Why Microsoft is reportedly mandating its employees in China stop using Android phones for work

Microsoft reportedly told employees that all staffers in China would be required to use Apple devices for work.

Microsoft is reportedly requiring all China-based staffers to use only iPhones for work, effective September.

Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing an internal memo, that the tech giant informed hundreds of employees that they must soon verify their identities through the Microsoft Authenticator password manager and the Identity Pass app, available on Apple devices.

The company has been seeking to boost its internal security under its global Secure Future Initiative, announced last November.

So why aren’t Androids acceptable in the workplace? It boils down to apps.

Microsoft reportedly decided to block employees from using Android devices to access its corporate platforms because Google’s mobile services, including its Google Play app store, are unavailable in China. That leaves Apple’s App Store as the only place for Microsoft employees in China to download and use the Microsoft Authenticator and Identity Pass apps, the report said.

But the company isn’t leaving its Android fans completely out to dry: It said that they could continue using their personal Android devices and that it would provide them with an iPhone 15 for work, Bloomberg reported.

Microsoft’s efforts to tighten its security practices follow attacks from Russian and Chinese hackers. The company found itself in hot water over recent security failures, with a US Cyber Safety Review Board report in March describing a “cascade” of “avoidable errors” at the company.

The board found that hackers last year were able to access the Microsoft Exchange Online mailboxes of individuals across 22 organizations. It said the hackers downloaded roughly 60,000 emails from the State Department alone.

A Microsoft spokesperson told us this spring that “recent events have demonstrated a need to adopt a new culture of engineering security in our own networks.”

In May, Microsoft announced it would expand the scope of the Secure Future Initiative to include recommendations from the board. The company said it would take actions including protecting accounts with phishing-resistant multifactor authentication.

Charlie Bell, a Microsoft executive vice president, wrote, “We are making security our top priority at Microsoft, above all else—over all other features.”

A Microsoft spokesperson did not immediately respond to our request for comment on the report of the iPhone mandate.