Is Android for Work with Native Mail Client possible?

[ChrisReay]

I have looked around on My Airwatch and have not yet found a clear answer on this.  We already are going to try and get a majority of our users onto Boxer but for our Android users that would like to use their native mail clients on their Samsung devices, is there a way to get this working?  I have tried profile and resource deployments but neither seem to work while using Android for Work.  I also have not been able to get the Android for Work Gmail client configured either.  When I create an exchange profile with Gmail as the client, it deploys Gmail to the Android for Work profile but does not configure the app.  Any suggestions or advice?

[VanniCarletti]

Exactly same issue here... Does anybody have a feedback on this?

[ChrisReay]

I ended up opening a ticket with support on this and they told me that it is not supported via Android for Work due to API limitations between the Android for Work platform and the native mail clients.  At this time, they support Gmail, Boxer, and Airwatch Inbox via Android for Work.

[VanniCarletti]

Ah ok good to know. Bad that Gmail doesn't work either... However thanks for your feedback!

[ChrisReay]

Yes they actually told me on the support call that Gmail does not work either at the moment due to a known bug they hope to fix in the next update to Airwatch.  They also said there is supposed to be a work around but I was not able to test it with them.

[DavidFink]

Wouldn't this expose corp email if you are configuring Samsung Mail outside the AFW Work Space?

[VanniCarletti]

Not sure if that depends on the email server you're configuring or what, but I actually was able to configure the Gmail client, and that was right after I enabled the ' Restrictions'  payload within the Android for Work profile in addition to the ActiveSync one. Not sure if that was the trick or not, but as soon as I did that, it worked (and I tried it several times by un-enrolling and re-enrolling the device)

[b52junebug]

We have used Gmail in the AFW space. The problem is if you use Hyperlink translation, it doesn't change the links to open into the Secure Browser. The only way to do that is with Boxer. We are having an issue where the Android OG doesnt even realize that a device is enrolled for mail to work. It like if there is no mail profile then it doesn't allow the device to sync. The only way around that is to basically allow unlisted users and then it works. That's not great for security.

[VanniCarletti]

I just realized I had to the same to get it working. The SEG thinks my device is not managed and therefore block email connection. It would be nice having somebody from AirWatch feedback.

[PhilippKabelka]

Hello Chris!

Any new suggestions about this.
Same Prblem here, we created a AfW Profile (Exchange Profile included).
And enroll it on a device.
Some apps on the Device becomes to AfW-app (e.g.playstore, Browser)
But not the native mail-client. It seems that the profile was not work and don’t turn the native mail client to AfW-Mode.

[DavidFink]

It's been a while since we demo-ed AFW but I thought on a Samsung device it did make a briefcase copy of Samsung Mail on the enrolled device. We ended up putting AFW on hold as it was too much work to just support the one corporate provided device.

[msweisberg]

FYI...Google will be forcing AfW in the near future:

https://support.air-watch.com/articles/115015773788
https://support.air-watch.com/articles/115015887068

[admin]

I had the exact same issue, but since AirWatch 9.2 its solved.

GMAIL Client configuration with Android for Work is working now.

BR
Michael

[AITDrift]

Hi, we are trying to configure the Gmail app on Android to work with SEG in AfW setup. SEG blocks the connection since it thinks the device is unmanaged, Boxer works fine since it sends the AirWatch deviceID correctly.

I guess ' Device Identifier'  is the key, what should the correct variable be? Any tips for setting this up?

thanks

[BorisWLODARSKI]

Hello,
Same issue here. I try to configure the Samsung Email client with SEG and the SEG thinks that the device is not enrolled. Do you find a solution ? It works very well with Gmail/Inbox (via Exchange Profile) and Boxer, but not with Samsung Email (via the appconfig).
Thanks a lot,
Boris

[GolanNave]

Has anyone managed to resolve this?

[DavidFink]

Not sure if it's better to resurrect this old thread or start something new but here goes.

We are now running console 1902. Dedicated SaaS. For an AE exchange device profile I still see target endpoints as

Gmail
AirWatch Inbox (long since retired I thought)
Managed Productivity App

On a Samsung Device, in an AE context, what would be the Managed Productivity App? Samsung Mail is not picking up any configuration.