Lock Screen Widgets under Device Administrator control

[Russell Christopher]

Hey Folks -

I'm running a 3rd party lock screen widget (ClockQ) on my Nexus 7 running 4.2.1.

I connected to my company's Exchange server, and went thru standard setup, seeing the "Device Administration" nag based on my company's policies:

Email now can:

• Erase All Data
• Set Password rules
• Monitor screen-unlock attempts
• Lock the screen
• Set lock-screen password expiration
• Set storage encryption

Now, when I unlock my phone, my clock widget is gone, and is replaced by the standard out-of-the-box clock.

For kicks, I deleted the email account and Device Admin policy, and the phone returned to "normal" ("my" custom lock screen came back). Put mail back on again, it's gone again.

So it seems like there's a bug in how Android handles this scenario, or there is some crazy-granular Exchange policy one could set to actually control / remove custom lock screen widgets on a mobile device.

I can't believe Microsoft would be "that good" and create such granular policies, so I'm guessing a more plane-jane bug.

I'm completely new to the android community. Have others seen this behavior? Is there a place online where I can log a bug?

Thanks!

 

[pazzo02]

I haven't seen it specifically, but I don't find it strange that your company's admin policy can block 3rd party software. Just like they make you have a lock screen password whether you want one or not. That's why I just use the Outlook Web Mobile app instead.

 

[Richard Brust]

Device Admin controls what can/cannot be on lockscreen - prob for company security policies. Also controls the fact that you need a PIN lock, etc. I have same issue - you probably go into Settings>My Device>Lock Screen>Lock screen widgets, and "Favorite apps or Camera" is greyed out...