the following command:
netstat | grep "aosnotify"
- Press Return.
You should see a line that ends with:
aosnotify.me.com.5223 ESTABLISHED
This line indicates that you can receive automatic updates to changes made on another computer, device, or on www.me.com.
If you do not see this line, contact your Internet Service Provider or network administrator to resolve the issue. If you use a firewall or proxy server, you or your network administrator may need to unrestrict traffic on port 5223 to allow automatic syncing to work as expected.
To check your connection in Windows
- Click Start.
- If you are using Windows XP, select “Run”.
- If you use Vista: In the search field, enter “cmd” and press Enter
.
If you use Windows XP: In the run window, enter “cmd” and press Enter.
- In the Command Prompt window, paste the following line:
netstat | find "aosnotify"
- Press Enter.
You should see a line that ends with:
aosnotify:https ESTABLISHED
This line indicates that you can receive automatic updates to changes made on another computer, device, or on www.me.com.
If you do not see this line, contact your Internet Service Provider or network administrator to resolve the issue. If you use a firewall or proxy server, you or your network administrator may need to unrestrict traffic on port 5223 to allow automatic syncing to work as expected.
Additional Information
The intervals for automatic and hourly syncing in Mac OS X 10.5.6 or later and MobileMe Control Panel 1.3 or later are determined by a setting on MobileMe servers. If this interval setting is adjusted in the future, this article will be updated.
Important: Information about products not manufactured by Apple is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute Apple’s recommendation or endorsement. Please contact the vendor for additional information.