Fight Google. Take your friends back with GContacts for Windows Phone 8.

By Daniel Rubino
last updated

Even though Google Sync is nearing its end on Windows Phone due to the company dropping Microsoft’s Exchange ActiveSync, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to give up hope with using their services. With no extension of the deadline in sight, Windows Phone users need an alternative and now we have one.

Rudy Huyn, one of the top developers on Windows Phone (Fuse, TVShow, Wikipedia, 9Gag and more) has just released a free, brand new app called GContacts that will keep your contact’s name, phone number and email up-to-date on your Windows Phone. Users can manually sync the app to check for any new changes to bring down to their phones, whenever they want.

Want to sync more? Merely opt for an in-app purchase of the “Premium” version, which goes for a modest one-time fee of $1.29. That fee will give you even more syncing options including photo, postal address, birthday, website, company name and position, notes and can use a background agent to regularly synchronize your contacts.

That last one is particularly awesome because when combined with your plain Gmail syncing, you’ll have essentially re-created your previous Google cloud experience--all for a $1.29.

Kind of an ingenious creation by Hyun, especially since the switch hasn’t been thrown yet by Google, killing EAS support.

If you need Google for work or just out of habit, you’ll most certainly want to try out GContacts. The developer is top notch, which means you can expect solid support and dare we say for a syncing app, it’s great looking too.

What about Google Calendar Sync, you ask? Rudy has told us if GContacts is a success, meaning folks download it and maybe the ‘pro’ folks pick up the Premium version, he’ll do the same for Google Calendar Sync. So go download it, leave feedback for the developer and spread the word as the platform needs great apps like these!

Pick up GContacts here in the Store. Windows Phone 8 only.

Oh and we should mention Fuse, the popular newsreader, just got bumped to version 2.1, which brings full Google Reader integration, new lock orientation feature and is still free (ad-supported) or you can pay to remove the ads (our recommendation). Get that here.

Likewise, 9Gag is now updated for Windows Phone 8 with numerous new features. You can find that app here in the Store.

QR: Gcontacts

Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been here covering Microsoft since 2007 when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, Microsoft Surface, laptops, next-gen computing, and for some reason, watches. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics and ran the projectors at movie theaters, which has done absolutely nothing for his career.

62 Comments
  • That's a bad-ass solution!  Very nice.
  • Rudy is awesome! I have TV show and Fuse, I use Fuse everyday. Thanks Rudy!
  • I love Fuse, Fuse FTW ^_^
  • this developer is a beast at combing beauty and functionality. great job, rudy!
  • Great!!! Thanks for the solution to Google's childish bullshitt.
  • Microsoft needs to make this a default app if they don't come to a resolution with Google by the end of the month. Having a random app in the Store called "GContacts isn't going to solve half of the problems.
  • His Wikipedia app is the best. We need more developers like Rudy
  • Jay, the app link problem again...
  • Really Microsoft? Changed the flippin implementation again? *grumbles to Visual Studio...*
  • LOL *imagining Jay tinkering with the app while shaking fist vehemently*
  • Right I've just hacked together an alternate code path to try in the event that it fails (note that only the GContacts title failed to retrieve, and it is still tappable to take you to the markatplace). This one will be in the next release
  • I laughed out loud during class while reading this. Teacher got mad.
  • I just paid for the upgrade,...simple but effective.
  • Google who, what's this Google?
  • +100000
  • Google was a company who tried to stop Windows phone 8 for getting popular, but at 2014 they totally failed and microsoft dominating now..
    P.S im not from future.
  • LOLed :)
  • Link problem and I can't find it in the store. Little help please?
  • As always, we provide you the Store link and QR code in the story...besides me coming over to your house and installing it for you, not sure what else we can do? ;) Search the Store at your own risk.
  • Its not working for me either. Went on the Microsoft store in chrome, tried to download the app to my phone. It didn't work. So I got an email from microsoft linking me to the store. Opened the link on my phone and the link fails. Its not an isolated incident, and its not a failure of following instructions. Something is wrong with this app or the app store.
  • Well I was trying the link in the app from my phone and it doesn't work. So maybe you should come install it for me while I tell you what I really think of your help this time. ;)
  • holmesr in this instance I think the app is not available in your local marketplace. What region are you in?
  • Good old USA. No problem Jay, I picked it up using the link Rudy provided below. Thanks all the same sir!
  • +1000
  • Every WP user should support this app, I lov it
  • I vote that instead of fighting Google with this, we all fight Google by refusing their services.
  • True but the reality is some people *need* Google for work or legacy purposes, so preaching to them about switching is not an option. And if they don't have a solution on Windows Phone, they give up Windows Phone. The world ain't black and white, after all ;)
  • If only!!!
  • Need google for work...
    Given Google's privacy policies I can't understand any company wanting to use their services. Clearly a sign that the best decisions are not being made...
  • It's amazing that people need Google for work and not Microsoft these days.
  • Funny thing is, I use chrome and Gmail on my work and home PC which runs on windows and I have wp8 phone too.
  • Agreed.
  • Nice to have Rudy on our side!!
  • I really don't know why anybody would want to use Google services other than YouTube on Windows Phone anyway. That would be like trying to use outlook.com on Android. Just switch to outlook.com and SkyDrive. You will get the true Windows experience and I think our services and maps are better anyway.
  • So you would have me ditch Windows phone?  OR  ask my school's IT dept. to convert from Google services (for email and calendar) to Outlook.com because I want to enjoy WinPhone? :)
  • I didn't find a similar solution to Google Reader either... yet...
  • Hmm, can't see the app in my regional Store...
  • Is anyone else not finding it in their store?
  • Ok, a tad confused here.  Been using my Trophy for a good year and a half+ now.  I have a Gmail and Google Voice account.  With GV, my contacts are typically updated first in Google when I add a new one.  Do I need this app or will my contacts continue to update whenever I add a new one either on the phone or within GV on my PC?
  • abooker34 : the app is not listed in the marketplace for the moment (it has been just validated)
     
