How do I sync my IBM Verse People with the iOS Contacts app?

The following FAQs provide some useful information about syncing your Verse People with the iOS native Contacts application.

I granted Verse access to my contacts. Why did I get the popup, “To sync Verse People with the Apple Contacts app, contact sync settings for other accounts need to be changed”?

If you receive this message, Verse is not able to begin syncing contacts between Verse People and the Apple Contacts app because other accounts are syncing contacts with the Apple Contacts application. In order to begin the contact sync process with Verse, you will need to disable contact syncing with other accounts so Verse can correctly store your contacts in your local contacts container. Follow these steps to fix this:

1. Open the Apple Settings app.
2. Select Mail, Contacts, Calendars. Under Accounts you may see multiple accounts.
3. Select each account, and turn off the switch for syncing Contacts if it is on.
4. When prompted, tap Delete from My iPhone (iPad). This does not delete the contacts for this account from the server; it just removes them from the Contacts app on the device.
5. Go to the Verse app.
6. Go to the Verse Settings page and turn on Sync with Apple Contacts.
7. Allow Verse to sync your Verse People with Apple Contacts.
8. Return to the Apple Settings app, and reenable Contact syncing for the accounts that you disabled above. If you are prompted about what to do with local contacts, tap Keep on My iPhone/iPad.

I granted Verse access to my contacts. Why did I get the popup, “Your administrator has enabled a Traveler security policy to prohibit the syncing of Verse People with the Apple Contacts app”?

If you see this popup, it means that your IBM Traveler server admin has chosen to prohibit you from syncing your Verse People with the Apple Contacts app. All of your Verse People have been removed from the Apple Contacts app, but remain in Verse.

I am syncing my Verse People with Apple Contacts. Why are there duplicates of some/all of my contacts?

If you see duplicate contacts, it may be because you have the same contact saved as both a local contact and as a contact in another account that you are syncing with the Apple Contacts app. In the Apple Contacts app, select Groups in the upper left. If you have groups for other accounts, in addition to a group for Verse People, and that same contact exists in multiple accounts, you may see duplicates of that contact in the Contacts app.

If you have setup a Microsoft Exchange account on your device to use the same IBM Traveler server and user as the IBM Verse application, we recommend you disable the syncing of Contacts for that account. Otherwise, you will sync the same set of contacts twice into the Apple Contacts app. Follow the steps outlined in the question above to disable syncing for the Microsoft Exchange account. Another alternative is to only display certain groups in the Apple Contacts app. All contact groups with a check beside them are displayed in the Apple Contacts app. The groups to display can be changed by selecting Groups in the upper left, and removing or adding a check for each group.

Why do I see unexpected contact information for a Verse Person when viewed in Apple Contacts?

Unified Contacts within Apple Contacts were introduced with iOS9. This feature combines contacts with the same full name from different accounts that are set to sync with Apple Contacts into one Unified Contact. Viewing the different versions of the same contact allows you to see where each piece of information in the unified version of the contact originates. When viewing a unified contact, scroll down to the Linked Contacts section and then select the desired version of the contact. Alternatively, select Groups in the upper left when viewing the list of contacts in the Apple Contacts app, select the group that contains the desired version of the contact, then select the contact.

I upgraded to the latest version of Verse. Why do I not see a setting to ‘Sync with Apple Contacts’?

There are several reasons why you may not see this setting. Syncing Verse People with the Apple Contacts app is only available for iOS9 or higher. If you have iOS9 or higher and you do not see the setting, check with your IBM Traveler server admin, as they can turn off the function based on your organization’s policies.

The Prohibit export of contacts to OS setting under Device Settings > Preferences > Security Settings > Apple > IBM Verse in the IBM Traveler server settings must be disabled and the configuration setting NTS_IBM_IOS_LOCAL_CONTACTS_SYNC must be set to true in the .ini file for the server.

I gave Verse access to my Apple Contacts app. Why are they not showing up in the Apple Contacts app?

