I have been using my iPhone 3G to access company email for months. I just upgraded to OS 3.1 today (from OS 3.0.1) and got an alert saying "The account <work> requires encryption which is not supported on this iPhone." My phone will no longer access my work email!!! I know that nothing has changed on my company Exchange servers in the last 20 minutes, so OS 3.1 must be the cause. Why can't OS 3.1 access an Exchange server if OS 3.0 & 3.0.1 have had no problems?
Not sure if someone else has already said this, and I'm not trying to state the obvious. I was having the same problem and restarting the phone fixed the problem.
Im not sure we understand the big deal of this... If I understand what is actually happening:
Transmission encryption between Exchange and the Iphone occurs over SSL and this is encrypted.
There is a POLICY setting on the Exchange server that allows the admin to REQUIRE local data encryption of the "offline" mail on the mobile device. It is this policy setting that seems to be the "issue".
If the policy is on then the mobile device must respect the setting if not it is supposed to reject device.
It seems that only the 3GS device has the ability to encrypt the "offline" data that is on the device. Apparantly, the 3GS has a hardware encryption chip to do the job.
On the prior models they do not have the capability to do the encryption.
It would seem that this problem probably should have popped up earlier since the encryption policy HAS been available prior to the 3GS device and Apple did not strictly respect the policy which would be inadequate and incomplete support for the ActiveSynch protocol.. Wonder where Microsoft was in this?
So from a device standpoint any device prior to the 3GS device is not as secure as the 3GS device but you could "fallback" on a device wipe, device lock, sim lock to gain some protection. The IT departments would have to make a determination if that is safe enough...For mobile devices that is a bit scary they get lost/stolen much more frequently than Laptops/PC's.
Would think that a software encryption option could be implemented but maybe the older phones are just not powerful enough.
Bottom line, if you MUST have the local store encrypted only the 3GS is going to do it. Otherwise, you have to turn the policy off...
I wonder how many device "ignore" the policy even though they CANT do the encryption???
I am having a 3G and after upgrade to 3.1 I couldn't sync with the company exchange 2007 server. Only way so far for me were to downgrade with I finally succeeded just following the guidelines from
I took some time and I only lost some minor data as I had use a backup 2 weeks old - but it worked and I can now sync again - the iPhone is back to 3.0.1 and I am waiting until Apple releases a 3.1.1 were the problem is fixed.
just to save everyone the trouble of self trouble shooting your self in the foot
Bottom line is that everyone who purchaced an iPhone and the iPhone 3G were mislead by _ _ _ _ _.
Stating that it could sync with Exhange Servers with encription enabled but reality the 1st & 2nd gen iPhone were only just spoofing your companies Exchange Servers into thinking it was an excripted device. What's really sad is that it was all recorded on video tape at a keynote address promising that it indeed had this Exchange support with encription feature but in 20/20 hind sight it didn't. Only the newer iPhone 3GS has it. So now after the 3.1 update "the company that shall not be named" wants you to go to your companies IT department to have them change company policy into disabling encription so that you can be allowed to hop back into the server. (good luck)
I could write more in detail what's going to come of this but it would only get ugly....
This update is killing my confidence in Apple as a enterprise option for a smart phone. I guess my only option is to go to the store and get them to act based on a warranty claim.
It's interesting that _ _ _ _ _ disabled the feature (now that the 3GS here) and I think they said it just a "bug" (not buying it) and that it some how allowed the iPhones to sync with Exchange Servers with encription. I'm not sure what makes the difference between the 3GS and the other previous iPhone hardware wise but they could possible re-enable the feature with encription. It tough to pay so much for something that works then to have it not work. I thought updates were to fix things not brake your device. I'm hoping for the best but not holding my breath either.
I'm not a lawyer nor pretend to be one but this thing reeks to high heaven of lawsuit. From the companies stand point to right down to the end user, this is a fiasco.
The lack of understanding of Outlook vs. Exchange and encrypted communications vs. encrypted files in this thread is appalling.
Outlook is the product on a user's desktop with which an iPhone synchronizes (just like other mobile phones and devices). The iPhone does not directly synchronize with an Exchange server. The default Exchange server to Outlook client protocol is proprietary and there are no products on the market that synchronize with Exchange directly. There are a very limited number of enterprises that enable any of the alternative protocols.
For whatever reason, Apple has not taken this seriously enough and currently (at least with 3.0 and earlier) cannot sync with Outlook when there are > 1 Outlook profiles available on a user's system.
The current issue is that the specification to require encrypted off-line storage (OST or PST) is actually being enforced first with with 3.1 which only works on the latest batch of iPhones. It failed to honor this request with earlier iPhone OSes, but this version does - which doesn't work on earlier iPhones and so the whole thing falls ashambles.
