iPhone email synchronization issue

[PETERJENKINS]

Hello,
I thought I would post this to see if anyone else is experiencing this issue and has a solution.
We have been experiencing this with about 15-20% of our iOS devices (Reported. Could be higher.). Users will have email synchronize and notify them normally after enrollment for weeks or months. Then one day it will just stop synchronizing automatically. The user will have to go in to the mail app and swipe down in order to get new mail. I have yet to find a common denominator as to why this is happening. I've tried to get assistance from Apple (device and OS), Microsoft (Activesync), and Airwatch (MDM/SEG). Each claims it to be an issue with the others.
Devices: It appears to be iPhone 6 and above.
iOS version: 11 and above
Exchange 2010 SP3
Airwatch Secure Email Gateway
I am usually able to get devices working again for a few days or weeks by running the following steps.
1) Go to Settings > Accounts & Passwords > Email and change Mail Days to Sync to 3 days.
2) In the same screen, turn off the switch beside mail. Check that there is no mail in the mail app.
3) Under Settings > Wi-Fi, turn off wifi switch.
4) Restart the phone by holding the power button on the right side of the phone until 'slide to power off' appears. Slide.
5) After a couple of minutes, turn phone back on.
6) Go back into Settings > Accounts & Passwords > Email and turn mail back on.
7) Wait a few minutes and go into mail app. Mail should start appearing.
😎 Send a test email to and from phone.
9) Turn wi-fi back on.

[MRFVMUser]

Sounds like a Push/Fetch issue.  On the device having the problem, go into Settings --> Accounts & Passwords --> Fetch New Data (at bottom of list of accounts).  The ' Push'  setting should be enabled.  If multiple accounts are listed indicating ' Fetch'  it is because Fetch is enabled on that account - check the Fetch option at the bottom of these settings.  If ' Fetch'  is set to ' Automatically'  you may have issues.  Apparently, the ' Automatically'  setting will only perform fetches when on Wi-Fi and the device is plugged in for power.  If using any accounts that cannot do ' Push' , set the Fetch to something other than Automatically - try ' Every 15 Minutes'  and see if that helps with the notifications of email receipt.  I believe this started happening to me on my non-Exchange accounts after iOS 11.2.6 update.  Check the Push/Fetch settings as I think this may be in the area of your issue.

[PETERJENKINS]

Thanks Myles, I appreciate the response. I felt my post was getting a little too wordy and omitted some details. All of the devices with our Activesync profile are set to ' push' . I initially thought that was the problem, but every device I checked was still set to ' push' . 
I also checked DND mode as the issue first 'seemed' to start when the ' DND while driving'  feature came out. I also checked for errors on the SEG servers as the issue seems to be reported in waves.

[VM-NIMO]

Folks, newbie to Airwatch and having similar issues..errors at the bottom of the mail client states “can’t connect to exchange server”. Using outlook for iOS with activesynce, no problems.  I played around with the push/fetch but no idea why it works and then stop.

[rthorsheim]

To Nick M,
The reasons I have seen “can’t connect to exchange server” have been mostly AD account related.  The Users AD account was locked, expired or disabled.  The username did not match the mailnickname for their account in the AirWatch Console, which would also be viewable in AD.  Also, exchange refers to it as an alias vs the mailnickname. If the user has 10 or more mobile devices assigned to them, which can be viewed in adsi or Exchange.  Once one of the above is resolved a new email profile will most likely need to be pushed to the device.  I would suggest deleting the old email profile first from the AirWatch console, then push the new one to prevent duplicates.

[VM-NIMO]

Hi Robert,
Thanks for replying. Not having any AD account issues re: locked account  etc.
I will doublecheck to see how many “profiles” I have on Exchange as I do access my email from many devices. We are running Exchange 2016 as an FYI.
I will clean up and remove profiles to see if this is the root cause.
With regards to deleting the “old mail profile from AirWatch”, I’m stumped as I don’t know where that profile is kept. Do you mean dealing my account and reenrolling my device?
Thanks again for tour help

[rthorsheim]

Deleting an account and re-enrolling is pretty extreme and I would only suggest as a last resort.  Assuming the affected device is still active, is in an area with good signal and still enrolled in AirWatch, the previously listed issues are normally the root cause.  To find the email profile in AirWatch Console, find the affected users device, select profiles and determine which one has the email or ActiveSync payload.  Once found, query the device to verify the “last seen” attribute updates.  Once you confirm it is still in communication, delete the profile described above.  Refresh the page until you see a red x confirming the profile has been removed.  Install the recently deleted profile.  Refresh the page until you see a green checkmark, confirming the install.  In some cases, the user needs to open the AirWatch agent application on their device to receive the new payload.
I have read about some users losing inherited permissions in AD causing similar symptoms, but have not come across this issue myself.

[VM-NIMO]

Thanks, will try tomorrow and let you know the outcome. Very helpful so regardless, thank you again