With the release of the iPhone 2.0 software and the 3G iPhone on July 11, 2008, the iPhone can now have a native connection to Exchange 2003 and 2007 servers. This post documents the steps needed to configure the iPhone for an Exchange account, assuming that Exchange ActiveSync is already configured and working properly on the Exchange server. If the Exchange server is running on SBS 2003 or SBS 2008, this configuration is already in place.

From the iPhone:

  1. Press the Home button to bring up the Home screen.
  2. Select Settings from the Home screen.
  3. Select Mail, Contacts, Calendars from the Settings page.
  4. Select Add Account.
  5. Select Microsoft Exchange.
  6. In the Email field, enter the e-mail address for the account.
    NOTE: this e-mail address must match EXACTLY with the default e-mail address on the account, case included. If the default e-mail address is First.Last@domain.com and you enter first.last@domain.com, you will run into issues with Calendar sync, and possibly other areas as well.
  7. In the Username field, enter the domain user information in the format Domain\Username (i.e., smallbizco\jondough).
  8. In the Password field, enter the account password.
  9. If desired, you can change the Description field.
  10. Select Next.
  11. If you have a self-signed SSL certificate, you may get an “Unable to Verify Certificate” warning. Select Accept to continue.
  12. In the Server field, enter the full public domain name for your server. This is the same as the web address you use to connect to Outlook Web Access. If your OWA address is https://mail.smallbizco.net/exchange, then enter mail.smallbizco.net in the Server field.
  13. Select Next.
  14. If you have a self-signed or unrecognized SSL certificate on the Exchange server, you will receive an “Unable to Verify Certificate” warning. Select Accept to continue.
  15. Once the account has been verified, you will be able to select which information you want to synchronize: Mail, Contacts, and Calendar. Select the items you wish to synchronize to the iPhone by selecting On or Off for each item.
  16. Select Save to create the account.
  17. On some Exchange servers, you may be prompted after completing the account setup to configure a passcode for the device. Enter a passcode for the device and keep record of that passcode.

At this point, your iPhone is connected and ready to go. The first time the iPhone attempts to synchronize with the server, you may get the “Unable to Verify Certificate” warning again if you do not have a recognized SSL certificate. If you get this warning, select Accept. Otherwise, your selected items will sync to the iPhone from Exchange. You can go back to the home page and open the Mail app to review your mesages.