Samsung Galaxy S7 w/ Android 7.0 isn't sync-ing w/ Google Calendar & Contacts

[bramweiser]

Hello,

For some time now, for reasons I don't understand, my 4-month-old Samsung Galaxy S7 (which now has Android 7.0) has had great difficulty in sync-ing with Google Calendar & Contacts.

* I've tried manually forcing the sync to happen in the Accounts --> Google area...no luck.

* I've tried removing the "offending" account, and then adding it back again --> no luck again.

* I've tried chatting with Samsung Technical Support and their ideas, which didn't work, continued until they suggested a Factory Reset which I'd REALLY like to avoid.

* I've cleared the data in Calendar Storage (Applications --> Show System Apps), including then powering the phone off, and then back on again, but to no avail either.

* However, the Google Calendar Website seems to be functioning as intended (i.e., events can be added, modified or deleted there from a desktop computer).

Please also note that I'm using the SolCalendar app and NOT the Google Calendar app because the current version of GC won't let me copy events for easier editing of those later occurrences. However, that should NOT be at issue here, I believe, because the issue involves sync-ing and not how whichever calendar app itself interacts with events.

Can you please assist/advise me as to what can be done here, and why this is even an issue in the first place? (Might it even be a bigger issue than just my phone -- i.e., could this be something affecting a number of other phones as well as mine, for some common reason that I'm not currently aware of?)

Thank you very much, and I'll look forward to reading your responses soon, please,
Bram Weiser

 

[dlalonde]

Reading your post I'm not sure about the answer: did you deactivate the syncing in the Samsung Calendar app? If so you need to turn those on again:

Use caution when changing the Galaxy S7's default calendar sync settings | Android Central

 

[bramweiser]

Hi, dlalonde, and thank you for responding to my post.

First, to clarify, I haven't been using Samsung's Calendar app. I've been using SolCalendar (from the Google Play Store).

Nonetheless, in Accounts, the sync-ing for Google's Calendar can't seem to work right...it shows a stable (non-moving) "recycle" symbol next to the on-off slider. Even if I turn the slider off, then on again, this "recycle" symbol doesn't fully go away (i.e., the sync-ing doesn't complete).

BTW, after reading your post, I did check Samsung's app and, from what I can tell in the Applications area, that app is NOT disabled. (The word "Disabled" does NOT appear next to the app in the list there.)

If disabling that app was NOT what you were asking about, then please tell me how to locate the answer to your question.

Hope this extra info is helpful...thanks again,
Bram

 

[dlalonde]

Actually that's not quite what I mean. You see you can't disable the Samsung Calendar app at all but you can disble syncing calendars in it and that's what you should not do (if that's what you did). Did you take a look at the article I linked?

 

[bramweiser]

Thanks for following up, dlalonde.

My apologies as I missed the link the first time around. I read the article now, and, after launching Samsung Calendar, looked at "Manage Calendars" and found that all sliders were set to "on", so I don't think that was the cause of my issue.

(Please note that {Google} Contacts is also not sync-ing, too, though other Google apps like Gmail ARE sync-ing, according to the Settings --> Accounts --> Google area.)

Any further thoughts, please?

Thanks again,
Bram

 

[dlalonde]

Mmm I see. Do you have the same issues using any other calendar app? That could help figure out if the issue is with the app or the device.

If you have the same problem with all the calendar apps you try, then I would try to boot in recovery and clear your cache. That could help. If that doesn't work, the other than a factory reset, I'm kind of out of solutions.

 

[bramweiser]

Hi, again, dlalonde, and thanks for following up again with me about this.

I can tell you that SolCalendar isn't showing events, but neither does Samsung Calendar (I saw an empty month when I opened it to test it as you asked earlier).

Again, though, please note that I don't think this is necessarily an app-based issue, but deals, instead, with the actual act of sync-ing to/from (certain parts of) an account, regardless of what Calendar app I'm using. (As also noted earlier, Contacts is having difficulty with sync-ing, too...and it doesn't seem to matter whether or not I remove and re-add a Google account, which, at least one on-line source claims, could resolve this...because, with me at least, it doesn't seem to do so.)

Does this restatement perhaps spark an idea for you, please?

Also, please clarify about "boot(ing) in recovery" and clearing the cache, presuming that they'd perhaps be useful in the situation I described.

Thanks again,
Bram

 

[dlalonde]

Here's how to clear your cache: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFuud8bdKxQ

Hope this helps!

 

[bramweiser]

Thanks, dlalonde. I'll give it a try and let you know what happens.

Bram

 

[bramweiser]

Hi, dlalonde,

Well, I watched the video and tried to wipe the cache but, unfortunately, it looks like I reset the entire phone, instead.

I think I pressed the three (3) keys, and held them, in a different order than what the video described.

I pressed volume up, then power, then home (instead of volume up, then home, then power)...then held them...but saw a different screen than what the video showed...true, the video showed a phone with Android 6.0.1 while mine is 7.0, but the blue screen with a white android whose stomach showed a turning "recycle" symbol had the word "Erasing" on it, instead of "Installing System Updates".

After a while, when all was said and done, the phone started "normally" but said it was "initializing" and then showed me a "Welcome" screen.

In a word (well, maybe two)...oh crap.

