Sync Google contacts and calendar with DAVx5

Want to sync Google contacts and calendar on an Android phone without Google services? DAVx5 (DAVx⁵) is an open-source Android app that does exactly that. It is the usual choice on LineageOS, GrapheneOS, /e/OS, or any phone where Google Play Services are disabled.

This DAVx5 Google guide shows the current way to sync Google contacts and calendar: OAuth sign-in, an optional own Client ID, and fixes for common errors.

Updated in September 2026. This guide used to describe an app password and the https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/… URL. Since June 6, 2023, Google allows only OAuth 2.0 for CalDAV and CardDAV, so that method no longer works.

What DAVx5 can sync with Google

Google data	Sync with DAVx⁵
Calendars (own, shared, subscriptions)	Yes, over CalDAV, both ways; subscriptions such as holidays are read-only
Contacts	Yes, via the CardDAV backend of the Google People API, both ways
Contact photos, birthdays, addresses	Yes, together with the contact
Google Contacts labels (groups)	No — Google does not expose them over CardDAV
Google Tasks	No — Google does not provide tasks over CalDAV
“Other contacts” (addresses saved automatically from Gmail)	No — only the main address book syncs

You do not need to type any server addresses: the Google CalDAV and CardDAV endpoints live on apidata.googleusercontent.com, and DAVx⁵ finds your calendars and address book on its own after the OAuth sign-in. The old google.com/calendar/dav/… URL with an app password no longer works.

Syncing with Google is not officially supported by either the DAVx5 developers or Google. In practice it works reliably, though Google occasionally has server-side hiccups.

Do you need DAVx5 if your phone has Google services? Usually not: the built-in Google account sync is simpler and works on its own. DAVx5 makes sense on ROMs without Google Play Services, if you want all calendars and contacts — Google, Nextcloud or another CardDAV server — managed in one app with the same settings, or if you plan to move away from Google later and want your data in a CardDAV account first.

Install DAVx5

Get DAVx⁵ from F-Droid for free or buy it on Google Play. Both versions have the same features; buying it on Google Play supports the developers. Google sign-in requires version 4.3.4.1 or newer, so update DAVx5 first if it has been installed for a while.

We covered what F-Droid is and how to install apps from it in our F-Droid 2.0 review.

On first launch DAVx5 shows a setup wizard. On the “Tasks support” screen tick “I don’t need task support” — Google offers no tasks over CalDAV anyway. On the “Permissions” screen turn on “All of the below” and “Keep permissions”, then keep “Periodic sync intervals” enabled: DAVx⁵ needs to run in the background to sync Google contacts on schedule.

On Samsung and other phones with Android 11 or newer, open the app permission settings from the wizard and turn off “Pause app activity if unused”. Otherwise Android revokes the permissions after a few weeks without launching DAVx⁵, and Google sync silently stops.

Sign in to DAVx5 with your Google account to sync Google contacts

1. Open DAVx5 and tap “Add account” on the main screen (older versions show a round “+” button).
2. Under “Provider-specific login” choose “Google Contacts / Calendar” and tap “Continue”. The “Generic login” options — URL and user name, email address or advanced login — do not work for Google: since 2023 Google does not allow password access to CalDAV and CardDAV.

3. Enter your Gmail address in the “Google account” field. Do not skip it: without the address the app may not find your CalDAV calendars.
4. Leave “Client ID (optional)” empty — the app uses its own. You need your own Client ID only in rare cases, see below.
5. Tap “Sign in with Google”. A browser opens the Google sign-in page: enter your password and the 2-Step Verification code if it is on.
6. On the “DAVx⁵ wants access to your Google Account” screen grant every requested permission — both contacts and calendars. If Google shows a list with checkboxes, tick all of them, then scroll down and tap “Continue”.

If you untick even one permission, DAVx⁵ gets partial access: the CardDAV or CalDAV tab stays empty and sync fails with an access error. The only fix is to sign in again and grant everything. The note “DAVx⁵ already has some access” appears if you have connected DAVx⁵ to this account before — that is fine.

F-Droid build. Google may warn that the app is unverified: Google has not yet verified the F-Droid build of DAVx5. Tap “Advanced” and continue — access is granted only to DAVx5 on your phone. If Google blocks the DAVx5 ID entirely, create your own Client ID.

