Oops, did iPhone OS 3.1 kill Exchange support?

Damian Koh | Sep 14, 2009

Imagine the entire phonebook and calendar entries on your iPhone 3G disappearing without a trace just before you turn in for the night. Well, that was what happened to my review unit yesterday, and, apparently, I wasn't alone.

A number of iPhone, iPhone 3G and iPod touch users have reported problems synchronizing with Exchange Server 2007 after they upgraded to the more recent OS 3.1. See the discussion thread on the Apple Support forum here. The issue appears to stem from the fact that these devices don't have built-in hardware encryption, unlike the 3GS.

Users may receive the error message, "The account '___' requires encryption which is not supported on this iPhone", and products affected include the first-gen iPhone, iPhone 3G and iPod touch.

The reason for this is that OS 3.1 enforces the Exchange ActiveSync mailbox policy that requires encryption on the device. In other words, until Apple releases a software update to address the issue, pre-iPhone 3GS users are pretty much out of luck. That is unless they can convince their Exchange Server administrators to "change the mailbox policy to no longer require device encryption", according to Apple.

Some users on the discussion thread reported that turning off the Exchange account and switching it back on will solve the problem. Although this didn't apply for most cases, it worked for my iPhone 3G running on OS 3.1 that syncs with Exchange Server 2003 via Outlook Web Access. The part I couldn't understand was why it happened only three days after I'd updated the software last Thursday.

Have you run into any other problems after updating to OS 3.1?

Filed under: Mobile Phones
Leave a comment | Bookmark | Share