Why Android doesn’t work with Exchange Online

Lately I’ve noticed lots of angry comments from Android users pointing the finger at Microsoft for why their mail stops working with Exchange Online.
I tried to help out one of these pour souls but his sheer rage blinded him from seeing the actual problem.

It’s important in issues like these to be practical and look at it objectively.
The post in question on the Office 365 Community was from a user who was demanding that Microsoft explain why his Android native mail client wouldn’t work anymore and that they stop saying they support Android when in fact they don’t. That particular individual as well as several others on the forums continued to point the finger at Microsoft for failing to support their handsets.

In my latest article on BoxFreeIT I go through this issue and uncover the fact that the fault lies with Google’s Android platform and their failure to adhere to the protocols of Exchange ActiveSync (EAS).

Here’s a link to explain how ActiveSync works in Office 365 and how it can cause some devices to stop connecting to Exchange Online: http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2012/02/07/cross-site-redirection-exchange-activesync-clients-in-office-365.aspx

A post by Exchange Customer Experience Team explaining how this began: http://community.office365.com/en-us/f/160/p/18164/104303.aspx#104303

And finally – the issue acknowledge on the Android bug tracking site: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=25527

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