Outlook iOS App Not Showing Badge Notifications

This seems to have just started earlier this week, and I cannot think of what changed??  But I’m at my wit’s end and losing my mind.

I’m using Outlook for iOS version 4.2217.0 on an iPhone 12 Pro, with iOS 15.4.1.  The way I have Outlook notifications setup is I have everything turned off (Lock Screen, Notification Center, Banners, and Sounds) except Badges.  Because I use this for work only and Gmail for personal, I want to see a Badge count when I get new emails, but not get vibrations or alerts/banners.  Then I can visually see when I have new emails via the badge.

Just a few days ago, suddenly this got very sporadic.  Sometimes it works as expected, but now mostly, it won’t show the badge count until after I’ve opened the app and the inbox refreshes.  I noticed this, because the other day I remember thinking “wow, I haven’t gotten any emails all morning”.  Opened the app and BOOM: I had like 20-some emails.  Then when I exited back to home screen, it showed the proper badge number.

For troubleshooting, I re-enabled Lock Screen, Notification Center, Banners, and Sound/Vibration notifications.  All of these work on a dime!  I get a new email, and I receive a Notification Center alert, a Banner, and a vibration.  So those are all clearly working.  But it’**** or miss if the Badge shows up, even with an alert in Notification Center. 

I have tried everything I can think of: reset account in Outlook iOS, delete the app and re-sign in, switch off/on notifications in both iOS settings and Outlook app settings, ensure Focus Mode is not on, Background App Refresh is on, etc.  I have found lots of threads of this occurring in the past, but nothing yet this year?  And I did have this happen to me a year or two ago; I opened a ticket with Outlook iOS support through the app, and they almost immediately told me they were aware of the issue and it would be fixed in the next update.  I currently have a ticket open now via the same method, but it’s gotten me nowhere.  Only had me perform all the steps I’ve already done above.

Any ideas???  I can live without this, but I am so set on having things setup this way.  I want to see when I have new email without having to open the app, but do not want my Notification Center flooded either.