Comparison

Gmail vs Contacts Sync

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Gmail

This application provides a secure and efficient email experience with advanced features like spam blocking, smart replies, and multi-account support. It integrates with other Google services for enhanced productivity and collaboration.

Highlights
  • Robust security & spam blocking
  • Real-time notifications
  • Multiple account support
  • Smart Reply & Compose
  • Undo send
  • Google Chat & Meet integration
  • Threaded conversations
Features
Read full description

The official Gmail app brings the best of Gmail to your iPhone and iPad with helpful AI features, robust security, real-time notifications, multiple account support, and intelligent search that works across all your mail. With the Gmail app, you can: • Make Gmail your default email app on iOS • Stay up to date on your latest packages, upcoming events, bills, and travel details with helpful summary cards • Declutter your inbox with built-in email subscription management • Use Gemini* in Gmail to summarize lengthy emails, craft or refine responses, or search your inbox to find what you’re looking for • Connect and switch between multiple email accounts from different providers • Automatically block more than 99.9% of spam, phishing, malware from ever reaching your inbox • Quickly add events to Google Calendar based on your emails with Gemini in Gmail • Find top deals faster with a personalized Promotions tab • Respond to emails faster with AI-powered Suggested Replies that understand the context of your emails and match your unique tone and style • Undo send for up to 30 seconds, to prevent embarrassing mistakes • Access Google Meet and Google Chat without leaving Gmail • Organize your mail by labeling, starring, deleting, and reporting spam • Swipe to archive/delete, to quickly clear out your inbox Gmail is part of Google Workspace, allowing you and your team to easily connect, create, and collaborate. You can: • Connect with coworkers via Google Meet or Google Chat, send an invite in Google Calendar, add an action to your task list, and more without leaving Gmail • Use Gemini in Gmail features like Help me write, Suggested Replies, AI Overviews, and Proofread to help you stay on top of work and take care of simple tasks, so you can be more efficient with your time • Stay safe. Our machine learning models block more than 99.9% of spam, phishing, and malware from reaching our users *Some Gemini features may require a Google One AI subscription. Internet connection required. Language and country availability may vary. Check responses for accuracy.

About

Contacts Sync

Effortlessly synchronize your contacts across Google, Outlook, and iPhone. This reliable app ensures your contact information is up-to-date everywhere with 2-way syncing and support for all contact fields and photos.

Highlights
  • 2-way contact synchronization
  • Sync Google, Outlook, and iPhone accounts
  • Syncs all contact fields and photos
  • Automatic background syncing
  • Group and custom label synchronization
  • Duplicate contact elimination
Features
Read full description

••• SYNC GOOGLE, ICLOUD, & OUTLOOK! ••• #1 SYNC APP FOR 15+ YEARS! ••• TRUSTED BY 10,000,000+ USERS! With Contacts Sync, you can quickly & easily sync your Google or Outlook contacts with iPhone, giving you access to your contacts wherever you go. This app distinguishes itself with its reliability, ease of use, speed, and with a true "2-way sync" that merges changes made to either account. This is the #1 app for syncing contacts both in terms of downloads & reviews. Also of significance, this app syncs your Google labels or Outlook categories with your iPhone lists. For instance, you may have organized your Google contacts into groups such as "friends," "family," and "coworkers." After a sync, your iPhone and Google groups will match. With your groups configured on iPhone, you can easily send group emails or group messages. SYNC THE FOLLOWING ACCOUNTS: • Sync Google with iPhone • Sync Outlook with iPhone • Sync 2 Google accounts SYNC ANY IPHONE ACCOUNT: • Choose to sync all of your iPhone contacts, or choose to sync contacts from a specific iPhone account, such as iCloud, a local iPhone address book, Outlook, or a CardDAV account SYNC TYPES: • Choose from one of the following sync types: 2-Way Sync, 1-Way Sync, and Manual Sync • Choose a 2-Way Sync to sync changes in both directions • Choose a 1-Way Sync to transfer changes in one direction only • Choose a Manual Sync to sync specific contacts only SYNCS ALL FIELDS: • Syncs all fields including names, phonetic names, nicknames, email addresses, phone numbers, postal addresses, company names, job titles, departments, birthdays, anniversaries, events, notes, web page addresses, relationships, instant messaging accounts, & social profiles • Syncs contact photos • Syncs custom labels & custom fields INITIAL SYNC: • During the initial sync, the contents of matching contacts will be merged CONFIRM CHANGES BEFORE SYNCING: • Review each change before the sync actually begins AUTOMATIC SYNC: • Automatically syncs contacts in the background 24/7 APPLY FILTERS INCLUDING GROUP FILTER: • Apply the group filter, new contact filter, and more! DUPLICATE CONTACTS: • Eliminate duplicate contacts from both iPhone and Google SUBSCRIPTIONS: • Contacts Sync offers a "Premium" subscription which unlocks all of the premium features in the app, including the ability to sync an unlimited number of contacts and to auto sync in the background. • Without an upgrade, the app will sync no more than 40 contacts • The "Premium" subscription is priced at $1.99 USD per week, $2.99 USD per month, or $9.99 USD per year • Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase • Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period • Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period • Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase • Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication, where applicable • Terms of use: https://playaapps.zendesk.com/hc/articles/360004197333 • Privacy Policy: https://playaapps.zendesk.com/hc/articles/226767688

