Forum Discussion
Outlook for iOS/Android App Availability for Government
I didn't realize that was a thing, why can't Government customers use the Outlook for iOS and Android app out of interest? The OWA app is practically abandonware, it must be a drag to still to have to use that!
I don't know the why's, but we can't authenticate and the last time I asked (couple months ago) I was told it was because we are a Government tenant.
Thanks for the explanation, that's taking a long time (since https://blogs.office.com/en-us/2016/09/26/outlook-for-ios-and-android-is-now-fully-powered-by-the-microsoft-cloud/ in Sep 2016), but as has been explained it will take as long as it takes. In fairness, in the https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt774581.aspx it says for Outlook for iOS and Android "Not yet available for Office 365 US Government Community or Office 365 US Government Defense but coming soon". Hopefully, by Ignite this will be announced.
Cian Allner wrote:In fairness, in the service description it says for Outlook for iOS and Android "Not yet available for Office 365 US Government Community or Office 365 US Government Defense but coming soon".
Don't be suprised if I don't see much "fairness."
That's the only place I've ever seen it spelled out. Even the Tech Support people didn't know that Government tenants aren't supported by the apps. I wasted over a week on that very question back in June.
Now my users are asking why are we still using an app that hasn't been updated in almost 2 years. I just have to tell them "it's Microsoft" . . . they aren't very satisfied with that answer.
The U.S, government (and associated bodies) use what Microsoft call a "soverign cloud" (the datacenter regions in Germany and China are similar). In these environments, software must meet specific security and other requirements before it is available for general use. Obviously, there is still some work to be done to make sure that the infrastructure used by the Outlook apps complies with those requirements.
I've told my users that, but they are not at all sympathetic and are pratically ready to mutiny if they have to continue to use the OWA app much longer.
