Outlook Android app cannot login IMAP email server.

Anonymous
2020-03-05T22:54:18+00:00

This suddenly started yesterday 3/4/2020.

I have 3 email accounts on my android Outlook app. Outlook.com, Google, my ISP's. The problem only happens with my ISP (comcast.net, IMAP).

Till yesterday night, I can send/retrieve emails from the same server without an issue with Outlook app.

First I noticed Outlook requested to re-enter email password. But it failed. So I deleted account, then added. Failed. I even removed Outlook app and re-installed it. Failed. Google and Outlook account are just fine.

I didn't change anything from my side. I can access Comcast email from Web/Windows 10 mail and even from the same phone using Samsung standard email app.

What was changed and how to solve it? I can use Samsung standard email app but I like Outlook.

Outlook | Outlook for mobile | Outlook for Android | For business

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-01-19T22:51:23+00:00

    hi, is there an update yet?  i havnet been able to use my outlook account for android for months now?

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-01-19T22:56:51+00:00

    I just found myself in the same situation. I tested it with my own mailserver where I had access to the logs. It seems that the Outlook for Android app can't handle double quotes in the password. If your password contains double quotes, try changing the password. It might fix it. I am also going to contact Microsoft about that issue.

    what exactly double quotes mean?

    thanks

    ll

    These are double quotes -> " <- 

    Or in Hex: 0x22

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotation\_mark

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-01-19T23:11:22+00:00

    thank u...i dont use them...and it still doesnt work...thanks for your thoughts!

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  4. Anonymous
    2021-01-20T17:27:48+00:00

    The Blue Mail app has been updated this week. Push notifications seems to work better, still delayed up to one minute though. It is a decent replacement of the Outlook.

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  5. Anonymous
    2021-01-22T16:14:48+00:00

    After struggling with this for months, I believe I have finally have workarounds for the issue.

    Symptoms included:

    • Unable to access an IMAP account in Outlook for Android (OfA) after application update via Play Store; no account changes made
    • Unable to authenticate to IMAP server after performing OfA reset (clear cache, clear storage, uninstall, reinstall); username and password work correctly via webmail and exact settings work in Outlook on PC
    • Set secure ports for IMAP (993) and SMTP (465) and receive a username/password authentication error; username and password work correctly via webmail and exact settings work in Outlook on PC(Issue #1*)***
    • Complex password not working in OfA**;** username and password work correctly via webmail and exact settings work in Outlook on PC (Issue #1)
    • Able to setup IMAP account in OfA but unable to open messages, application crashes, folders open without displaying messages, etc; everything continues to work properly in Outlook for PC***(Issue #2)***

    Issue #1

    While troubleshooting the issue I ran the IMAP Email Connectivity Test from Microsoft as the issue was presenting as a certificate issue.

    https://testconnectivity.microsoft.com/ -> Exchange Server -> IMAP Email.

    Certificate validation displayed a warning but the actual failure was failing on login with "2 BAD Invalid characters in atom"

    Workaround #1: I simplified the password to contain only upper and lower case letters and numbers.

    Reference articles:

    https://community.nethserver.org/t/unable-to-connect-using-outlook-for-android-with-imap-and-double-quote-in-password/16976

    Issue #2

    With the account setup in OfA, I was able to access the mailbox however there were still significant issues and OfA was virtually unusable.

    Believing this was likely an issue with an update to the application as these issues started after an application update, I tested the app with the working settings every time the application was updated without any change in the issue.

    Finally, I found a thread where someone was having the same/similar issue and they changed the SMTP port to 587.

    With SMTP port set to 587, OfA is functioning normally.

    Workaround #2: Set SMTP port to 587 not 465.

    Conclusion:

    Neither of these issues have been resolved, I have simply been able to work around these issues to get OfA to work.

    Outlook on PC continues to work with IMAP 993 and SMTP 465 and with a complex password set for the account.

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