    Click here to get the app : http://www.windowsphone.com/s?appid=76e2d69f-e469-4084-b565-d4a6343aee31
  • Sweet! Thanks! I'm really excited for this app!
  • Thanks Rudy, that worked like a champ!
  • Awesome! Thanks, Rudy!!!
  • "If you need google for work, or just put of habit...."
    Or if you have dain brammage.....
  • DOA since its only WP8 gotta get started on fwd everything to outlook smh ...great app tho
  • Why bother with Google? I already moved everything to my hotmail plus I use Bing for search. I just need a YouTube replacement and I'm Google free. Google is alienating lots of their customers. They could be the next Sony after that rootkit debacle.
  • They are but I've got a lot of shit tied up, an decade old email, etc.
    It's not easy to just jump ship and move.  
  • Not coming up in store. Maybe I'll try tomorrrow.
  • For everyone saying aw just move to outlook/hotmail, these are regular people we're talking about, changing their e-mail address is a hastle and one more reason not to buy a WP device.
    For MS, WTF, 2 weeks, OK maybe 3, 3 weeks, fully functioning as far as we can tell and we have Dav Contact support. You don't even need a carrier approved update to add something like this and you need 6 more months, I know there's internal and manufacture testing and your working on other stuff but come on and there's probably a little we don't want to become Googles B****h as well. In one word Pathetic, this isn't the PC market things don't change every year they change everyday pull your pants up and get on with it.
    Great job by the Dev hope people buy the paid version and he does a calander one as well that people pay for.
  • BTW - I give it 23 weeks if not less till some one does a calander app no matter who the dev is.
  • Rudy Huyn is an awesome dev, but this is one app in not interested in. I made the trueswitch in December and I haven't looked back!
  • Telling people to drop all of the services they have used for years (Google Maps, Google Search, GMail, Google Voice, YouTube, Google Drive, etc) is not a compelling argument to switch to Windows Phone - people need to be able to have their link to the services they use every day (work or home) NOT adjust their whole life just to buy a Windows Phone (especially when the other two major platforms - iOS and Android, support Googles services).  MS is the one that needs to make it work, not the other way around.
  • The case here is Google is not trying to support WinPhone even though they fully support their competitor (ios). It is Google who is giving MS the middle finger. I totally agree with your statement though...
  • Great, but late...
    Already deleted and removed everything Google.
    Doesn't miss them and certainly doesn't need them :)
    Companies using them can't bother much about security...
  • Wow you WP people sure come off looking like a bunch of douches... So Microsoft feels it has the right to bully Android OEMs over their patents for years now, and Google should just continue to pay Microsoft to use their Exchange protocol, while there are free alternatives around that Microsoft conveniently doesn't care about. Really? Apple supports the free protocols that Google uses, why doesn't Microsoft?
    And why exactly should Google support Windows Phone anyway? Does Microsoft offer quality apps for Android or iOS? I don't see Microsoft Office in the Play Store, or in the Apple Appstore for that matter. Why is that? And why can't I change the default search provider in a WP device? Please enlighten me, dear Lumia-wielding-Ballmer-acolytes.
  • This site is overrun by flamboyant fanboys. Just ignore them, there is no point in fighting them, they are completely blinded by their bias. It's hopeless, just like the current state of WP...
  • Your argument has some valid points, and no one disagrees that Google are removing the Exchange support to save on license fees, certainly that motivation makes sense. If we're talking about Microsoft's apps on other platforms, yes there are a number of them (Smartglass, Skydrive, OneNote, PhotoSynth, Wordament to name a few), in fact the only software they have not yet released is your example, Office. Whilst everyone would like to have every app available on every platform that simply isn't the case. Google for instance doesn't have a GDocs app on Windows Phone, and famously is restricting API access to YouTube for Windows Phone only whilst allowing Apple access to provide a high quality YouTube app.

    To address your search point, it is an integrated search app which makes use of a lot of Bing extensions such as local scout, image search, music search and so changing it would be a little complicated. There is still a Google search app which Google were happy to provide, which many people use as their search system.

    The tone of our community is in reaction to the fact that Google are putting a lot of blocks in place for Microsoft (the YouTube one is probably the top complaint) recently, I would argue that Microsoft are not putting such blocks in place for Google, instead simply requiring manufacturers to pay the required license for their patents, then allowing them to continue as they please. In fact, perhaps the big problem here is that Microsoft can charge license fees and still make money when competition are around. Google would rather there were no such competition as they need as many interactions with the internet to go through them as possible. The more data they can collect about their users (or should I say, their product) the more money they can subsequently make through advertising and search. These business practices are simply what works for them, to keep their bottom line healthy.
  • well put, mr. and YES, you CAN change default search to Google in IE. (not sure for how long it will work though) ^_^
  • Wait a second, my workflow won't work any longer?
    Mac OS (iCal, Contacts ) <-> Google account <-> Windows Phone?
  • I have a better solution outlook.com
  • No
  • Wow Google, why don't you just make apps for us so everyone can like you again?? That's why you guys keep on getting sued by Apple