Because we got used to major service providers such as Google, or Microsoft, we think of these services, email/Contacts/Calendar as one integrated service, but once you move away from them, you will find things a little bit more difficult.

The point is to find a service that provides you mobile and desktop access to them easily and smoothly.

There is Microsoft ActiveSync protocol that enables providers to enable such access and sync feature. One of the providers of it, is Zoho Mail paid package.

Zoho email has free package, but it dose not include ActiveSync feature. If you do not want to pay, there is another route that is not perfect but may be you can live with it.

I am sharing my experience mainly for Windows and Android, but similar solutions exist for Mac and iphone.

For email: You just add it as Pop3 or IMAP service. You will just enter your email and password and it will just work. That is simply works for me on Windows and Android.

For Calendar: On Android, there is Zoho Calendar app that will do the trick. But for Windows, I find a way with Thuderbird but I am not using it. So I will use just the web browser to access it.

For Contacts: On Windows, I will just use the zoho web access. For Android, there is a way that could help. Based on using the carddav protocol. See this URL:

https://www.zoho.com/contacts/help/carddav-mac-ios-android-windows-emclient.html

Notes on Contacts Syncing:

1. The application name used is “CardDav-Sync Free”. I did not find on Android app store. I downloaded it as apk and installed it. To let Android be OK with that, some settings should be changed to allow installing applications from outside play store.
2. To sync something like 2000 contacts, it could take long time, wait it.
3. You have to keep “CardDav-Sync Free” installed to keep syncing contacts.

It is much easier to just pay about 12 USD yearly to Zoho to get ActiveSync feature enabled. Remember, Gmail is not free because they sell you and your data for billions of dollars. Be safe and be security aware.

After doing that, I went back to my Gmail account and removed all my emails. I am not going to remove my email address soon, so I added a forward rule in gmail to send new emails to my new zoho email address.

Question and answer From Chatgpt on ActiveSync:

Is ActiveSync protocol open?

No, ActiveSync is not an open protocol. ActiveSync is a proprietary protocol developed by Microsoft for synchronization of email, contacts, calendar, and other data between a mobile device and a Microsoft Exchange Server. Microsoft has not made the protocol open for public use, and it is primarily designed to work with Microsoft’s own products.

While ActiveSync has been widely used for many years, newer standards like Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) have been developed by Microsoft to provide synchronization capabilities for a variety of mobile devices, including those running non-Microsoft operating systems. EAS is an extension of the original ActiveSync protocol.

It’s worth noting that as of my knowledge cutoff in January 2022, Microsoft has transitioned away from using ActiveSync in favor of newer technologies, such as Microsoft Sync technology and the Microsoft Graph API. Always check the latest documentation or Microsoft’s official communication channels for the most up-to-date information on their synchronization protocols.