Filed under: iPhone
Google Apps phone-lock issues with iOS 4
In a strange twist with what appears to be a security issue, users of Google Apps who set up their accounts using the Microsoft Exchange settings (aka ActiveSync) may find that their iPhones have been set to auto-lock in one minute.I confirmed this after reading a comment from TUAW reader BigB who mentioned it in another post. Apparently this is due to the security certificates that Google uses with its Exchange servers. The servers can force security options on compatible devices, which your iPhone becomes once it is running iOS 4.
To be clear: if you have a regular Gmail account and set it up using Exchange, this auto-lock requirement will not be triggered. But if you use Google Apps for your personal domain, it may.
Also: Google Apps users have also reported problems setting up their iOS 4 devices. Mine kept telling me that the server (m.google.com) was unable to be verified even if you followed the instructions.
Since I knew my information was correct, I went ahead and saved it. Email began syncing not long afterwards, but apparently the issue is still cropping up intermittently for some users.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
MC SE7EN said 11:11PM on 6-21-2010
I prefer IMAP because it syncs with my Mail.app. I use Google Apps on my domain, mcse7en.com, and I was able to set it up with IMAP just fine yesterday on the GM seed. Downloading the release now to see what happens. Hopefully my favorite hacks will be updated soon to work on 4.0.
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MC SE7EN said 11:11PM on 6-21-2010
(Not that I care since 1 minute is my usual lock time anyway. :P)
dave.healey said 3:08AM on 6-22-2010
The moral of this story, don't use google apps!
All Apple devotee's should boycott google as much as possible, they are using sneaky tactics of growing huge by popularity. Making as many services as possible "open and free" is sucking everyone into a false sense of security.
When they are as dominant in Mail, Voice (the list goes on) as they already are in Search, what happens then when there is no serious competition left?
MC SE7EN said 3:13AM on 6-22-2010
Actually, I do hate that google won't allow me to change my main email address on youtube or any other of their services (i dont use my old gmail account thats attached to those services) but i love google apps. my point was that i had no problem with gApps. so no, that was NOT the moral of the story. this thing that theyre talking about in the article only happens if you use ActiveSync with your gApps account. i dont because that sucks as it is, even without it forcing you to use a 1 minute lock time (which as i already said was my regular lock time anyway). i just dont like that activesync doesnt allow me to sync more than one calendar or sync my mail clients. imap does. i use yahoo for my calendars and it works like a charm 99% of the time.
so while i hate google, i like the service gApps provides. im not boycotting anytime soon lol.
oz_paulb said 11:24PM on 6-21-2010
I don't use Google Apps, and may not be understanding your summary, but isn't this a security *feature* (as opposed to a security *issue*)?
In many corporate setups (like VPN), the server defines limits on what the device can do (for example: whether/not your password can be 'remembered' on the device as opposed to requiring you to type it in each time).
It seems that Google Apps is making use of a security feature which is now (finally?) recognized by the iPhone. You mention that the options can be forced on 'compatible devices', so I assume other phones (non-iPhone devices) have supported this feature before now (and iPhone is catching up).
Maybe I completely mis-read your headline/summary. But, it came across as a report of a 'bug' more than a 'feature'. If the latter, then maybe you should be more clear.
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SkwidSpawn said 11:46PM on 6-21-2010
I use google apps for my personal website, as many people do. I have my phone set to manual lock. The fact that I will now be forced to use the 1 minute lock function is a huge frustration. Why can't I determine how much so-called security my phone has? Also, how is auto-lock a security feature at all? Everyone knows how to unlock an iPhone these days, and without setting a pass code it's worthless for security.
shaun3000 said 11:32PM on 6-21-2010
This must be the reason that the only option I have for "Require Passcode" is "Immediately". Most annoying!!
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Ehh said 11:48PM on 6-21-2010
Ok no problems for me but in google maps it is going very slow for me. It use to be much faster befoure the update
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aaronjw said 12:00AM on 6-22-2010
The auto lock after one minute is a non-issue for me. I already had it set to do that. But I cannot access the servers at all through an exchange account setup. Regular Gmail and calendar setup is working fine. Dunno if it's because I still have my regular one on the phone but set to inactive.
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levent said 12:17AM on 6-22-2010
There is a new option in Google Apps (domain managment)
Go to Service Settings > Mobile > Google Sync > Device Settings
You can increase auto-lock to 30mins.
