Two-Way Contact Sync

We're excited to introduce Two-Way Contact Sync, a new feature that keeps your Dex contacts updated across all your devices automatically. Any changes you make in Dex or on your device stay in sync, so your contact list is always up to date.

How it works?

• When you first connect your device to the Dex Sync Server, it downloads all your existing contacts.
• Any changes you make on your devices are automatically synced to your Dex account.
• Any changes made on Dex are automatically synced to your device.
• This happens in real-time or when your device checks for updates.

What the two directions are

The two directions are Dex and your device's own address book. Dex runs a CardDAV server, your device connects to it as an account, and contacts move both ways between those two places.

Google Contacts and iCloud are not part of that loop. Dex reads from Google when you connect a Google account, and it never writes back, so an edit you make in Dex does not reach Google Contacts and does not reach iCloud.

What it does not do to the contacts you already have

Two-way contact sync adds a Dex address book to your device. It does not tidy up the one that is already there.

• Merge & Fix works on your Dex contacts only. Duplicates sitting in iCloud or Google Contacts are left as they are, and merging in Dex does not merge them.
• Dex only ever writes to its own address book on the device, so nothing in your existing accounts is edited or deleted.
• The sync sends your whole active contact list. There is no way to send one group, or only the contacts that have a phone number, so several thousand synced connections all land on the device alongside the contacts you had before.

Removing the Dex account from your device's contact settings takes the Dex contacts back off it and leaves everything else in place.

What gets synced?

• New contacts you create
• Deleted contacts will be removed from all your devices.
• Merged contacts: when you merge two contacts in Dex, the duplicate is deleted, so it is removed from all your devices too.
• Archived contacts will be removed from all your devices but can be restored anytime from the Archive page, under the drop-down menu at the top-right corner.

The following contact information will be synced across all your devices:

• Name
• Description
• Emails & Phone Numbers
• Company & Job Title
• Addresses
• Social profiles
• Profile images
• Birthday
• Website URL

What stays in Dex

Dex holds fields that a phone or Mac address book has no place for, and the sync doesn't carry them to your device:

• Priority
• Custom fields
• Groups and tags
• Keep-in-touch frequency
• Notes and timeline events
• Last interaction dates

The sync moves the contact details an address book understands, so these stay in Dex. Work with them in the web app, in the mobile app, or through the Dex API.

Limitations

Dex Contacts does not sync certain types of contact information. The following are the currently known limitations:

• Dex only supports syncing a single website URL per contact; if multiple URLs are present, only the first one will be synced.
• Limited support for social media profile links.
• Special dates, such as anniversaries, are not supported and will not be synced to Dex.
• Custom fields do not sync in either direction — not from your device into Dex, and not from Dex out to your device.

Why don't my custom fields, tiers, groups or tags sync?

The sync carries the fields that a normal address-book entry has, which is the list above. The things you add in Dex to organise your network have no equivalent field in your phone or Mac's address book, so there is nowhere for them to go and they stay in Dex only:

• Custom fields, and any value you have put in one
• Relationship priority tiers
• Groups and tags
• Notes, reminders and keep-in-touch cadences
• Timeline history

This is a limit of the address-book format on the device, not a setting you can turn on. These fields are all still available wherever you use Dex itself — the web app, the mobile app, the API and the Dex MCP server.

Get Started

Two-way contact sync is available to everyone. There is no waitlist and nothing to request.

Conflict Resolution

To ensure your contact data stays consistent across devices, an automatic conflict resolution process is used. Here's how it works:

• If the same contact is edited on multiple devices, the most recent update will take precedence and overwrite older changes.
• This is seamlessly handled in the background to prevent duplicate contacts and maintain data accuracy across all your devices.

Reliability

Dex is built to keep your contacts safe and in sync — no matter what.

• Syncing is reliable and secure, so your updates are always protected.
• If your device goes offline, any changes you make will automatically sync once you're back online.
• Your contacts are securely backed up on Dex's servers, so you never lose important information.

Privacy & Security

Your contact information is safe with Dex.

• All syncing is encrypted to keep your data private.
• Only you have access to your contacts—no one else can see them.
• Your information stays protected throughout the entire sync process.

FAQ

Need Help?

If you run into any issues or have questions, we're here to help. Reach out to us anytime at [email protected]****.