I did remove my fingers once I saw "Recovery Booting..." in blue in the upper-left corner, but I never(!) saw anything like the menu that the video showed me.

If I'm right, then it looks like I'm back to square one and need to use SmartSwitch with my previous Galaxy S3 that I still have (and hopefully still works...though I'm not sure if the SIM card is still inside the S3, or if it actually switched to the S7 because I ported the number to the S7 when I bought that phone).

I'm going to continue along but wanted you to know what happened, as I promised I'd do.

Could pressing, and holding, those buttons in a different order cause a factory reset instead of a cache wipe? If not, then why did that seem to happen, and without even giving me a chance to choose a cache wipe?

Thanks again for all of your time and help, but can you please clarify what happened here?

Sincerely,
Bram

P.S. I don't know yet but I hope(!) that, at least, there's a silver lining of a working sync process for my account (once I confirm that it's set up in the phone).

 

[dlalonde]

That is very surprising. To my knowledge, you can't wipe the phone that way. Normally, you need to go into recovery and select "Wipe Data/Factory Reset". Holding those keys in whatever order should have had the same result which is to get you into recovery.

How long have you had this phone? Maybe it's defect?

 

[bramweiser]

Hi, dlalonde, and thank you again for your quick follow-up.

I've had this phone now for 4-5 months (I got it during December 2016). You could be right about it being defective, but, I'm hopeful (what else could I be?) that, though it will be a pain in the neck (and, though I stopped it as soon as I could, a drain on my monthly data allotment) to put the phone back into a state resembling something I'd like, maybe...just maybe...this issue has been taken care of. That's because the phone spent quite a bit of time (it seemed like maybe 10-15 minutes or so) sync-ing the calendar after I added my Gmail account, and, at last, shows various events in Samsung Calendar when I open it.

If I'm wrong, and things still aren't back to "normal", then I can always re-visit the local Verizon Wireless Store where I bought the phone, and bend their ears. At present, though, I'm not QUITE ready to conclude that the phone is defective...not yet anyway.

If I may ask, though, do you have any thoughts, please, as to why this happened in the first place?

Many thanks again,
Bram

 

[dlalonde]

I wish you'll be able to get this sorted out quickly. Unfortunately I can't make out what was wrong in the first place and giving it got wiped instead of clearing the cache, the last thing left is for you to check out if the problem is solved now. If it is then it was either the cache or it needed to be reset to factory settings (which can sometimes happen). If it still doesn't work then I'm out of answers unfortunately.

I hope this helped!

 

[bramweiser]

Thank you, dlalonde. I hope so, too.

I will definitely recheck the sync-ing once I've gotten the phone reasonably close to how it was before (i.e., reinstalling and reconfiguring the apps, and also reconfiguring the phone as well). If the problem recurs, I'll be back to repost again, I expect.

I must admit that the idea that a problem this localized (i.e., the Google Calendar doesn't sync -- as does Google Contacts -- but everything else in Google and, apparently, in any other account as well all seem{?} to be sync-ing just fine) seems a bit of an odd choice to be possibly resolvable by wiping the cache (which would seem to me to have "global" implications on the phone, instead) or resetting to factory settings (which definitely do). Still, it's not like I want the issue to recur in order to test that theory anytime soon... ;-)

Many thanks again for your patience, and your time and assistance,
Bram

 

[CWinkler]

Not to intrude on your conversation, but a thought here ... if you look back at the picture of the video, "wipe data / factory reset" and the "wipe cache partition" are right in order on the menu. Bram, it could be that you accidentally got the wrong selection and ended up with a factory reset rather than just the cache wipe. Having just gone through one myself, with so far good results, hope that your reset has resolved your problems.

 

[bramweiser]

No intrusion at all, CWinkler...this conversation is indeed open to all.

Anything is possible, CWinkler...I might have accidentally pressed an incorrect button, pressing the power button second instead of third might have forced the factory reset (I'm speculating) because the home button hadn't been pressed yet, or something else could have happened. As dlalonde was saying, there's no true way to know that now.

I hope the reset was successful, too, though I'm still in the midst of restoring and configuring my apps, along with placing them on screens where I'd want them to be...oh fun ;-)

Thanks for commenting, truly,
Bram

 

[CWinkler]

Spent Saturday and Sunday doing that myself. Tedious. Best of luck.

 

[dlalonde]

Not to intrude on your conversation, but a thought here ... if you look back at the picture of the video, "wipe data / factory reset" and the "wipe cache partition" are right in order on the menu. Bram, it could be that you accidentally got the wrong selection and ended up with a factory reset rather than just the cache wipe. Having just gone through one myself, with so far good results, hope that your reset has resolved your problems.

How dare you try to help him too!

Seriously thanks for your input and help!

 

[bramweiser]

Spent Saturday and Sunday doing that myself. Tedious. Best of luck.

Thanks, CWinkler. Yeah, fun it isn't, especially when trying to remember just what I had, and where on those screens pre-reset. Still, hopefully(!) this issue has reached its end for me, and neither it, nor anything else (dare I wish for that much?) will rear their heads anytime soon...if at all.

Thanks again,
Bram

 

[bramweiser]

I'll second that e-motion, dlalonde. Any and all worthwhile input is welcome here.