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genpubdc said 12:32AM on 6-22-2010
levent,
only those with google apps premier or education can increase the auto-lock. Those with free google apps accounts cannot change the auto lock feature. I'd been meaning to migrate out of google apps and to gmail, and this gives me the impetus.
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owine said 1:02AM on 6-22-2010
According to the Google Support forum, Google Sync does not officially support iOS 4.0 yet. That probably explains some of the anomalies people are seeing. I've had no problems with contacts and calendars since beta 2, but mail was causing me problems so I switched back to the regular Gmail setup in iOS 4.0 which uses IMAP.
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Dion said 8:09AM on 6-22-2010
I'm mad b/c I can't set up my MobileMe mail and sync it and my contacts with an Android phone! The nerve of these companies not fully supporting a competitor. HA! Come on people! If Google won't support Apple, why in the hell should they fully support Google? Wait, I thought Google preaches full "Openness" for their devices. I guess that means for everyone except Apple products. Fuck you Google!
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Matt G said 8:20AM on 6-22-2010
I don't see anything wrong with this, if it wasn't just a bug or mismanagement no the domain owner's part (I don't know as I don't have Google Apps). But I do manage an Exchange server with iPhones and I can tell you that having a security key and lockout time is very important. If their phone is stolen, they may not report it right away for a remote wipe (or that may not even be possible with Google Apps). Then all your info is in the hands of the new "owner". This may not worry some causal user getting email updates from their favorite tech forum, but when you've got confidential data on your phone, it's important that you keep it secure.
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PSM said 10:00AM on 6-22-2010
This is incredibly annoying. Comparing it to a corporate exchange server is completely missing the point. The domains that this applies to are the simplest ones -- the ones run by individuals and small organizations. I run my own domain. The only person who really uses it is me, and sometimes an assistant or two. And my parents have accounts so they can see my work calendar and know where in the country I am and when I'm free. There is absolutely no need for these kind of security features for what I use my domain for, and even if there was, I'm the sole administrator, so who is anybody else to tell me how much security I should have.
The 1 min lock is extremely annoying. I was pissed yesterday, but when I went to read an ibook in bed last night and it kept turning off while I was reading, that was it. Google needs to fix this now, this is not the kind of feature that should be dependent on the level of Apps membership you have. I read on their help forums that people running the dev version of iOS4 have been bringing up this issue for at least a week, it's inexcusable.
Google is sorely mistaken if they think my Apps account is more important to me than my iPhone.
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Reggie said 12:08PM on 6-22-2010
Hopefully, this will be addressed very soon. While I do not mind my iPhone having a one-minute lock (which, btw, is still annoying), I do have a problem if other iOS devices have a one-minute lock. Apple is positioning iOS as a multi-device platform and having device locks such as these on devices such as my iPod Touch or even my iPad (when iOS is released for it later this year) would pretty much mean that I would not use Google Sync unless it's addressed.
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Matt Large said 2:33PM on 6-22-2010
According to the Google Apps Dashboard they took Sync down for maintenance for 4 hours yesterday right at the time that iOS 4 was released. This was the reason for many of the issues, not the locking one though. Very bad timing.
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lifeinfilm said 6:33PM on 6-22-2010
After thinking that maybe a ghost took over my Gmail exchange (iPhone 3Gs, 32GB, running on iOS4) yesterday, it's good to know it was only a server overload. "Only?", some might say. I know, it freaks us all out, and we don't ever seem to thank Google when things are swell. So, thank you Google, things are swell, again :)
Push gmail & calendars back on line and synching without delays for user@gmail.com (via WiFi and 3G with Exchange).
Cheers all with a migraine, should go away now.
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Deific said 9:02PM on 6-22-2010
I set the password lock up for security, but now it's so annoying with the 1 minute autolock that I've had to disable it temporarily.
I guess I'll have to try and set up caldav for the gmail calendars and see how it goes. This auto lock issue is driving me nuts as well.
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Dan Heberden said 9:45PM on 6-29-2010
This isn't a bug - it's the fact that the standard google apps defaults to 1 minute and doesn't let you change it. Hopefully google will open that setting for us to change (instead of just on premier and education subscriptions) now that it's affecting so many users in a negative way. *fingers crossed*
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