Sync Android contacts with a Mac: the Google account route, the web, and vCard

Your Android phone keeps its contacts in your Google Account, and the Mac's Contacts app can read that account directly. Add the Google account in System Settings, Internet Accounts, with Contacts turned on, and the same people appear in Contacts on the Mac, with changes flowing both ways. It is free, built into macOS, and needs no app on the phone. If you only need to look someone up, contacts.google.com in a browser is quicker. A vCard export is for a one-off copy, not for keeping in sync.

Which route do I want?

Step 1: check where the phone's contacts live

The Mac route only works for contacts that are in your Google Account. Google's page Sync Google Contacts with your mobile device or computer says "Your Google contacts sync to your Android device when you sign in", and that changes sync automatically. The same page adds that contacts saved only to the phone, "labeled as 'Phone,' 'Device,' or 'Local' in your Contacts app", are a separate case, with a link to back them up to Google Contacts.

Before you touch the Mac, open contacts.google.com in a browser. If the people you expect are there, carry on. If some are missing, they are saved on the phone or in another account, such as a Samsung account on a Galaxy, and you need to move them into Google first.

Step 2: add the Google account to the Mac

Apple's guide Use your internet accounts on Mac says you can use "Exchange, Google, Yahoo, and other internet accounts in Mac apps by adding the accounts to your Mac". Apple's steps:

1. Open the System Settings app.
2. Click Internet Accounts in the sidebar. Apple notes you may need to scroll down.
3. Click Add Account, then enter your email address, or choose Google from the list of providers.
4. Sign in with your Google account name and password.
5. In the dialog that appears for an account "that multiple apps can use", select the apps you want. Tick Contacts. Calendars and Mail are there too, and the calendar side is in syncing the Mac's calendar with Android.

Apple's Contacts guide offers the same from inside the app: choose Contacts > Add Account, pick the account type, enter your details, and "make sure Contacts is turned on for the account". If the Google account is already on the Mac for Mail, choose Contacts > Accounts and turn on Contacts for it.

That is the whole setup. Open Contacts, and the Google group appears in the sidebar. Edit a card on the Mac and the change goes to the Google Account and on to the phone. Add someone on the phone and they appear on the Mac. If you have already set the account up in Mail, you may have done this months ago without noticing; look in Internet Accounts and check the switch.

Set the default account

If the Mac also has an iCloud account with Contacts on, new cards go into the default account. Apple's guide says to choose Contacts > Settings, click General, and pick the account in the Default Account menu, which appears only when you use more than one. Set it to Google if you want new contacts to reach the phone.

Duplicates

If the same person is in both iCloud and Google, Contacts shows them twice. Apple's guide links to a page on duplicate contacts; the simpler fix is to keep one account for contacts and turn the other's Contacts switch off in Internet Accounts, which Apple says "can remove data stored in your apps" until you turn it on again. Decide which account is the home for contacts before you merge anything.

Can I just use Google Contacts on the web?

Yes, and for a quick lookup it is the fastest route. Google's Add or move contacts page says "Contacts saved to your Google Account will sync with Google Contacts and all your Android devices", and describes creating a contact at contacts.google.com with Create contact. It needs nothing on the Mac but a browser, which also makes it the answer on a work Mac where you cannot add accounts.

How do I export and import a vCard?

Use this when you want a copy in a different place, such as an iCloud account, and not to keep two sets in sync. Google's page Export, back up, or restore contacts describes downloading contacts "as a CSV or vCard file":

1. Go to Google Contacts in a browser.
2. Tick the contacts you want, or tick one and use Selection Actions, then All.
3. Click More actions, then Export, choose the vCard format, and click Export.

Apple's guide Import contacts into Contacts on Mac says Contacts can import vCard (.vcf), archive, LDIF, and CSV files. For a vCard: double-click the file, drag it to the Contacts icon in the Dock, or choose File > Import and select it, then click Add. Apple says Contacts "indicates when it finds duplicates, so you can review them".

The imported cards land in whichever account is the default, so set that first. From then on they are a copy, and nothing you change on the phone reaches them.

Where does The Relay fit?

It does not. The Relay does not sync contacts, and this is a job that Google and Apple already do between them for free. The Relay is for the things macOS does with an iPhone but not with an Android phone: clipboard, files, incoming texts and login codes, notifications, incoming calls, link handoff, and the phone as a webcam. Contacts are not on that list because they do not need to be. If a name has come up by text on the phone and you want it on the Mac, its texts feature shows the incoming message on the Mac, and that is as close as it comes.

Questions people ask

Do I need to install anything on my Android phone?

No. The phone already syncs its contacts to your Google Account. The setup is entirely on the Mac, in Internet Accounts.

Are the contacts synced both ways?

Yes, through the Google account. A change made in Contacts on the Mac goes to the Google Account and then to the phone, and the reverse. A vCard import is the exception: it is a copy.

What about contacts stored on a Samsung account or on the phone?

They are not in your Google Account, so the Mac will not see them. Google's page says device-only contacts can be backed up to Google Contacts. For a Samsung account, check Samsung's own support page; samsung.com would not open for us.

Can I put my Google contacts into iCloud instead?

Yes, as a copy: export a vCard from Google Contacts and import it into Contacts with iCloud set as the default account. After that the two sets are separate, and the phone only sees the Google one.

Does Google Contacts on the web show the same things as the Mac?

Google's sync page notes that with a work or school account you should use the Contacts app "to get all contact details, like job titles". For personal accounts the two views are the same data; the Mac shows it through Apple's card layout.