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Migrating From Android Funambol Sync Service to Carddav Slash Caldav Sync Owncloud

3 min read android caldav funambol sync syncml webdav

INTRO

Some time ago when Nokia was number one in smartphone market and you had to recharge your phone only once a week (I still love my E51) Funambol was a very good way to handle synchronisation of contacts and calendars using open source software with an open standard protocol (SyncML).

Now, after switching from Symbian to Android synchronisation is still working but I wanted to host all data by myself. Looking for a new software and an open standard protocol I chose CardDAV and CalDAV because it is widely known, implemented by many applications and synchronisation service can be hosted by your own, e.g. using owncloud.

The question was how to migrate data from Funambol server to owncloud (CalDAV, CardDAV). Long story short, I tried several apps with different disadvantages. My solution for this problem was the following.

MIGRATION

When searching for “backup”, “contacts” and “calendar” many many apps are suggested. I tried a few with the following results:

  • “Backup Contacts” app can backup all contacts as CSV but this file can only be imported using Google Webinterface.
  • “MC Backup” app - exports all contacts as .vcf file. But “notes” of a contact are ignored. This is bad.
  • “Super Backup: SMS & Contacts” - Only imports into same account as exported.

After some time I came up with the following steps working for me.

  1. Export contacts. This can easily be done using Android’s own export function. This feature is at least available in Android 4.3.

    Android Contacts Import Export Dialog

    It writes all contacts into a vCard file (.vcf) on SD card. This format is perfect for import into many other programs.

  2. Install CardDAV app and configure account. I installed CardDav-Sync beta(paid version) because it has very good reputations. Now set up the CardDAV account and it should be listed as account in Android Contact App.

  3. Import into CardDAV account In Android Contact App select “Import/Export” and choose “Import from SD card”. After choosing the CardDAV account all contacts are saved in your owncloud now. Yeah!

  4. Install CalDAV app and configure. I chose CalDav-Sync beta, also a paid version with good reputation. After installation the owncloud account has to be configured.

  5. Export Calendar entries. For me the best way to export calendar events was using iCal Import/Export 2.0 App. This application can export all events from a selectable calendar and saves it in iCalendar format (.ics), also a standard format.

  6. Delete old events in calendar. Personally I wanted to delete all very old entries before importing it into owncloud. Repeating events, like birthdays, should not be deleted. I decided to load the ics file into my Mac OS “Calendar” Application. For every month I selected all events (STRG-A) and deleted them. In 5 minutes all was done. Now the resulting calendar was exported as .ics file.

  7. Import Calendar Entries. Finally the reduced ics file was transfered back to mobile phone and imported using iCal Import/Export 2.0 App. That’s it.

Now I am a happy user of owncloud with my Android phone.