Blocking of the Outlook app for IOS and Android on the University of Kassel's mail server from 02.07.2025
The following message affects all users who retrieve their emails on their smartphone via the "Outlook for iOS" or "Outlook for Android" app from Microsoft. Accessing your emails via the webmailer in your browser is not affected.
As already announced on 18.02.2025, we will block the use of these apps "Outlook for iOS" and "Outlook for Android" from 02.07.2025 for the central mail system of the University of Kassel in coordination with the Chancellor and CIO for the following reasons:
- These apps send a large amount of personal data to Microsoft.
- The apps do not communicate directly with the University of Kassel's mail server like other mail apps, but the emails are first collected by the Microsoft servers from our mail server and only then made available to the user in the app.
For this purpose, the login data for the mailbox is stored at Microsoft. All emails therefore always go via Microsoft.
If you use these applications, the following data is passed on to Microsoft:
- Credentials (account name, password)
- Emails from the last four weeks
- All calendar data
- All contact data
- the absence status
Source:
As an alternative, we recommend using the standard mail app on your mobile device.
If you need extended functionalities, we recommend the paid mail app "9Folders" for Android: https://www.9folders.com/en/index.html
If you have not already switched to an alternative app, you should make the switch before the final blocking on 02.07.2025.
In addition, we ask you to change your password if you have used this app so far.
If you leave the Outlook mail app for other services on your smartphone, please remove the University of Kassel mail account there.
Thank you for your understanding!