• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

How do I turn off the exchange e-mail PIN lock?

well that's a bunch of #$^&.
Every time the phone screen goes dark you have to put in the code.
That is a beyond an infuriating process and needs to go.
It was 'enforced' for the Pre too but a 5 sec patch download and it was gone.
I'm guessing there's no unified inbox either.
Everytime I have to hit menu, then more, then account list then go through all 5 accounts one at a time?
 
Upvote 0
I AM the administrator and myself and company owner want this PIN gone except 1and1 enforces it no matter what which obviously can still be turned off at the phone level except Android doesn't seem to be patchable like WebOS.

Then contact 1and1 and have them turn it off. If you are the administrator, then you can go into the Exchange ActiveSync settings on the server and turn it off yourself.
 
Upvote 0
1and1 WON'T turn it off for anyone and no you can't turn it off yourself.

But now it gets worse.
After setting this phone up all day I rebooted it for the first time because the dumb thing wouldn't delete apps after I drug them to remove and also Qik said the app wasn't installed after I updated it even though the icon was there.
We'll guess what. #*^#$&%^ PIN in exchange causes and infinite reboot so now I have to do a hard reset and start over.
Gawd so far this phone has been a POS OS with nice hardware.
 
Upvote 0
1and1 WON'T turn it off for anyone and no you can't turn it off yourself.

But now it gets worse.
After setting this phone up all day I rebooted it for the first time because the dumb thing wouldn't delete apps after I drug them to remove and also Qik said the app wasn't installed after I updated it even though the icon was there.
We'll guess what. #*^#$&%^ PIN in exchange causes and infinite reboot so now I have to do a hard reset and start over.
Gawd so far this phone has been a POS OS with nice hardware.

If you are the Exchange administrator as you said you are, then yes you can turn it off. I know you can because I have done so for clients more than once. I've also turned it on for clients more than once. It's a check box and it's not difficult to do.

Also, dragging apps to "remove" does not delete them. It's not the way the phone is designed.
 
Upvote 0
I don't think you understand hosted exchange solutions.
We aren't psychic. You never mentioned that it was hosted Exchange and you claimed to be the admin. Post the details as they do matter.

well that's a bunch of #$^&.
Every time the phone screen goes dark you have to put in the code.
That is a beyond an infuriating process and needs to go.
It was 'enforced' for the Pre too but a 5 sec patch download and it was gone.
That's a security flaw on the Pre then. Sounds like you picked the wrong device for your needs.
 
Upvote 0
We aren't psychic. You never mentioned that it was hosted Exchange and you claimed to be the admin. Post the details as they do matter.
If you claim to be an admin you should be aware what 1and1.com is as it and sherweb are probably the two biggest names out there.
If you're not aware you could have went to 1and1.com in the first post, but to say i didn't put enough info is not true.

That's a security flaw on the Pre then. Sounds like you picked the wrong device for your needs.
one would think the market would be smart enough to give market share to the better OS but it appears the market only cares about new and shiney hardware, so I have to go with what is the current defacto standard is for support reasons.
 
Upvote 0
If you claim to be an admin you should be aware what 1and1.com is as it and sherweb are probably the two biggest names out there.
If you're not aware you could have went to 1and1.com in the first post, but to say i didn't put enough info is not true.

Many Exchange servers POP 1and1 for their e-mail. We've got several clients that do that. 1and1 does all the e-mail processing, spam filtering, etc... Then the client has their local server that retrieves the e-mail from 1and1. In those case ActiveSync is dealing with the local server and you enforce security at that level. When you said that you were the Exchange Admin, I thought this was what you're doing. Obviously you're not the Exchange admin which is fine, but saying you are confuses things.

one would think the market would be smart enough to give market share to the better OS but it appears the market only cares about new and shiney hardware, so I have to go with what is the current defacto standard is for support reasons.

It's not a better OS if it introduces a security flaw. I'm admin for some medical practices. I'm required by law to keep e-mails confidential. If you have e-mail on your phone you may well have confidential patient information there. You better believe that I'm going to enforce a screen lock on your device. If I don't and that data falls into someone else's hands, my butt will end up with a huge, gigantic fine and I'll likely find myself seeking employment elsewhere.
 