Make sure that both the option to Sync with Apple Contacts in the Verse Settings, and the Contacts access in the Verse section of the Apple Settings app are turned On. If either is Off, your contacts will not show up in the built-in Apple Contacts app. In addition, due to current limitations, Verse is unable to sync your contacts with the Apple Contacts app if you have iCloud syncing enabled for contacts or if you have Microsoft Exchange contact syncing enabled without at least one contact local to your device. You can turn off iCloud and Microsoft Exchange contact syncing in the Apple Settings app. You can turn Exchange and iCloud syncing back on after syncing Verse People to Apple Contacts.

I want to uninstall Verse. Will the Verse People I have synced with the Apple Contacts app be automatically removed from the Apple Contacts app?

No. If you want to remove Verse People synced into the Apple Contacts app, go to Verse Settings and set Sync with Apple Contacts to Off. This removes all your Verse People from the Apple Contacts app. You can then uninstall Verse.

Where do my Verse People go when they are synced with the Apple Contacts app?

Verse creates a group named IBM Verse - <account email> (where <account email> is the address you use with Verse), which is part of the iPhone/iPad account within the Apple Contacts app, to store your Verse People.

I added a new contact in the Apple Contacts app. Why is it not showing up in Verse People?

Contacts added in the Apple Contacts app will only be added to your Verse People if they are added to the IBM Verse group in Apple Contacts. To make sure the contact you are adding is added to the IBM Verse group, select Groups in the upper left of the Apple Contacts app. Ensure that only the IBM Verse group is selected (all selected groups have a check mark) and select Done. You may then add a contact and it will be added directly to the IBM Verse group and therefore to your Verse People.

I am missing some of my contacts in Apple Contacts, but I did not explicitly delete them. Where are they?

In this case, it is important to know what account your missing contact is associated with. Since contacts are added to a default group in the Apple Contacts app unless a specific group is selected, the contact may not be associated with the account you think it is. To tell if the contact in question is an IBM Traveler/Verse contact, open up Lotus Notes or iNotes and navigate to Contacts. If the contact exists here, then your contact is an IBM Traveler/Verse contact and still exists on the Traveler server even though it is not displayed by the Apple Contacts app. Otherwise, the contact is associated with a different account.

Next, check to see if the group for that contact is selected in the Apple Contacts app. Only contacts within the selected groups will appear in the Contacts list. To change which groups are displayed, select Groups in the upper left of the Apple Contacts app and select the desired group(s) in the list. If you do not see the group that this contact should be in, then it is likely that contact syncing for that account has been turned off. In this case, if you reenable contact syncing for that account, your groups and contacts for that account will reappear. If you do not know which group the contact is in, select all groups to see a list of all of your contacts.

If the contact(s) in question are IBM Traveler/Verse contacts, and you still do not see the contact(s), contact IBM support.

I originally gave Verse permission to access my Apple Contacts app. I decided I did not want to sync my Verse People anymore, so I revoked Verse’s access in the Apple Settings App. Why are all of my Verse People still in the Apple Contacts app?

Once you revoke Verse’s access to your contacts, Verse no longer has the necessary iOS permissions to remove synced contacts. Turn Contacts access back to On, then go to Verse Settings and turn Sync with Apple Contacts to Off. This will remove all of your synced contacts. You can then safely revoke Contacts access in the Apple Settings app.

If my account is wiped, will my Verse People be deleted?

Yes. If IBM Traveler or a third party MAM/MDM provider triggers an account wipe, all synced Verse People will be removed from Apple Contacts the next time Verse is launched.

Why do some fields supported by Apple Contacts not show up when I view my Verse People?

Verse does not support all the contact fields that Apple Contacts provides. Unsupported fields include: ring tones and text tones, URLs, birthdays, dates, related names, social profiles, instant messaging profiles, phonetic names, name pronunciations, prefixes, suffixes, and maiden names.