Add the account directly in DAVx5. If you start the sign-in from the Etar calendar (via its add-account button), Google authorization may not complete.

Create the DAVx5 account and pick calendars

1. Account name — keep your Gmail address: Android uses it as the organizer of events you create. Two accounts cannot share a name.
2. Contact group method — the default is “Groups are separate vCards”. For Google switch to “Groups are per-contact categories”: Google labels will not sync either way, but this avoids sync conflicts. Tap “Finish”.

3. On the CalDAV tab turn on the calendars you need: the main one named after your Gmail address, shared calendars such as a family calendar, and subscriptions like holidays — those are marked “read-only”.
4. On the CardDAV tab turn on “Address Book” (My Contacts) — it holds all your Google contacts.

5. Tap the address book to open its settings. “Synchronization” should be on and “Read-only” off (“Read/write”): then contacts you create or edit on the phone also go to Google.
6. Tap “Synchronize”. The first sync of a large address book may take a few minutes. Use “Refresh list” when new calendars or address books appear in Google.

Where to find synced Google contacts and calendar

Once you sync Google contacts, they appear in the regular Contacts app, listed under the DAVx⁵ account with your Gmail address. For the calendar, any app that works with Android calendars will do, for example Etar or Fossify Calendar from F-Droid. If the calendar is missing, check that the DAVx⁵ account is enabled for display in the calendar app settings.

If Contacts shows only some entries, open the menu and tap “View all contacts” or enable the DAVx⁵ account in the filter. On Samsung this also brings up the account picker when you create a contact: you can save a new number straight to the DAVx⁵ account with your Gmail address, and it goes to Google on the next sync. To save there by default, set that account as the default in the Contacts app settings.

DAVx5 settings to sync Google contacts and calendars

Open the settings in DAVx⁵: tap the Google account, then the gear icon at the top. The most useful options:

• Contacts and calendars sync intervals — by default every 240 minutes and immediately on local changes. What you change on the phone goes to Google right away; changes made in Google arrive on the interval or when you tap “Synchronize”.
• Sync only over WiFi — saves mobile data. Once on, “WiFi SSID restriction” becomes available: sync only on selected networks, which needs location access.
• VPN requires underlying internet — keep it on, as the app recommends: a connected VPN without a working network does not count as internet, so DAVx⁵ does not try to sync in vain.
• Re-authenticate (OAuth) under “Authentication” — signs in to Google again without deleting the account. Use it if you revoked DAVx⁵ access in your Google settings or sync started failing with an authorization error.
• Past events time limit under CalDAV — older events are not downloaded. If your Google calendar goes back many years, a limit such as 90 days makes sync noticeably faster.
• Default reminder — adds a notification to events that have no reminders of their own.
• Manage calendar colors — colors come from Google and are reset on every sync. Turn it off to set colors on the phone. Turn on Event color support if you color individual events in Google Calendar.
• Contact group method under CardDAV — shows the option chosen when the account was created. To sync Google contacts it should be “Groups are per-contact categories”.

How to move phone contacts to Google with DAVx5

Contacts saved on the phone without an account (“Phone” or “Device”) do not reach Google on their own. Move them once to the DAVx⁵ account with your Gmail address — after the next sync they show up in Google Contacts.

On Samsung you can do it without files:

1. Open Contacts → ☰ menu → “Manage contacts” → “Move contacts”.
2. Under “From” choose “Phone”, under “To” pick the DAVx⁵ account with your Gmail address.
3. Confirm the move and tap “Synchronize” in DAVx⁵.

On any Android phone use a file:

1. in Contacts, export the local contacts to a .vcf file;
2. import that file and choose the DAVx⁵ account as the destination;
3. run a sync, check the contacts at contacts.google.com and only then delete the local copies.

If duplicates appear after the move, merge them: in Google Contacts use “Merge & fix”, on Samsung go to “Manage contacts” → “Merge contacts”. Save new contacts straight to the DAVx⁵ account rather than phone storage: then you sync Google contacts both ways and lose nothing when you change phones.

Back up before you sync Google contacts

Before the first sync, a phone change or experiments with settings, save your Google contacts to a file. If something goes wrong, you can restore them via import at contacts.google.com or add them to any other CardDAV service.