Upvote 0
It's not a better OS if it introduces a security flaw. I'm admin for some medical practices. I'm required by law to keep e-mails confidential. If you have e-mail on your phone you may well have confidential patient information there. You better believe that I'm going to enforce a screen lock on your device. If I don't and that data falls into someone else's hands, my butt will end up with a huge, gigantic fine and I'll likely find myself seeking employment elsewhere.
Just like android it doesn't do these 'security flaws' out of the box, but just like android you can jailbreak/root/hack whatever you want to call it.
By your logic there android also introduces security flaws because I can root it and do all kinds of things I can't out of the box.

I think a bigger flaw is the phone forces you to use a pin and if you use the numeric PIN the next time you reboot your phone you are screwed and lost everything and have to do a hard reset and start over.
 
Upvote 0
Just like android it doesn't do these 'security flaws' out of the box, but just like android you can jailbreak/root/hack whatever you want to call it.
By your logic there android also introduces security flaws because I can root it and do all kinds of things I can't out of the box.

Ok, just because you call it a "security flaw" doesn't mean it's not. If I as an Exchange admin choose to enforce a PIN number on your device for security reasons and you get around it by hacking your phone does not mean you've made your phone a better device.

You have chosen to introduce a security flaw in your phone that's not there natively. If I choose to open up every port on my firewall to the world it does not mean that my OS is suddenly superior than everyone else's OS. It means that I've chosen to compromise the security of my machine.

As I said earlier, depending on the circumstances, there may be a very, very good reason to enforce such security on a phone. If you've got proprietary data or potentially proprietary data on your phone, then requiring a pin to access it makes a ton of sense.

I think a bigger flaw is the phone forces you to use a pin and if you use the numeric PIN the next time you reboot your phone you are screwed and lost everything and have to do a hard reset and start over.

First of all, the phone doesn't force you to use a pin. Your Exchange admin does. Second of all, this seems to be an issue just with your phone. I've got a pin on mine and I can reboot it all day with no issues. I've never seen anyone else complaining about a similar issue.
 
Upvote 0
Ok, just because you call it a "security flaw" doesn't mean it's not. If I as an Exchange admin choose to enforce a PIN number on your device for security reasons and you get around it by hacking your phone does not mean you've made your phone a better device.

You have chosen to introduce a security flaw in your phone that's not there natively. If I choose to open up every port on my firewall to the world it does not mean that my OS is suddenly superior than everyone else's OS. It means that I've chosen to compromise the security of my machine.
everybody that's rooted and using wifi tether is doing it against their carrier's security and and maybe even their companies. So don't give me this static about android being secure and palm not. Sprint choose to secure the phone by not giving people SU premissions.
Then people rooted it and introduced a security flaw as far as sprint is concerned.
You can't have it both ways.

First of all, the phone doesn't force you to use a pin. Your Exchange admin does. Second of all, this seems to be an issue just with your phone. I've got a pin on mine and I can reboot it all day with no issues. I've never seen anyone else complaining about a similar issue.
Google it, I am not the only one being screwed over by the infinite loop bug, that makes it a phone flaw.

EVO is Dead! - Android Central Forums

HTC EVO 4G:HTC EVO 4G and Exchange/ActiveSync...

Reboot loop after setting up Exchange ActiveSync - HTC EVO? 4G (Sprint) - Android Forums - HTC Community
 
Upvote 0
everybody that's rooted and using wifi tether is doing it against their carrier's security and and maybe even their companies. They so don't give me this static about android being secure and palm not. Sprint choose to secure the phone by not giving people SU premissions.
Then people rooted it and introduced a security flaw as far as sprint is concerned.
You can't have it both ways.

Android is just as secure as Palm providing you don't hack your device. If you hack your device (either device) you do introduce a security flaw into your system. If you choose to do this, that's fine. Just don't make the argument that your hacked device is a superior device.



Wasn't aware you had an Evo. For some reason I thought you had a DInc.
 
Upvote 0
Hi,

I don't want to barge in on the serious OT replies concerning motives, ethics and religion as posted above, but the OP question is:

"How do I turn off the exchange e-mail PIN lock?"

(Not: Is it bad? Should I comply with my admins? How does exchange admin work? Lets discuss exchange hosting! How about moms applepie? Or other such topics... jeez.)


An approach to adress the actual question posed, is to use an email client that is flexible in it's perspective on exchange policies, such as "Enhanced email" or "email+", both found on market.

Hope this helps someone, YMMV of course.


PS
(Now, please carry on with any OT discussions, they don't annoy people looking for real solutions at all. Should we work for corporations? Is open source good?)
 
  • Like
Reactions: k1417
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones