Today, we are announcing the availability of new functionality in Outlook for iOS and Android that simplifies the Exchange on-premises email account set up with Microsoft Intune and other enterprise mobility management (EMM) solutions.
Now administrators can simply push the account set up details via mobile device management (MDM) to deliver the user and server endpoint details. Users can then easily add their Exchange on-premises email accounts to Outlook for iOS and Android to get up and running virtually instantly. This new functionality will facilitate large scale deployments of the leading, secure email client which is known to be loved by users and trusted by IT.
Managing and configuring the Outlook for iOS and Android features such as Focused Inbox or contact synchronization capabilities are not in scope for this release although under consideration for the future.
This account set up capability supports Intune and other EMM providers that leverage either Managed App Configuration for iOS or the Android managed configurations to enable MDM solutions to push configuration detail. Devices must be running at minimum iOS 10, or Android enterprise managed devices with Android 5.0+ and the Exchange on-premises accounts must utilize the ActiveSync protocol with Basic Authentication.
This enhancement was developed specifically to support on-premises Exchange accounts with basic authentication via the ActiveSync protocol and not accounts that support modern authentication (OAuth). Why? Because Modern Authentication capable accounts (e.g., cloud based accounts such as Office 365 or hybrid on-premises accounts) already support two simplified scenarios for account set up today:
- A single sign-on experience that automatically finds and authenticates the account.
- AutoDetect functionality for users to simply enter an email address and then authenticate the account with their credentials to gain access.