5 ms·

Tell HN: Outlook webmail on Android requires Chrome or Edge, not Firefox

49 points by azalemeth 4y ago

One of my employers used o365 with fairly draconian rules. Trying to log in with my free browser of choice yields the lovely, monopolist message: >You can't get there from here You cannot access the resource from this browser on your device. You need to use Chrome or Edge. > Error Code: 530001 >App name: Office 365 Exchange Online Why? It's a static website in accessibility mode and the "request desktop site" slider works as intended. What reason could be behind this? Didn't the EU literally fine Microsoft for exactly this sort of behaviour?

spindle 4y ago
I suppose "Why?" is a rhetorical question. If you think they should get fined again, I agree with you.
greazy 4y ago
I have a strong feeling this is a setting your org has enabled. You reference draconian rules, talk to your admins. I can see how this feature might be useful, eg disallowing IE6. But that's taken to the next level of restriction
- nhchris 4y ago
  The next question is what the setting is called. If it's something like "Allow connections only from trustworthy browsers", then plenty of the guilt should still fall on MS.
  - Meph504 4y ago
    detect compliant device (or something very similar) if the device can't be determined to be using things like disk encryption, bio-metrics, an up to date OS, etc.. then access from that client is blocked.
- bacchusracine 4y ago
  >talk to your admins How? Maybe this hits harder for me as a work from home employee but it's never been harder to get ahold of an admin. Everything must be done in channels and rarely does anything seem to pass through the local supervisor level. Most things are presented as a take it or leave it situation and no consideration or nuance is even pretended at. Stuff where admins use ridiculous settings are expected to be accepted without feedback.
  - Meph504 4y ago
    You likely need to take a step back, and reconsider your position. the browser you choose to use, doesn't support a feature that is required by many cyber security insurance policies. I feel it is very likely that you have been provided with a better method to check your mail on a mobile device than in the browser on your phone. it seems very unlikely that if your company is doing compliance that the suggested method isn't to use the outlook app itself. So it maybe worth considering are the policies and settings ridiculous, or are you?
  - greazy 4y ago
    > How? Maybe this hits harder for me as a work from home employee but it's never been harder to get ahold of an admin. Everything must be done in channels and rarely does anything seem to pass through the local supervisor level. Most things are presented as a take it or leave it situation and no consideration or nuance is even pretended at. Unfortunately this is an org issue. For me at my org we have a help-desk we can email, with an issue number so we can follow up. This system tracks certain metrics which I hope are used to gauge the effectiveness of IT support and infrastructure. When I hit a my limit of bullshit I formatted my machine and installed linux. This is a nuclear option and would not work in other orgs have that locked down machines. For checking email, I would use whatever works. There are bigger battles
- technion 4y ago
  I believe the error they are seeing is in the screenshot here: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/you-cant-get-there-from-here-office-365/af0f5806-3e11-4be5-bab2-56ef703500d1 https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/you-c... The problem is that only supported browsers have the "detect compliant device" extension available, which enforces admin settings such as "only allow website access if your device has a encrypted disk".
  - Meph504 4y ago
    I believe you've hit the nail on the head, without the compliant restrictions in place, outlook loads fine in firefox on android.
whstl 4y ago
Could this be related to Third-Party Cookies and Tracking Protection? I think that's turned "on" by default on Firefox, no? Some Microsoft products refuse to work on Safari and Firefox for me unless you disable the protection. It's not really well documented, I found this info in some forum posts.
dijit 4y ago
Seems to still work for me, but given the nature of Software-as-a-Service.. it's possible that there is a feature that is being A/B tested. It's also possible, as others have mentioned, that this is a policy enacted by your admins. I would be interested to hear why this is the case from their perspective.
- Meph504 4y ago
  I mentioned this is a difference response but figured I'd answer here also, detect compliant device (or something very similar) if the device can't be determined to be using things like disk encryption, bio-metrics, an up to date OS, etc.. then access from that client is blocked. Firefox doesn't seem to provide all of the data (not sure which element isn't provided)
_8j50 4y ago
This is because of "chrome enterprise" more than likely. Chrome is easier to manage with enterprise policies and mdm. Also, I hope that isn't your personal device because you just made it a work device and lost any claim to privacy you could have otherwise had (US).Your work is not your family or friend, they will act in hostility when it benefits them and using a personal device for work is against your interest. At least get a cheap android phone for work if they require byod usage. But to help with your problem, firefox on mobile has extensions one of which is user agent changer which lets you set a chrome agent.
joecool1029 4y ago
If it requires U2F to login, I don't think firefox for android supports it. Nine (android email client) also can't do google 2FA with firefox, asks for chrome or samsung browser. Add it to the list of things the old Firefox android browser had that current one doesn't https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/1340 https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/1340

49 points by azalemeth 4y ago

spindle 4y ago

I suppose "Why?" is a rhetorical question. If you think they should get fined again, I agree with you.

greazy 4y ago

I have a strong feeling this is a setting your org has enabled. You reference draconian rules, talk to your admins. I can see how this feature might be useful, eg disallowing IE6. But that's taken to the next level of restriction

nhchris 4y ago
The next question is what the setting is called. If it's something like "Allow connections only from trustworthy browsers", then plenty of the guilt should still fall on MS.
- Meph504 4y ago
  detect compliant device (or something very similar) if the device can't be determined to be using things like disk encryption, bio-metrics, an up to date OS, etc.. then access from that client is blocked.
bacchusracine 4y ago
>talk to your admins How? Maybe this hits harder for me as a work from home employee but it's never been harder to get ahold of an admin. Everything must be done in channels and rarely does anything seem to pass through the local supervisor level. Most things are presented as a take it or leave it situation and no consideration or nuance is even pretended at. Stuff where admins use ridiculous settings are expected to be accepted without feedback.
- Meph504 4y ago
  You likely need to take a step back, and reconsider your position. the browser you choose to use, doesn't support a feature that is required by many cyber security insurance policies. I feel it is very likely that you have been provided with a better method to check your mail on a mobile device than in the browser on your phone. it seems very unlikely that if your company is doing compliance that the suggested method isn't to use the outlook app itself. So it maybe worth considering are the policies and settings ridiculous, or are you?
- greazy 4y ago
  > How? Maybe this hits harder for me as a work from home employee but it's never been harder to get ahold of an admin. Everything must be done in channels and rarely does anything seem to pass through the local supervisor level. Most things are presented as a take it or leave it situation and no consideration or nuance is even pretended at. Unfortunately this is an org issue. For me at my org we have a help-desk we can email, with an issue number so we can follow up. This system tracks certain metrics which I hope are used to gauge the effectiveness of IT support and infrastructure. When I hit a my limit of bullshit I formatted my machine and installed linux. This is a nuclear option and would not work in other orgs have that locked down machines. For checking email, I would use whatever works. There are bigger battles
technion 4y ago
I believe the error they are seeing is in the screenshot here: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/you-cant-get-there-from-here-office-365/af0f5806-3e11-4be5-bab2-56ef703500d1 https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/you-c... The problem is that only supported browsers have the "detect compliant device" extension available, which enforces admin settings such as "only allow website access if your device has a encrypted disk".
- Meph504 4y ago
  I believe you've hit the nail on the head, without the compliant restrictions in place, outlook loads fine in firefox on android.

whstl 4y ago

Could this be related to Third-Party Cookies and Tracking Protection? I think that's turned "on" by default on Firefox, no? Some Microsoft products refuse to work on Safari and Firefox for me unless you disable the protection. It's not really well documented, I found this info in some forum posts.

dijit 4y ago

Seems to still work for me, but given the nature of Software-as-a-Service.. it's possible that there is a feature that is being A/B tested. It's also possible, as others have mentioned, that this is a policy enacted by your admins. I would be interested to hear why this is the case from their perspective.

Meph504 4y ago
I mentioned this is a difference response but figured I'd answer here also, detect compliant device (or something very similar) if the device can't be determined to be using things like disk encryption, bio-metrics, an up to date OS, etc.. then access from that client is blocked. Firefox doesn't seem to provide all of the data (not sure which element isn't provided)

_8j50 4y ago

This is because of "chrome enterprise" more than likely. Chrome is easier to manage with enterprise policies and mdm. Also, I hope that isn't your personal device because you just made it a work device and lost any claim to privacy you could have otherwise had (US).Your work is not your family or friend, they will act in hostility when it benefits them and using a personal device for work is against your interest. At least get a cheap android phone for work if they require byod usage. But to help with your problem, firefox on mobile has extensions one of which is user agent changer which lets you set a chrome agent.

joecool1029 4y ago

If it requires U2F to login, I don't think firefox for android supports it. Nine (android email client) also can't do google 2FA with firefox, asks for chrome or samsung browser. Add it to the list of things the old Firefox android browser had that current one doesn't https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/1340 https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/1340