Outlook will soon notify Android users if their password is strong enough

Outlook will soon be compatible with a new password complexity feature in Android 10, Microsoft has confirmed. This feature will be available for Android users in late August 2020. As a result, Android users will require users to enter a 4-digit PIN or password to access the Outlook app depending on the password complexity level configured on their devices.

Outlook for Android 10

“Outlook for Android will roll out support for the new device password complexity functionality included within Android 10 and later,” Microsoft said in its blog post. “With Outlook for Android targeting Android 10, when a user launches Outlook on Android 10 and later devices, Outlook queries the device’s (or the work profile’s) screen lock complexity.”

Google includes support for new APIs in each operating system version release. These APIs bring new functionalities to native and third-party apps. However, apps can’t possibly leverage these APIs to their full potential unless they somehow manage to target APIs specified in a particular operating system version release.

Microsoft says prior to targeting Android 10, Outlook for Android used Device Admin to manage device password settings defined in an Exchange mobile device mailbox policy. However, this is set to change starting with Android 10.

With the Android 10 release, Google not only announced its latest API allowing apps like Outlook to use the operating system’s device password complexity functionality but also revealed its plan to deprecate Device Admin functionality.

Password complexity level

Let’s take a look at Android 10’s password complexity levels defined as follows:

Password complexity level	Password requirements
None	No password requirements are configured
Low	Password can be a pattern or a PIN with either repeating (4444) or ordered (1234, 4321, 2468) sequences
Medium	Password can be passwords that meet one of the following criteria: PIN with no repeating (4444) or ordered (1234, 4321, 2468) sequences with a minimum length of 4 characters Alphabetic passwords with a minimum length of 4 characters Alphanumeric passwords with a minimum length of 4 characters
High	Passwords that meet one of the following criteria: PIN with no repeating (4444) or ordered (1234, 4321, 2468) sequences with a minimum length of 8 characters Alphabetic passwords with a minimum length of 6 characters Alphanumeric passwords with a minimum length of 6 characters

The password complexity level can be defined by admins under Outlook Device Policy. Hence, if your Android 10 device detects that your screen lock is not strong enough, it will prompt users to update the security settings accordingly.

Microsoft assures Outlook doesn’t store the user’s password and it only tracks the password complexity level.