Gmail: Problems with Exchange ActiveSync again
The Android Gmail app is causing some users increased heart rates again when fetching Exchange Online emails with Exchange ActiveSync.
(Image: heise medien)
In December of last year, problems with Google's Gmail app when processing emails with the Exchange ActiveSync protocol became known. This seemed to be fixed in mid-January. Now, many users are again complaining that their Gmail app can no longer fetch emails from Exchange Online accounts.
A new thread was started on the social network Reddit almost two weeks ago, in which numerous users are discussing renewed difficulties with the Gmail app. According to the thread, logging into Microsoft 365 Exchange Online access is no longer possible. An error message suggests checking account information or using modern authentication.
Solutions such as deleting app caches and data, as well as accounts and re-creating them, are sometimes only temporary and often do not help at all. Some users can no longer access their accounts afterward, despite having the correct password and second factor in the app. Even though the effect sounds similar to the problems that occurred under iOS with the mail services Outlook or Hotmail at the end of April, this does not seem to be related.
Google receives many problem reports
However, many are also reporting to Google itself in the Issue Tracker, the company's bug-tracking system. There, you can also find a post indicating that a corporate network with 150 MDM-managed XCover devices is also affected by the issue. In this case, switching to Outlook as a (temporary) countermeasure is not as easy to implement as for individuals.
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Some users suspect that the enforcement of Exchange ActiveSync protocol version 16.1 since March 1, 2026, could be the cause of the issues. Gmail reportedly does not yet support this protocol version. It is completely unclear whether this is actually the cause of the observed issues. Google has not yet publicly commented on the matter.
Currently, there is no universally valid solution for the issue. Google did not respond immediately to inquiries from heise online. We will provide helpful tips as they become available.
(dmk)
