Struggling with Work Apps on Android

By Callum Stoneman, 10 February, 2026

Forum
Android

I have a Samsung Galaxy S22 that I’m using for work purposes, as well as playing around with Android generally and keeping an eye on what’s out there for both platforms. I’m having several issues with work apps that mean I’m finding it very hard to be productive with this device. For a bit of context, I use my laptop most of the time but use the phone either when I’m commuting to and from work, or when I step away from the computer for whatever reason but still want to keep an eye on messages and emails.

  1. The Outlook app seems very hard to navigate with TalkBack, particularly when reading messages or going through large conversation threads. Swiping left and right through the messages is extremely inconsistent, either jumping me to the top or bottom of a message or to another seemingly random message in the thread, rather than continuing down through the message as I would expect. Exploring by touch can sometimes get around this, but it still feels rather clunky and can still give inconsistent results.
  2. When composing a message in Teams, it seems as though it is not possible to review or change what you have entered. TalkBack’s reviewing and editing commands do not work and neither does navigating via the volume keys (although I expect these are tied to TalkBack’s commands). Obviously this makes it very difficult to proofread or change my messages before I send them.
  3. Notifications, particularly with Outlook, can often be a good few minutes or even up to an hour behind Outlook on my computer, meaning there’s a good chance I may miss emails for a while after they come in. This is almost certainly not an internet connection issue as all other notifications work fine, as do other devices on my network when I’m using it at home.
  4. Probably the most significant issue is that it does not seem possible to use any keyboard other than the Samsung one while using apps on my work profile, including TalkBack’s Braille keyboard. I can use Voice Typing but that’s about it. I don’t know if this is a general Android policy for work profiles or if it’s something my organisation have enabled, but I wouldn’t know where to start with asking our IT teams about this. I can say with 99% certainty that they would have no idea.

Just to clarify a couple of points. When I refer to the “work profile”, my organisation uses Microsoft Intune which means I have to first download the Company Portal app to my device, authenticate through there, and then a work profile is created which separates my work apps and files from my personal ones. Surprisingly given Apple’s focus on privacy, Android appears to do a much better job at this kind of separation than iOS. Secondly, while I’m primarily using this as a work device, it was not provided by my company. My company do not provide work phones and suggest we download the apps to our own devices if we need them, but I bought this device from a friend because I refuse to have work apps on my personal device, both for work/life balance as well as security reasons.

Has anyone had experience of any of the points I’ve raised above and have any suggestions on how I could get around them? Alternatively, is there a device that might work better for my use case, such as a Pixel phone using Google’s version of TalkBack? I’m aware Google’s version can be installed on a Samsung device, but I don’t seem to be able to run any ADB commands on this device which I suspect is another restriction by the work policy.

Or, would I do better to get myself and old/refurbished iPhone and stick to what I know best?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

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Comments

By Trenton Matthews on Wednesday, February 11, 2026 - 22:42

, might be your best bet when it comes to dealing with said Microsoft problem. They need to add the same care like they have with the iOS one. You an others need to let them know you all want the same paralytic consistancy.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/contactus

, is where ya can share feedback.

By Callum Stoneman on Thursday, February 12, 2026 - 11:47

Thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately although this isn't a company-owned device, I'm still restricted by org policies when it comes to work apps. My organisation only allows the Microsoft apps to be used on the work profile, and I can't download an app to my personal profile and login to my work email account from there as you cannot login without the auth cirt provided by the work profile.

By Trenton Matthews on Monday, February 16, 2026 - 03:52

In that case, your best bet is to use the outlook mail web app (and other office apps in question) in desktop mode.

https://office.com/

They do have keyboard shortcuts. Interface on mobile with these is decent.

By SeasonKing on Monday, February 16, 2026 - 07:32

And therefore, I carry 2 phones, a regular mid-range Android for my day to day tasks, ordering food/cabs, making payments and what not, and an iPhone 15 Pro Max to run my work apps.
The work apps on IOS are simply more smoother with VO, and I prefer Voice dictation on IOS over Android.
Because iPhone also has solid speakers, it also serves as a device for entertainment, running Netflix and Youtube and what not. Although I hate Youtube app on IOS because back gesture not being implemented properly. It's also my go to device for things like Seeing AI and Be My Eyes because the cameras are superior than my mid-range Android.
Also, the way Android treats work profile is frustrating for the reasons OP described above. I don't want 2 separate environments in my phone. If I want to stop getting work notifications, I simply turn on focus mode on personal profile on IOS, which is a far superior implementation. On Android, it's completely turning off those work apps, can't even open them if you wanted to without turning on the work profile first, and that means when you do turn it back on, you get a barrage of notifications, and phone becomes unresponsive for few seconds.

By Callum Stoneman on Monday, February 16, 2026 - 08:47

I must admit, I hadn't thought to try the web-based versions of these apps because I assumed they would just throw you into the native apps, which is quite common for services like this.

@SeasonKing that's interesting that it's the other way around for you. I posted this on a tech support mailing list I'm part of as well as on here, fully expecting it to be related to my lack of knowledge and experience with Android and to be flooded with responses from the Android experts, but instead got very few responses from both. It's leading me to the conclusion that work apps simply aren't as usable on Android as you said.

I do know a family member who recently upgraded and mentioned their old iPhone is now sitting in a drawer , so I might see if they can dig it out...

By Trenton Matthews on Monday, February 16, 2026 - 09:08

would also not be a bad option for many here (at least on the Android & web side), though for the original poster that's most likely not the ideal road to go down.

The Google suite of apps on iOS is "hit and miss" depending on the app used. Docs being an example.

GBoard on IOS I hear hasn't changed much either...