Adobe Reader iOS app with Intune MAM-WE policy issue "This seems to be taking longer than usual"

[Ed Collins]

I manage our Intune environment and have applied App Protection (MAM-WE) policies to all unmanged handheld devices.

I am trying to test the Adobe Acrobat app, but when I try to launch it, it just states:

"Protecting this app"

then

"this seems to be taking longer than usual"

then

"Still trying" endlessly.

I have tried uninstalling the app and then reinstalling after a device reboot.

When I do this, I can log on with my corporate account (going through Microsoft Authenticator for the MFA), but when I close and relaunch the app, I get the above messages again and cannot get into the app.

Has anyone else come across this, and if so, what is the solution?

[S. S]

Hi @Ed Collins,

Hope you are doing well. Sorry for your experience with Acrobat Reader Mobile.

Have you checked the steps and workflow to deploy Reader Mobile using Intune: Intune Deployments — Acrobat Mobile App Deployment

If you have followed the steps, please share a few pieces of information for better investigation:

1. The app version of Acrobat Reader Mobile you are trying to deploy;

2. The OS [Android/iOS] nad its version;

3. A screen recording of the issue you experience.

Look forward to hearing from you.

-Souvik

[Ed Collins]

Hi Souvik,

Apologies, I should have sepcified more clearly... This is impacting UNmanaged deviecs, so we cannot deploy the app via Intune to devices, as they are not managed by Intune.

We use the App Protection policies to manage the apps and the data consumed by them (MAM-WE = Mobile Application Management - Without Enrollment)

This is on iOS devices.

I have downloaded the latest version of Adobe Reader from the App Store.

I have an Adobe Pro license.

When the app launches, I sign in.

It then tries to protect the app, but seemingly never is able to.

I get messages saying:

Checking App Status

Protecting this app

This seems to be taking longer than usual 

Still trying.

(See attached images)

[S. S]

@Ed Collins,

Thank you for the detailed information. Let me share this with the development team and get back to you once I hear back from them.

-Souvik

[S. S]

Hi @Ed Collins,

Would you mind sharing a few more pieces of information:

1. The exact version number of Acrobat you are using;

2. The iOS version of the device;

3. does the issue happen on all the devices or just one?

We need these details to share them with Microsoft.

Look forward to hearing from you.

-Souvik

[Ed Collins]

Hi Souvik,

It looks like the version of Adobe Reader is 23.06.01

The iOS version is 16.5.1(c)

So far this is happening on 2 devices, but that is all we have tried on so far.

[Ed Collins]

Hi again Souvik @S. S 

Today I set up a brand new, out of the box iPhone (updated to iOS 16.6.1) manually, without restoring aps or data.

I installed Adobe Reader and then signed in using my SSO (corporate) credentials

That seemed to work fine.

Then when I clicked on the icon to get data from OneDrive, it asked me to sign in again.

I entered my SSO (corporate) credentials and got through the MFA prompt using Authenticator on my other device.

It then told me that I must install Authenticator on this device and register it.

I did that.

Then it has the same behaviour, i.e. I get messages saying:

Checking App Status

Protecting this app

This seems to be taking longer than usual 

Still trying.

... And it never completes

[S. S]

Hi @Ed Collins Thanks for the new updates.

As I mentioned earlier, this is an issue on Microsoft's end, and we await further responses from them.

Let me give you the jist of it for understanding:

"The error base or logs from situations like yours are collected at your corporate level for investigation. These error files can then be sent at the organization's discretion to Microsoft for further deep dive, and then the results come to us, and we are notified if there is something to be fixed from Adobe.

As of now, the option to send logs to Microsoft is not functioning, so we are at a roadblock on how to deal with the situation further."

-Souvik

[Ed Collins]

Hi there Souvik,

It's been another month... Is there any progress on this?

[S. S]

Hi @Ed Collins,

Thank you for your patience, and sorry for the delay.

