How to avoid the iOS 6 update wiping all your contacts

I'm back again with another helpful hint for updating to iOS 6. In some cases, the iOS 6 update is erasing all the contacts off the iCloud account, and that is never a good thing to have happen, so I have a nice and simple solution for this just as a precaution.

The only thing you will need for this solution is a Gmail account. Once you have that set up, we will need to get out your iOS device and go to Settings>Mail, Contacts & Calendars> and Add New. Set it up as an Exchange account, and use m.google.com as the server. Make sure you also use your full gmail address as the login/account too. When it confirms connectivity, just select Contacts, and whatever else you dont have syncing already.

Next we want to give it time to sync all your contacts to Google's servers, after that, you will want to go to Settings>iCloud> and make sure it is turned on, everything is selected, and you have a recent backup. If you dont, do it now, and walk away for an hour.

Once done, you are all safe to Restore and Update your iOS Device. If something goes wrong with the update, and all your iCloud contacts are wiped, you have Google's exchange set up already syncing them anyway. (Personally, I turn off iCloud Contact Sync because it has a tendency to double my contacts randomly) Just make sure once the update is done, you select Restore from iCloud and you will be all set ;)

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A basic iOS 6 heads up

Today is the day, and as most of us Apple users get ready for the release of iOS 6, I thought I'd take the time to cover a few basics. 

1. It will be available OTA. Over the years, those poor Apple Tech Support people have been sent out to the slaughter on days like today, all because the majority of iOS users all still use their computers to backup and restore, Hardly any of you still have iCloud set up for backing up your device. Please do yourself a favor before updating, Make sure you have iCloud set up and that you have a recent backup in the past couple days, if you don't... DO IT NOW!!!! Then save you and those Apple Technicians some time and headaches by going to Settings > General > Software Update > and check for your update there (WiFi Needed).
2. If you don't have WiFi, you’ll need iTunes 10.7. Apple released the next version of iTunes a little bit ago, but if your computer is anything like my Families, the software update in iTunes did not work right. What you will likely need to do is go over to the iTunes download page and grab a fresh copy. http://www.apple.com/itunes/download and then install it on your computer. This will make sure your computer can read your iPhone after the update, and if you don't have WiFi, it will allow you to update the old fashion way. 
3. Backup, Backup, BACKUP!! The worst thing you want to have happen is you go through with all this and you then found out you never backed up your device. I suggest using iCloud for backups, but if that is not an option for you, make sure you do a backup the old fashion way through iTunes. You can force this by right clicking on your devices name in the left hand side, and selecting Backup. 
4. Delays are the name of the game when millions of people all try something at once. It's best to just be patient, and keep trying if the update fails. Try, try again until it finishes, but don't interrupt the process, this can cause damage to your device. Just ride it out, and if it gives an error, start over.
5. You are going to want at least half power to start the process. A good rule of thumb is to charge your iOS device to at least 30% before starting an update. I say 50%, because you never know what can go wrong, and its a bad thing to loose power half way through an update. You might have to learn hot to enter DFU mode as a weekend project if that happens. 
6. Some of your apps might have bugs after the update. Just exercise caution here, not all app developers have gotten their app caught up to iOS 6 compatibility, but they are likely to get there eventually. If you come across any of these apps, just try not to use them until you notice an update from the App Store for them. 
7. Apple being vague? Never!! They just don't mention the release time. In the past couple years, Apple has released the update at 1:00 EST (10:00 PST) , so it's a good bet that it will happen today around this time. If you haven't received your update by this evening, it likely means you have a firewall issue, or you have a DNS issue. Good luck ;)

That's about it for the iOS 6 heads up, I hope this helps a couple of you out there. 

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