why won't Microsoft Outlook phone app let me add my email account which is hosted exchange email

Question

My email is from a hosted exchange server. When i add my account to the outlook mobile app which is ******@company.com. It adds it as an outlook.com account. It will not let me manually change the server to point to my hosted exchange server.

Answer 1

When adding an email account from a hosted Exchange server to the Outlook mobile app, you may encounter issues if the app automatically configures the account as an Outlook.com account. This can happen due to several reasons, including the configuration of the Autodiscover service or the settings of your Exchange server.

To resolve this issue, ensure that the Autodiscover service is correctly set up for your domain. If the Autodiscover request does not return the correct settings or if there are issues with the certificate, it may prevent the app from allowing manual server configuration. Additionally, check if your Exchange server supports the necessary protocols and configurations for mobile access.

If you continue to face difficulties, you may need to manually configure the account settings or consult with your IT administrator to ensure that the server settings are correctly set up for mobile access.

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References:

• Can't create a mail profile on an iOS device by using Autodiscover
• The connection to your mail server timed out

Answer 2

Dear @Bob Petz,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A Forum!

I’m sorry you’re running into this, when Outlook mobile won’t let you point to your hosted Exchange server, it’s frustrating. Let’s walk through a few quick checks to see if they can help you:

1.Try this on your phone (fast steps):

• Clear the Outlook app cache: in my test environment, the steps are Settings > Apps > App Management > Outlook > Storage Usage. This only resets the app; your mailbox remains on the server.

Note: The exact path may vary slightly depending on your device, but the general steps should be similar. 

• Reinstall Outlook mobile (optional but recommended): Uninstall Outlook, then install the latest build.
• After that, you can try the on‑premises add method in Outlook for Android In the add‑account flow, choose Exchange and use Setup account manually > Advanced settings to enter your hosted server’s details (server FQDN, username = full email address, SSL/TLS). The Microsoft guide shows this path under “If you connect to an on‑premises Exchange server” and “General steps to set up … manually". See more details in here: Set up email in the Outlook for Android app

2.Then, please double‑check licensing (important for commercial use):

Outlook for iOS/Android is free for personal use, but commercial use requires a Microsoft 365/Office 365 subscription eligible for Outlook mobile. If the organization only has Exchange Server (on‑prem) licenses and no qualifying Microsoft 365/Office 365 subscription, Outlook mobile isn’t licensed for use. Please see “Is a license required to use Outlook for iOS and Android?” in the official FAQ: Outlook for iOS and Android in Exchange Online: FAQ

3.You should check whether admin policies are blocking the app:

In Exchange Online (and hybrid) environments, Outlook mobile access can be allowed/blocked by EWS application policies, Client Access Rules, Conditional Access, or allow/block/quarantine (ABQ) device rules. Even if credentials are right, a policy can silently block the Outlook‑iOS/Outlook‑Android user agents. Ask your admin to review: Securing Outlook for iOS and Android in Exchange Online (see sections on EWS application policies and Blocking Outlook for iOS and Android).

Also, you should check Autodiscover/DNS and certificates: Ensure autodiscover. resolves to the hosted Exchange endpoint and returns the correct settings. A misrouted or invalid certificate can force the app into the Outlook.com/Exchange Online flow and block manual setup.

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Additionally, if OWA (Outlook Web App) is enabled for your mailbox, please sign in via your browser at your company’s OWA. This temporary workaround keeps you productive while we troubleshoot the mobile app.

I hope this information can help you in this case and if you encounter any error messages while adding your hosted exchange server account again, please kindly provide me screenshots of it so that I can assist you further.

Note: please kindly send attachments in the Private Message of this thread because this is a public forum and it can help to protect your personal information.

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