The issue is at Microsoft's end and we are yet to hear back from them on further resolution steps. I will update the thread once I have sufficient information and a concrete resolution.

-Souvik

[garbats]

I am also experiencing the same issue. Do you have an update?

[S. S]

Hi @garbats @Ed Collins,

Thank you for sharing this.

The issue is already in discussion with Microsoft and I will update the thread once I hear back from the team.

-Souvik

[S. S]

Hi @Ed Collins @garbats,

The latest update of Acrobat Reader Mobile now has Intune Diagnostics Integration fixed.

What this means is, you can send diagnostic logs to Microsoft support after they run into the “Still trying” (or other Intune related issues):

To do it:

1. Reproduce the issue
2. Go to Settings->Preferences and at the bottom tap on Send Intune Diagnostics

The screen is a Microsoft screen and you need to follow the instructions described there.   You can then contact Microsoft support with the information obtained there.

Hope this helps.

-Souvik

[Ed Collins]

Hey Souvik!
Thanks so much for this.

I am just curious... Where are you suggesting I go for the Settings menu?

When I reproduce the issue in Adobe Acrobat, the screen is TOTALLY black with the Still Trying spinning wheel of doom... There are no menus available...

[S. S]

Hi @Ed Collins,

As stated above, this is an issue with Microsoft, and the dump has to be sent to them for further investigation.

-Souvik

[Ed Collins]

Thanks so much @S. S 
I do understand that the issue is with Microsoft and that the dump must be sent to them.

My question was around your directions on how to do that...
You said:
Go to Settings->Preferences and at the bottom tap on Send Intune Diagnostics

What I am asking is... Where exactly is this Settings menu that you are refering to?

[S. S]

Hi @Ed Collins,

This is for Acrobat Reader Mobile.

Once you get into Reader Mobile, you go to Preferences-> at the bottom, you have the option "Send Intune Diagnostics-> Follow on-screen instructions.

-Souvik

[Ed Collins]

Ah... Unfortunately I can't actually get into Acrobat Reader Mobile... When I try to open the app, it has the experience that I first put in the ticket about... Just a black screen with a spinning wheel and messages saying:

Checking App Status

Protecting this app

This seems to be taking longer than usual 

Still trying...

I guess what I could do is totally uninstall the app and then re-install it and get to the menus before signing in... But then the logs I send would not contain the issue.

I will try putting in a Microsoft ticket instead.

[Ed34962233yqt3]

Experiencing the same. Was a root cause ever discovered with Microsoft?

[Ed Collins]

Unfortunately I got stuck in a "support loop"
Adobe told me that I need to use a menu to send data to Microsoft for investigation, but to my point (above) I can't even access the menus in Adobe Acrobat, hence putting in this request in the first place.
Adobe blamed Microsoft.
When I spoke to Microsoft about it, they told me it is an Adobe issue.
So at this stage I am unsure of how to proceed.

[S. S]

Hi @Ed Collins @Ed34962233yqt3,

Thanks for writing in!

I understand how frustrating this might be.

Let me revisit on this topic with the team and get back to you.

-Souvik

[Chinmay35116641e50g]

Hi Souvik, 

I also have mutiple users who are reporting similar issue with the acorbat reader. 

Do you have any update on this issue?

-Chinmay

[S. S]

Hi @Chinmay35116641e50g,

I have restarted the discussion on the topic with the team. 

I will update the thread as soon as I hear back. Please allow me some time.

Thanks,

Souvik

[Nick35135886amzq]

Hello, we are experiencing this same issue and stuck in our deployment process. Is there any known workaround for this one? thank you

[Chinmay35116641e50g]

I found a work around, maybe it started working with latest Adobe Acrobat. Re-install the application but this time install the Microsoft authenticator as well. 

Now, when you try to sync the files through Onedrive it will take the authentication through MS authenticator. User might need to authenticate twice for onedrive. 

This worked worked for me.