FAQ Questions and Issues related to iPhones connecting to Exchange Servers

IMPORTANT: iPhone support requires that Exchange is running Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 or Exchange 2007 SP1 or later. 


1. Do we have a list that compares the features available and not available when connecting to Exchange ActiveSync using an iPhone?

Exchange ActiveSync Client Comparison Table


2. I'm unable to configure an iPhone with my test environment. Are there any screen shots that show what the device looks like in Exchange Management Console and OWA's Mobile Options after an iPhone has successfully connected?


http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2008/07/11/3405745.aspx


3. If I need to identify connections made by iPhone users, what can I search on in the IIS logs?


Do a string search for "Apple-iPhone".


4. How do I find more information on what policies the iPhone supports, how it connects to an Exchange server and other administrative questions?


Apple's iPhone Enterprise Deployment Guide


5. How can I see how many iPhones are connecting to my server and which users have them?


export-activesynclog -Filename:<IISlog dir>\*.log -outputpath:<output path>


6. Does the iPhone support Autodiscover? 


Yes, when connecting to Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2010.


7. Does the iPhone support HTML email?


Yes. iPhone views HTML e-mail as a webpage. This means if there is an image or chart pasted into the message, the width is always that width. This means that reading the message is very difficult as you have to zoom in and then scroll the screen back and forth to read the message.


8. Why does the iPhone support HTML email against Exchange 2003 but Windows Mobile does not unless I'm running WM 6.x against an Exchange 2007 server?


Window Mobile uses the AirSync body property which did not support HTML until Exchange 2007. Apple uses a different implementation. Questions about what Apple does should be directed to Apple. But there is no secret HTML interface in Exchange 2003 ActiveSync. 


9. Do the iPhones support Direct Push?


Yes, but EAS Direct Push may not work on iPhones that have multiple mail accounts setup that are also in Push mode. Examples of this would be Yahoo Mail in Push mode. Simply disable Push notification for the non-Exchange mail accounts and EAS Direct Push should start working.


10. Self-signed SSL certificates - There is no "simple" way to install a self-signed certificate to the iPhone. Customers can contact Apple for instructions on how to do this. The iPhone can "read" .pfx files for example, so if you can get the certificate to be opened on the iPhone whether through a webmail 


client or otherwise, then you should be able to import a self-signed certificate to the iPhone. Apple does have instructions on this listed in the Enterprise Deployment Guide. Link: 
<http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/Enterprise_Deployment_Guide.pdf> (see page 36). 


11. Performance questions - Customers asking for direction regarding the load an iPhone EAS client will place on their servers should be told the iPhone's load should be no different than any other Windows Mobile EAS client. The only caveat is the iPhone downloads the ENTIRE message vs. Windows 


Mobile's .5k / 2k / etc. configurable chunk size. This can create more traffic for iPhone EAS clients. 


12. I'm getting an, "Exchange account verification failed", error message. What do I do?


Here are some things to try:


a. Disable WiFi during setup (make sure they're only going over the cell connection)


b. Make sure they're putting in domain/username, then try with domain\username (note backslash direction). If that doesn't work, try using just username with no domain.


c. Try with & without SSL. When you get the error "Exchange account verification failed", click Next then Save, then edit the mail profile in Settings (off home screen) and set SSL to OFF vs. ON.


d. Use the same FQDN name of the server (usually users call this their "OWA" address), or external IP address.


e. As a test, temporarily disable certificate verification (certificate authentication) on the /Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync virtual directory by selecting the "Ignore Client Certificates" option (if it were set to cert verification, the setting for "Accept client certificates" would have been selected). Don’t forget 


to disable it if the customer has that intention. The iPhone may just need to have a certificate loaded (have customer review Apple’s Enterprise Deployment Guide for the iPhone).


13. User is CC'd on every reply all - If an iPhone user configures their Exchange ActiveSync profile using something other than their default SMTP address, then the iPhone will add this [non-default SMTP] e-mail address to all Reply All messages. The solution is to configure using whatever is listed as the 


default SMTP address for that user in the company GAL. To find that value: look the user up in Outlook and click the E-mail Addresses tab. Use the value next to the capital letter SMTP. The listing is usually something like this:
SMTP:usera@domain.com
smtp:user.a@domain.com
smtp:usera@mail.domain.com
In the above example, the user should be using usera@domain.com.


14. Does iPhone support Certificate Based Authentication when using iPhones.


Both Microsoft AND Apple do NOT support certificate authentication when connecting using iPhones and Exchange ActiveSync.


16. I'm able to successfully create a profile on my device and am able to successfully connect to Exchange, but I'm not able to synchronize my Inbox, Calendar, or Contacts? What gives?


Check to be sure that Exchange is running Exchange Server 2003 with Service Pack 2 or later. Previous versions are NOT supported and can cause this issue.


17. When using an iphone with Exchange ActiveSync, email attachments may not download for some users. Tapping the attachment to start the download shows a spinning wheel which never stops. 


This issue can occur when you're running Exchange 2007 RTM. To resolve the issue, install Exchange 2007 Service Pack 1. For more information, see Apple's documentation: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1946


There is another WONDERFUL E-E article that talks about Exchange 2003 and ActiveSync connections problems and gives a deep dive into resolution as well
Exchange 2003 - Activesync Connection Problems FAQ


If you are facing isssues with only a few set of users not able to sync there mobile phones using Exchange ActiveSync irrelevant of type of device that they are using, check this another E-E link
Activesync Working But Only For Some Users On Exchange 2007 / 2010

Happy ActiveSyncing :-)