Eight days later, Microsoft Outlook users still struggle on iOS devices

Cloudy email rises like a zombie, though its digital grave still marked by big red cross

Outlook.com users on iOS trying to access their messages via Apple Mail are still struggling more than a week after users first reported service disruption, and Microsoft still hasn't confirmed the root cause.

Since the early hours of March 3, the email service has been down for the count, and Microsoft continues to wrestle with returning operations to normality. The glitch centers on authentication.

The latest update posted on Microsoft's service health dashboard came at 2000 UTC yesterday, and a red cross is still placed next to the current status of Outlook.com, amid a sea of green ticks for all other applications from Microsoft 365 to Skype.

"Users may be unable to access their email using the native mail app on iOS devices," Microsoft's update says. There is, however, some light at the end of the tunnel, according to the software biz.

"Our telemetry indicates that following the recommended mitigation steps successfully addresses the issue and that additional solutions may not be needed. We'll continue to monitor telemetry to ensure impact continues to decrease while simultaneously continuing our investigation into the underlying issue.

"As previously mentioned, users should click 'continue' when prompted and navigate back to re-entering their password to attempt to resolve impact. If users aren't prompted but are still experiencing impact, please follow the steps in the following link."

Microsoft advises users to click Edit Settings in Apple Mail and re-enter their login credentials; if they don't see the message in the Apple Mail, open the Settings app, click on Apps > Mail > Mail Accounts and re-enter login creds.

Alternatively, users could wait until there's a full moon and pray to the gods of Redmond for something that entirely resolves the glitch for all. Failing that, put on some music and turn the volume up to 11 so that if things still don't work, neighbors won't have to listen to screams of anguish.

Engineers have spent the past eight days searching for the "underlying cause of why users attempting to access their email using the native mail app on iOS are impacted." And here we are.

Microsoft has said in previous updates that it would outline "findings if pertinent." The whole mess can perhaps be traced back to a "problematic code change" during the weekend before the issues began.

For anyone still unable to access Outlook on iOS devices, we feel for you. Hope can keep you going in dark times and it can also crush your soul. Microsoft has promised another update on March 13 at 2000 UTC. Good luck. ®