Does the app Email really require so many critical permissions of my mobile device?

[James_Watson]

Hi,

Just after I added an Exchange Mailbox account on my mobile phone, I got a 'Security update required' notification.
Refer to the screenshot, please.

My current system software is V8.0.
I just wonder whether the app Email really requires so many critical permissions of my mobile device.
Do I have to activate the device administrator and grant so many permissions to the stock email app in order to succeed in syncing my mailbox?

Thanks for your advice in advance.

 

[mikedt]

Is this for a company or other enterprise account, because that's what Exchange usually is. It's probably because the Exchange administrators require to be able to remotely erase all data on the device if it goes missing, monitor what's going on with it, enforce passwords, etc. Are you doing BYOD, rather than using a company issued smart-phone?

 

[dontpanicbobby]

That doesn't look a lot like Microsoft.
Microsoft doesn't send emails like that.

 

[lvt]

It smells fishy to me.

 

[chanchan05]

Looks like standard permissions for a corporate type email exchange system to me.

 

[psionandy]

Yes.. looks legit if you're connecting to a company email account.. and the it admin has done a decent job.

Check with your it dept if you are unsure.

 

[Hadron]

And if you aren't happy with giving corporate IT that type of access to your phone, tell them that if they want you to read that mail when on the move they can provide you with a phone for the purpose. No employer would get that type of access to my personal devices, and they should not expect people to accept that.

(It's probably healthier just not to have a corporate email account on a phone in the first place. They should not expect you to be at their beck and call at all times. But it's not your job to subsidise them, so if it's necessary then they should provide the means).

This is not required for all Exchange accounts automatically: I have one Exchange account on my phone and it didn't require anything like that (but this isn't a corporate account). So I'm sure it's the particular Exchange account's policy you are seeing here.

 

[James_Watson]

Is this for a company or other enterprise account, because that's what Exchange usually is. It's probably because the Exchange administrators require to be able to remotely erase all data on the device if it goes missing, monitor what's going on with it, enforce passwords, etc. Are you doing BYOD, rather than using a company issued smart-phone?

Thank you.
But what do you mean BYOD? My phone is Huawei mate 8 with the stock rom which I just upgraded to V8.0.
On the phone with Android 7.0, I added the exchange account without the weird notification.

 

[Hadron]

BYOD = Bring Your Own Device

 

[mikedt]

Thank you.
But what do you mean BYOD? My phone is Huawei mate 8 with the stock rom which I just upgraded to V8.0.
On the phone with Android 7.0, I added the exchange account without the weird notification.

Possibly something that Huawei may have done, basically updated to notify you of all important permissions when installing an app, where previously they were suppressed and assumed allow.

BYOD, Bring Your Own Device, like when bringing your phone to your company's business, instead of using a device that they provide, e.g. Blackberry.