OWA for Android problems

[EmyLoanzon]

Our employees using Android devices to access company email from OWA for Android are getting system prompts "OWA app must reset". They go through the reset process and get back to the original system prompt "OWA app must reset". I have asked them to remove OWA for Android and reinstall it. Still the same error.

There are no system advisory messages in the O365 admin web portal.

I found these posts from yesterday:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice_outlook-mso_amobile-mso_mobapps/owa-for-...

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook_com/forum/oemail-oapps/owa-android-app-its-stuck-on-a-re...

No replies from Microsoft on these login issues.

Any one from Microsoft have information on this error?

Thank you.

[#2]

Ridiculous! OWA app does not work anymore, now they want you to DOWNGRADE Chrome?

Come on! Microsoft must solve its own problem!

[#3]

We want a simple app just to function properly.

[#4]

Support says: downgrade Chrome to original version supplied on your phone. Of course, that is NOT the proper answer you want to get.
Microsoft, go fix your problem!

[#5]

@AllenFilush Any one from the Microsoft Exchange team monitoring this thread?

[#6]

We reported the issue to Google and they say it is up to the app developer to fix the app. Unfortunately for us OWA for Android users that won't be happening.

What are Microsoft's recommendations now????

[#7]

 I opened a ticket with Microsoft last week - submitted the log files and user information settings they requested. I even gave a link to this forum topic to the support engineer, letting her know that this is a widespread issue. I requested if she or another member of their team can update us with what is going on with OWA with Android. I was told that they do not know about this issue and cannot respond to the tech forum questions. Wow!

This morning, I asked some of our employees to test removing the latest Chrome version and test if they can use OWA for Android. Did not work. They had to remove OWA for Android after removing the latest Chrome version - now OWA for Android works.

OWA for Android is still broke - this is just a work around.

[#8]

Hey Emy - thanks for bringing this one up and @mentioning me so I saw it. As you may know, OWA for Android was never released as a supported product for customers. As you can see in the Google Play store, it is listed as "Pre-Release". Before we finished building and releasing that product, we released the real Outlook app on iOS & Android as its replacement. Almost all customers should be using Outlook, and as we announced 2 years ago, we have discontinued development or bug fixes for OWA for iOS/Android app. We announced this two years ago in the Office 365 Message Center.

Based on your comments above, it sounds like you may be an Office 365 Government customer. We are still receiving all our government certifications for Outlook for iOS/Android, and will have that process completed in the next several months. Today, we have thousands of Government customers using us knowing that certification process is on the way. However, if you are still waiting, we suggest you use the free, built-in email apps on iOS/Android, or navigate to Office.com in your Chrome browser. Meaning, just access Outlook on the web via your phone's browser, rather than using the now--deprecated OWA for Android app.

Joao - we just released support for shared/delegate calendars for Office 365 customers. See this post: aka.ms/CalendarSharing.

[#9]

hello everyone,

I just  found the solution (tested on my Android 7.0)

• Settings / apps / chrome (you need to disabled)
• Settings / apps  (select an option to show system applications)
• Select "Android System WebView" and press update button (If chrome is enabled you won't be able to do it).
• Once the update is done you can enjoy of using OWA again.

It seems that issue is caused by latest google update.

[#10]

Hi Allen, thanks for your reply and the article you send.

But the article talk abour Shared Calendars and not about Shared Mailboxes.

In the Web UI, right click in the mailbox name and add shared mailboxes, doing this and using OWA you get the Shared Mailboxes visible and can see the new emails in the Shared Mailbox.

Using Outlook I can't get the Shared Mailboxes visible and accessible. Is there a way for using Outlook App and get the Shared Mailboxes? Without that option Outlook is not a solution.

Regards,

[#11]

Thanks for the feedback Joao, that feature is in our backlog. If you need that access for now, you should continue to access Outlook through your mobile web browser.

[#12]

Hello Hubert,

In my case, I had Chrome disabled and after yesterday's update, OWA for Android stopped working, asking for reset and all that. I have tried few times and even reinstalled app to no avail. Seeing your post I have enabled Chrome and app started working. Then, out of curiosity, disabled Chrome again and app is still working.

M.

[#13]

Users except Office 365, uses OWA because of Calendar sharing. This is one of reason why Microsoft is being hated by lots of users now. If something is working, why you break it. And if it is brken for some reason, fix it. Stop blaming game. Google fixes issues when it cause by Microsoft updates. So, it should work vice a versa. Users are frustated. Please Microsoft!! 

[#14]

Hi Mayuri - as I said above, we do support calendar sharing. We announced this last week here: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Office-365-Calendar/Shared-calendars-now-sync-to-mobile-phone...

And you can see the depth details: aka.ms/CalendarSharing.

[#15]

Thanks, but not all Android users have the System WebView feature installed, before this OWA for Android issue started. I posted the work around that worked for our employees.

[#16]

Appreciate the update, @AllenFilush. If OWA for Android is no longer supported, shouldn't that have been removed from Google Play? It makes no sense providing this app for download if it is no longer working.

[#17]

Being transparent, there are still a few folks (like yourself!) who would be upset due to a lost feature. Therefore, we are just letting it die a slow death as everyone moves to Outlook. We have almost every feature the former OWA for Android app has, and have a 4.65 rating (compared to 2.9 for OWA app).

We will eventually kill the OWA app for good. We will send out a notice before we do so.

[#18]

It works anyway!
Thanks

[#19]

was able to fix the issue by just going to :

settings > Apps > Chrome > Uninstall update

and now works perfect again

[#20]

Thank you! Others shared this tip in earlier posts.

[#21]

The notice for discontinued support for  OWA for Android was posted 2 years ago and not many Microsoft customers remember that.

Even Microsoft Exchange engineers that I worked with did not know that !!! They informed me about OWA for Android not being supported two weeks after I have been exchanging posts in this forum and other Exchange admins posted work around solutions.