1. Open contacts.google.com on a computer and sign in to the same account you use in DAVx⁵.
2. Hover over any contact and tick its checkbox, then click the arrow next to the checkbox above the list and choose “All” — the header shows how many contacts are selected.
3. Click ⋮ “More actions” → “Export”.
4. Choose “vCard (for iOS Contacts)” and click “Export” — the browser downloads a contacts.vcf file.

The same file helps if you decide to move contacts to another service: for example, we cover step-by-step import in the guide on syncing contacts with Yandex. There DAVx⁵ is set up with a login and an app password, which is handy to compare with the Google sign-in.

Sync Google contacts from multiple accounts or turn sync off

For each Google account, repeat the “Google Contacts / Calendar” sign-in — DAVx5 creates a separate account with its own settings, calendars and address book.

To stop syncing, delete the account in DAVx⁵ (account menu → “Delete account”). Only the local copies of its contacts and events disappear from the phone — everything stays in Google. You can also revoke the app’s access on the third-party apps page of your Google account. Once removed, DAVx5 can no longer sync Google contacts until you sign in again.

Your own Google Client ID for DAVx5

By default DAVx5 signs in to Google with its own app ID. Google can restrict that ID at any time, and sign-in would then stop working for everyone. To keep being able to sync Google contacts regardless, you can create your own Client ID. It is free and takes about fifteen minutes.

1. Open Google Cloud Console and create a project, for example “My DAVx5”. No billing details are needed — the CalDAV and CardDAV APIs are free.
2. In “APIs & Services” → “Library”, find and enable the CalDAV API and the Google Contacts CardDAV API.
3. Open Google Auth Platform (formerly “OAuth consent screen”). Under “Branding” enter an app name and your email, under “Audience” choose “External”.
4. Under “Data Access” click “Add or remove scopes” and manually add https://www.googleapis.com/auth/carddav and https://www.googleapis.com/auth/calendar.
5. Under “Clients” create an Android client: package at.bitfire.davdroid, and any random SHA-1 hash in the SHA-1 field (nobody checks it).
6. Under “Audience” click “Publish app” to move from “Testing” to “Production”. You do not need to request verification, but without publishing the token expires after 7 days and DAVx5 asks you to sign in again.
7. Copy the Client ID ending in …apps.googleusercontent.com and paste it into “Client ID (optional)” when you sign in to DAVx⁵. Google will warn that the app is unverified — tap “Advanced” and continue: it is your own app.

If DAVx5 does not sync Google contacts

Problem	Cause and fix
No “Google Contacts / Calendar” option	Your DAVx5 is outdated. Update to 4.3.4.1 or newer.
Authentication error with URL or email login	Google no longer accepts passwords or app passwords. Delete that account and add it again via “Google Contacts / Calendar”.
Google says the app is unverified	This happens with the F-Droid build and with your own Client ID. Tap “Advanced” and continue. If sign-in is blocked entirely, create your own Client ID.
Empty CardDAV or CalDAV tab	Not all permissions were granted or no Gmail address was entered. Delete the account in DAVx5 and sign in again, ticking every access option.
Contacts are in Google but not in the Contacts app	The address book is off on the CardDAV tab or Contacts has a filter set. Turn the book on and tap “View all contacts”.
Cannot save a new contact to the DAVx⁵ account	Tap “View all contacts” in Contacts and pick the DAVx⁵ account when creating the entry. Check that “Read-only” is off for the book.
Duplicate contacts	A contact exists both in phone storage and in the DAVx⁵ account, or a .vcf file was imported twice. Merge duplicates in Google Contacts and delete the local copies.
Authorization error after a Google password change or revoked access	Open the account in DAVx5 → gear icon → “Re-authenticate (OAuth)” and sign in to Google again. No need to delete the account.
DAVx5 asks you to sign in every week	Your own Client ID is still in “Testing”. Publish the app under “Audience”.
Background sync stops	Exclude DAVx5 from battery optimization. On Xiaomi, OnePlus or Huawei allow autostart, on Samsung turn off “Pause app activity if unused”.
Contact groups are missing	A Google limitation: labels are not synced over CardDAV.

The developers’ official guide is on the DAVx⁵ and Google page. And if you would rather keep contacts outside Google, see how to sync phone contacts with a Yandex account — it uses DAVx⁵ too. The calendar can move to Yandex as well — see how to sync your calendar with Yandex.

DAVx5 and Google FAQ