Gmail app on Oreo-powered Pixels having Exchange sync issues, Google says investigation has 'high priority' [updated]

Update (October 17):

Google has partially fixed Gmail app’s Exchange sync issue reported on Pixel. Today, Google employee Orrin (also a Community Manager at the official Pixel forum) provided an update on the matter in question, and said :

Original story below:

Do you own a Google Pixel or Nexus device that runs Android Oreo? Have you been observing sync issues between the Gmail app and your Office 365 Exchange account? Well, you are not alone, and the problem has been officially acknowledged.

Back in August, Google rolled out Android 8.0 Oreo for Pixel and Nexus. Shortly after the launch, users started complaining about problems offered by Android’s new OS. One such issue caught our sight on the official Pixel forum, where users having Exchange accounts (Office 365 and Outlook) are facing sync issues while using Gmail app, after updating their device to Android 8.0.

What’s being reported is that Gmail keeps showing a persistent notification stating ‘syncing mail’, but actually fails to sync (as can be seen in the following screenshot shared by a user).

Some users also mentioned that it’s not only a never ending sync issue, as the Exchange calendar have also disappeared, rendering useless the facility to check emails as well as calendar from phone.

One of the affected users highlighted that not only does Exchange emails not sync, the issue also prevents other emails linked to the Gmail app from syncing properly.

The problem came to notice on August 25, and soon after being reported, it was speculated to be ‘device-specific’ by an expert, and escalated further.

On September, a Google employee addressed the affected users and said:

I’m going to reach out privately for bug reports to help out with the investigation. Be on the lookout for my email

They updated on September 8, saying:

The team is continuing to look into this, and we’ll be reaching out to the newer posters for bug reports as well

Here’s the complete comment

Furthermore, on September 11, they acknowledged the issue, terming it as “high priority.”

This is a high priority for the team and they are currently investigating. I’ll keep this thread updated with any other relevant information

See the complete comment here:

There was no update after that, and the reported number of use-cases continue to escalate. It’s apparent that the Oreo update triggered an issue with Gmail sync for exchange accounts. How long will the company take to fix the glitch, that we can’t predict.

In case you are also facing the aforementioned problem on your Pixel/ Nexus, keep a tab here, as we’ll keep updating the future developments related to the issue in question.

Meanwhile, here’s an important user observation:

Source