Nokia N70 with Mac OSX iSync

If you’re a fan of Apple and Nokia you’re probably already familiar using iSync to sync your phone with your desktop. Although if you’re a Nokia N70 user you’ll discover out of the box Tiger won’t sync by default, you’ll have to partake in a little hackery-pokery.

Update

The last update of OSX I received in April now supports the N70 and N90 by default. I really recommend you try updating Tiger than following these instructions.

  • Pair your phone.

    • First pair your Nokia N70 with your mac using the bluetooth preferences.

  • Disable Certificate Check

    • My N70, on Vodafone, has by default application certificate checking enabled. This appeared incompatible with the Apple iSync application as it doesn’t appear to be signed. To disable this, enter the Symbian menu, Tools, Manager, Options, Settings and set Online Certif check to off. Also make sure, ‘Software Installation’ is on.

  • Edit MetaClasses.plist

    • Open MetaClasses.plist in your favouite editor after backing it up.

    This is probably easier from the command line as Finder may not let you navigate within iSync.app

    /Applications/iSync.app/Contents/PlugIns/ApplePhoneConduit.syncdevice/Contents/PlugIns/PhoneModelsSync.phoneplugin/Contents/Resources/MetaClasses.plist

    Or try this command 

    open -e /Applications/iSync.app/Contents/PlugIns/ApplePhoneConduit.syncdevice/Contents/PlugIns/PhoneModelsSync.phoneplugin/Contents/Resources/MetaClasses.plist

    from a terminal window.

  • Add this stanza
    • <key>com.nokia.N70</key>
        <dict>
                <key>Identification</key>
                <dict>
                        <key>com.apple.gmi+gmm</key>
                        <string>Nokia+Nokia N70</string>
                </dict>
                <key>InheritsFrom</key>
                <array>
                        <string>com.nokia.serie60v2.2</string>
                </array>
                <key>Services</key>
                <array>
                        <dict>
                                <key>ServiceName</key>
                                <string>com.apple.model</string>
                                <key>ServiceProperties</key>
                                <dict>
                                        <key>ModelName</key>
                                        <string>N70</string>
                                        <key>PhoneIcon</key>
                                        <string>NOKN70.tiff</string>
                                </dict>
                        </dict>
                </array>
        </dict>

    I added this stanza just above the <key>com.nokia.6680</key> line.

  • Add an icon

    • I found a good looking iSync icon for the N70 and copied it to the same directory as MetaClasses.plist

  • Test

    • Try and sync. Start iSync and select Add Device select the N70 it should ask you to send the sync app to the phone. Just follow the instructions. Then try a test sync. Recheck the instructions if it fails.

Add a comment if you’re unsuccessful and I’ll see what I can do.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 7th, 2006 at 4:06 pm and is filed under Turtlehead. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

15 Responses to “Nokia N70 with Mac OSX iSync”

  1. Chris Bates Says:
    March 2nd, 2006 at 10:16 pm

    Dude thankyou so much for posting this, i would have been absolutely screwed without it. And there was me thinking that my new N70 would actually work with iSync, like my 6600 did over a year ago…
    Mobiles infuriate me more than any other piece of technology when they don’t do what theyre supposed to, as theyre so much less accessible and intuitive than the computer or anything else.
    Anyway thanks again, nice one.
    peace
    chris

  2. jonathan cheng Says:
    March 6th, 2006 at 3:32 am

    thanks v much for this gift to us mac users and phone users. i did exactly as you instructed and the phone appears to be syncing with the computer. BUT, when sync completes (in about 5 seconds, which is weird) no data is actually transferred between MAC and device. any ideas?

    tks again.

    jonathan

  3. sariss Says:
    March 10th, 2006 at 6:20 am

    Sweet as. This was SICK. I said no to some nice phones as I assumed the Nokia would sync, stoopid me didn’t check. This worked perfectly. Jonathan if you’re still having the same drama, remove the device then add again, seemed to work for me fine when I did that…

    Cheers again
    Mark

  4. KUNAL A LEKHADIA Says:
    March 11th, 2006 at 8:57 pm

    Whoever you are. Thanks a lot for helping me sync nokia n70 with my powerbook.

