
Microsoft Launches Outlook for iOS and Android - sidcool
http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/29/microsoft-launches-outlook-for-ios-and-android/
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matdrewin
This is just a rebranded Accompli and not a true e-mail client.

From the privacy policy: "We provide a service that indexes and accelerates
delivery of your email to your device. That means that our service retrieves
your incoming and outgoing email messages and securely pushes them to the app
on your device."

So it basically doesn't work if you're trying to reach an on-premise Exchange
server via VPN.

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larrybud
Even for hosted email, it would violate most corporate infosec policies.

~~~
fluidcruft
I installed it and was starting to like it. I really, really love Google Inbox
and want it so desperately to support our hospital Outlook server.

It never occurred to me that installing "Microsoft Outlook for Android" would
mean "upload all your hospital email to some acquihired cloud". When Google
abandoned the Email app in Lollipop and forced us all to add our Outlook
accounts to the Gmail app, I was concerned (Google does explain quite clearly
that this is just a UI thing and that it's not merging the email into the
Gmail servers at all) that I would have to go back to those abominations in
the Play Store since all the Outlook clients on Android suck and K9 refuses to
work with our Exchange server. And here Microsoft releases Outlook for Android
and I was all excited for nothing.

Thank god I didn't receive any emails containing PHI while I had it enabled.

~~~
lurkinggrue
Try touchdown instead?

~~~
fluidcruft
Touchdown has always been buggy (it loves to go into battery-draining fits)
and is extremely buggy on Lollypop. It also hasn't been updated in tech-eons.

It is so extremely frustrating to have to deal with a corporate Outlook server
on Android. That's why I was excited that Microsoft finally put out something.

~~~
lurkinggrue
Shame this is simplistic to the point of nearly being useless.

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m_st
Installed, started and then realized that you have to give them your
credentials so their server can download your mail rather than the app doing
this. I understand the benefits of these cloud mail checkers but this is just
a 'no go' for me. Too bad.

~~~
6993
They should implement OAuth2.0, then there's no need to give them your
password. Meanwhile creating an app specific password might do as well?

~~~
benjaminl
OAuth is implemented for products that support it, such as Google and Gmail
accounts. Exchange doesn't support OAuth. See
[https://www.acompli.com/privacy-policy/](https://www.acompli.com/privacy-
policy/).

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ForFreedom
Same interface as accompli. In fact accompli is really good.

~~~
kmfrk
It is. Microsoft acquired it, so they probably pulled a Sparrow. :)

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aout
I would add that Acompli isn't on the AppStore anymore so it's probably a pure
rebranding of the app.

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kmfrk
Oh, I didn't even notice that. Looks like the Outlook app doesn't have the
bottom buttons with links to e-mail and calendar, which would be a real
bummer.

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sz4kerto
About time. I have bought Nine for Exchange stuff because Outlook for Android
just didn't cut it while Nine is basically perfect. I hope this will raise the
bar.

Edit : no support for aliases. Well, it's not suitable for me then.

~~~
vetinari
I bought Nine for Exchange some time ago and Outlook still is far behind Nine.

The first thing I wondered about was remote wipe and password policy. Outlook
does not enforce them... but still downloads your mail to third-party! That's
a big no-no. The very nice feature of Nine is ability to sandbox the remote
wipe and password policies to app only - very nice, if you are contractor
using your own device with account on your customer's Exchange.

Another thing is Calendar - Nine creates calendar provider and the system
Calendar app will display it together with your own. Outlook has its own
Calendar and you have to switch between them. You cannot see your agenda in
single list. Same with contacts.

Nine also allows encrypting and signing messages.

So far, I don't see any reason switching from Nine. It was 8 EUR well spent.

~~~
benjaminl
Per their security policy, the app and servers respect exchange initiated
remote wipes see section 3 "User data retention" at
[https://www.acompli.com/security/](https://www.acompli.com/security/)

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o0-0o
I thought I remember reading that Acompli was developed in China as well. So
does this mean that their servers are still in China? Just curious to see if
anyone knows. I couldn't find any info on that.

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ommunist
That will be a selling point for Windows-based smartphones.

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cr_huber
Now if only i could access my Outlook.com contacts & calendar from my Mac. If
anyone has any solutions I'd love to hear them

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mark_l_watson
My family is subscribed to Office365, largely to get OneDrive. I am going to
wait a few days for more reviews to come in and then probably try it on my
iPad and droid phone.

I have a custom domain name for email and I use gmail. I would think that
mapping a custom domain to Office365's email hosting and using gmail
separately in the new apps would be well supported.

~~~
JeremyNT
As others have noted, this is a rebranded Accompli. Reviews on Accompli should
be relevant.

I find Accompli to be decent and I'm happy to see Microsoft move quickly with
it post acquisition. I have noticed a few crashes on my Nexus 5, but in
general it works well. I would recommend it over the Google provided Android
solution.

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alexggordon
It's really excellent to see Microsoft understanding the need for cross
platform support. I'm much more likely to trust them as a user, knowing that
I'll have support for whatever device I'm on in the future.

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lurkinggrue
Wow, this is a painful app for me to use. I have a subfolder of people I need
to deal with that mail gets sorted into but this I have to drill down to get
to it and can't set it as a default view.

This thing is simplistic and horrible.

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orand
The best feature is that your corporate IT goons are no longer able to remote-
wipe your entire device simply because you hooked up to work email. With the
Outlook app they can only wipe your email.

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tl
From the app:

To use this app, your mailbox must be running on

* Exchange Server 2013 CU3

That requirement may hurt adoption.

~~~
m_st
From the app description: 'Outlook works with Microsoft Exchange, Office 365,
Outlook.com, iCloud, Gmail and Yahoo Mail.'

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c1sc0
And (sadly) that covers 90% of email setups.

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thejerz
If your Exchange sysadmin blocks iPhone access, this app won't work. For that
reason, I'm sticking with CloudMagic, which works regardless of Exchange
device-level permissions.

~~~
tdkl
Doesn't CloudMagic collect data in their cloud to offer push as well ?

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grandalf
The OWA mobile app for IOS would be an embarrassment if released by a few
developers working in their spare time, much less a multi-billion dollar
company.

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ComputerGuru
I saw the comments here about giving your password to Microsoft, but on iPhone
it uses OAuth (at least for GMail and hosted Google accounts).

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DiabloD3
I wonder if it properly supports shared mailboxes, thats the one thing third
party clients never properly support.

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sbarre
I am happy to see more high-quality native mail apps on iOS.. Competition is
good.

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higherpurpose
Microsoft _Rebrands_ App As Outlook for iOS and Android, would be more
accurate.

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anonbanker
Yeah. Sticking with K-9 mail, thanks. Some of us try to keep our android
devices as FOSS as possible.

