Forum Discussion
Android Exchange Sync Problems: Contacts and Calendar Not Updating
Hello,
I manage a fleet of more than 1,000 Samsung Android devices using Omnissa Workspace One (AirWatch), devices are enrolled in COPE. We use Gmail, Google Calendar, and the native Samsung Contacts app in the work profile, all synchronized through an Exchange ActiveSync connector.
Since Wednesday, November 26th, we have been experiencing synchronization issues:
- Contacts and calendar events saved on Exchange disappear after some time.
- The Calendar app eventually shows an “Unauthorized Action” error and refuses to open.
- Gmail continues to sync emails normally.
The issue occurs randomly (sometimes after one hour, sometimes longer). Clearing Gmail’s app data and signing in again temporarily resolves the problem, but the issue always comes back. We've tryied uninstalling and reinstalling the app through our MDM but we can only do it user by user and we're not sure about it fixing the issue.
We have no means to "rollback" Gmail's version to an older one through our MDM, i've tryied uninstalling recent updates on one of my test phones, it's seems stable for the moment.
We noticed that Gmail received an update recently, and a couple of other fleet managers have reported the same problem since that update on Play store's comments.
Have you identified any bug or recent change in Gmail that could affect Exchange/ActiveSync synchronization?
Thank you in advance for your assistance.
13 Replies
Hello Emilie,
Do you have any update ? It seems that Google rolled out a "silent" patch without updating the app (based on what I can read on the issue tracker).
Thanks,
Axel.
Hello,
Hard to say, we've been uninstalling/reinstalling the app for every impacted user as much times as requiered. I doesn't look like we've been getting new tickets since the 12/12.
I'm trying to get informations from my users in order to know if the issue is resolved.
Regards.
Hello Axel_ch and marik_te - I hope you're doing well!
I've heard back from the team and they wanted to start by saying thank you for the detailed report Axel_ch :)
Given the specific symptoms (Email syncing successfully while Calendar/Contacts fail, followed by an "Unauthorized Action" error), the team thinks this strongly indicates a regression in the Exchange ActiveSync adapter included in the latest Gmail app update.
While this is not Android Enterprise related, the Gmail team is informed of the issue and is already working on a solution - you can check the updates on this here: https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/461996029I hope this is helpful - could you keep us updated on progress your end?
Thanks and speak soon,
Emilie
Hey Emilie,
Thank you about that information. You are writing, that the Gmail team is already working on a solution, but why are there no information about that on the shared issue on the issue tracker page?
A fix for this issue is very important for many users. I'm only an example, but I have many effected customers and they are not very happy about the current situation and also about the missing communication from Google...
Regards, Max
Hello max_sto
I believe the Gmail team will issue a statement as soon as the solution is ready and available.
I am also sure they're doing their best to get this fixed as soon as possible - unfortunately, I won't be able to provide you with any further updates as I am not part of the Gmail team so, it's best for you to keep an eye on the issue tracker link provided.
Many thanks,
Emilie
Hi Axel_ch and welcome to the Customer Community!
Thank you for your post - did you mean the issue started last Wednesday, on November 19th?
Have you reached out to your EMM? If so, could I ask what they said or advised?
I've passed this on to our internal team to see how we can help - I will get back to you as soon as i hear back.
If anything changes in the meantime, please let us know; the more info we have, the better 😉
Speak soon,
Emilie
Hello,
Thanks for your follow-up, and sorry again for the late reply — we’ve been overwhelmed with user complaints recently.
About the date:
Yes, the issue started on Wednesday, November 19th, which is when our users first began reporting problems through our internal ticketing system.About contacting our EMM:
Not yet for this specific issue.
The last time we had a similar problem (registered contact names disappearing from Google Messages conversations), our EMM opened a discussion here on this forum:
See "https://www.androidenterprise.community/discussions/conversations/the-customer-reported-to-us-a-problem-with-contact-sms-which-is-not-displayed-on/8706"Current situation:
As of today, we are still receiving a large number of complaints, and we are handling them as best as we can.For isolated synchronization issues, we usually ask users to clear Gmail app data, and if needed we uninstall/reinstall the app from our MDM (users cannot do this manually because the app is managed and pushed from the MDM).
At the moment, we are reinstalling the Gmail app for every affected user.
This sometimes stabilizes the situation temporarily, but the problem returns for some users (including one of our test devices, where contacts disappeared again after the reinstall).
Additional information:
We found this public notice from BlueMind, which describes the exact same symptoms and potential causes/solutions:
https://www.bluemind.net/newsroom/informations-concernant-des-dysfonctionnements-de-lapplication-gmail-sur-telephone/It is written in French, my native language but clearly indicates an issue with Gmail’s app synchronization.
Thanks again for your help. We look forward to hearing back from you.
Hello. I have the same problem. Exchange contacts dissapears after few minutes. I'm using http connection on unstandard port. Before September I was using https connection with own certificate, but this type of connection was disabled on android phones. It is sad for me, that I can't use any type of connection on my own risk.