    You guys rule man. I have been trying everywhere but could not find any solution until i came here.

    Thanks a lot guys. Let me know if there is anything that I can do for you.

  5. Petwie Says:
    March 16th, 2006 at 1:24 pm

    this is a very simple step by step instruction you wrote. but still have a problem.. indeed Finder does not let me view to content of isync as you said. your advise

    “This is probably easier from the command line as Finder may not let you navigate within iSync.app
    /Applications/iSync.app/Contents/PlugIns/ApplePhoneConduit.syncdevice/Contents/PlugIns/PhoneModelsSync.phoneplugin/Contents/Resources/MetaClasses.plist”

    how do i get to the “command line”? do you mean I should eneter above into the adress bar of Finder? tried that but says that cannot find the file. might be a stupid question, but could you help me out?

  6. Jim Says:
    March 16th, 2006 at 1:30 pm

    Petwie, sorry about that.

    Try this..

    1) Run /Applications/Utilities/Terminal
2) Type open -e /Applications/iSync.app/Contents/PlugIns/ApplePhoneConduit.syncdevice/Contents/PlugIns/PhoneModelsSync.phoneplugin/Contents/Resources/MetaClasses.plist
3) Type exit to close Terminal window
4) Follow steps above about editing the MetaClasses.plist file

    Cheers
    Jim

  7. Petwie Says:
    March 16th, 2006 at 1:46 pm

    thanks. larned something new about my mac (new user..)
    however still says no such file. checked my software versions, have OS 10.3.9 and iSync 1.5. do I need to update to iSync 2.1? this will also require update of OS

  8. Petwie Says:
    March 16th, 2006 at 1:48 pm

    succeeded in opening iSync folder (ctrl click, show package contents), no plugins folder under contents

  9. Petwie Says:
    March 16th, 2006 at 2:57 pm

    could you please give me some more help? have spend the whole night now, but still no success.
    have created the folders as in your path above with iSync application and in there have copied NOKN70.tiff file MetaClasses.plist with following content:

    com.nokia.N70

    Identification

    com.apple.gmi+gmm
    Nokia+Nokia N70

    InheritsFrom

    com.nokia.serie60v2.2

    Services

    ServiceName
    com.apple.model
    ServiceProperties

    ModelName
    N70
    PhoneIcon
    NOKN70.tiff

    iSync still can’t find device

  10. Gareth Says:
    March 18th, 2006 at 12:57 pm

    Thanks for posting this, it worked flawlessly! I didn’t even need to use the command line, just went straight in through the iSync package. It’s really annoying to know that this hack is really all that’s stopping compatibility between the Mac and the N70.

    Thanks again!

  11. Mary-Ann Says:
    May 3rd, 2006 at 4:42 pm

    I can’t get iSync to even find my N70, do I need to use Bluetooth? I connected it via USB and it shows up in System Profiler but no joy with iSync

  12. wild party girl Says:
    June 16th, 2006 at 5:05 pm

    Anybody aware a solution to create a Dial-Up connection directly from the N70, without using a PC? I need this to access some POP3 email accounts, using the pop3-client on the phone.
    The only option visible on my phone is Packet Switched Data, no Dial-Up connection…
    Thanks in advance.
    Help me please.

  13. David F Says:
    August 14th, 2006 at 4:55 pm

    Nothing. I tried to do as you guys suggested but…even if the association between the devices is regular, when i try to sync the isync says that it cannot connect to the device… any idea? thanks!

  14. Fulvio Says:
    August 20th, 2006 at 9:53 am

    Hi,

    This is strange - I’ve tried this on my Powerbook and it worked fine, but not on a (dual processor) mac mini. Even having the latest version of Tiger installed on the mini (which you say should natively sync with the N70) doesn’t work. Does anyone know what Mac Mini’s have against the N70?!

  15. Pedro VDE Says:
    September 1st, 2006 at 6:36 pm

    Thank you… 10″ in terminal, and my baby is syncing… (It took me an hour to find this page…)