Screenshots

Gmail4 screens
Contacts Sync4 screens

Verdict

The call

Gmail and Contacts Sync both sit at 4.7 stars, but that hides the real split: 78% of Contacts Sync's written reviews are positive against 29% of Gmail's. Contacts Sync also leads on ads (none vs shown). Gmail's advantage is ratings volume (2.4M vs 15K) and chart position (#3 vs unranked). On price, rating, update cadence and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Gmail sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Contacts Sync sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Gmail against 4.6 for Contacts Sync. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Gmail has 2.4M ratings behind it against 15K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 29% of Gmail's written reviews are positive against 78% of Contacts Sync's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Gmail ships an update weekly, Contacts Sync every 5 days. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
Gmail versus Contacts Sync: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGmailContacts Sync
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (2.4M ratings) — better4.6 (15K ratings)
Positive reviews29.3% of reviews78.2% of reviews — better
Number of ratings2.4M — better15K
Update frequencyWeeklyEvery 5 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#3 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size719 MB43 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGooglePlaya Apps

Customer experience

Gmail

All ratings2,439,152 ratings
Positive93.1%
Neutral2.6%
Negative4.3%
Written reviews4,072 reviews
Positive29.3%
Neutral10.1%
Negative60.6%

Contacts Sync

All ratings14,870 ratings
Positive90.4%
Neutral3.2%
Negative6.4%
Written reviews739 reviews
Positive78.2%
Neutral2.3%
Negative19.5%

User reviews

Gmail

From 2.4M App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Efficient email management
  • 👍 Easy to use interface
  • 🔒 Secure and reliable
  • 😊 Positive user experience overall

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Bugs and glitches
  • 💡 Lacking advanced features
  • 🔒 Security concerns
  • 🔋 Drains battery quickly

Contacts Sync

From 15K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 🚀 Quick and efficient
  • 💡 Useful for syncing contacts across devices
  • 🔒 Reliable and secure
  • 🙌 Great customer support

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional sync issues
  • 💰 Paid subscription required for more than 40 contacts
  • 🔄 Confusion around syncing and merging contacts
  • 🤔 Inconsistent contact formatting after sync

Bugs and requests

Gmail

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Notifications not working properly
  • Emails disappearing from inbox
  • Inability to remove accounts
  • Conversation view issues

Requested features

4 requests
  • Swipe to delete/snooze emails
  • Ability to mark all emails as read
  • Customizable notification settings
  • Improved file attachment functionality

Contacts Sync

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Deleted contacts reappearing after sync
  • Sync corrupting or deleting existing contact data

Requested features

4 requests
  • Ability to merge duplicate contacts
  • Sync support for Outlook contacts
  • Automatic sync between multiple Google accounts
  • Undo/rollback option for sync operations

In-app purchases

7 purchases

Gmail

Subscriptions7
  • 100 GB2 variants$1.991 Month
  • 100 GB1 Month trial3 variants$1.991 Month
  • 200 GB2 variants$2.991 Month
Show 4 more
  • 200 GB1 Month trial$2.991 Month
  • 2 TB1 Month trial$9.991 Month
  • Google AI Plus (2 TB)2 variants$9.991 Month
  • 100 GB1 Month trial$19.991 Year
7 purchases

Contacts Sync

Subscriptions3
  • Premium (1 Week)$1.997 Days
  • Premium (1 Month)$2.991 Month
  • Premium (1 Year)$9.991 Year
One-time4
  • Automatic Contact SyncingFree
  • Make Contribution$4.99
  • Make Larger Contribution$9.99
Show 1 more
  • Premium (Lifetime Access)$11.99

Questions

Is Gmail free?
Gmail is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Contacts Sync free?
Contacts Sync is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Gmail or Contacts Sync?
Gmail is rated higher. Gmail averages 4.7 out of 5 from 2.4M ratings, while Contacts Sync averages 4.6 from 15K ratings.
Do Gmail or Contacts Sync have ads?
Gmail shows ads; Contacts Sync does not.
Which is updated more often, Gmail or Contacts Sync?
Gmail ships an update weekly, and Contacts Sync every 5 days. Most recently, Gmail was updated on September 24, 2026 and Contacts Sync on September 24, 2026.

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