Android Phones
HTC Peep/Friendstream down because of Oauth?
August 31, 2010 | by Andrew Kameka
HTC
We’ve gotten word from a few people unable to log-in to HTC Peep and Friendstream. Then a quick scan of Twitter shows a few others wondering what the heck is going along, and I think I know the source of the problem – OAuth.
Twitter is ending support of Basic Auth in favor of OAuth, which is a better and more secure option for granting account access to third-party applications. But it’s likely that HTC Peep and Friendstream currently don’t support OAuth. I can’t yet confirm this, but I feel confident in theorizing that this is why users are unable to log-in and read or post to Twitter.
Other third-party Twitter apps have been failing because developers didn’t implement Oauth (or users have yet to update to the newer version). The old way of granting permission required users to give an app their password and have it stored by third-parties; OAuth is more secure because it grants access without surrendering your password to another service. The connection can also be broken at a later date by logging into Twitter.com and revoking access.
Again, this isn’t confirmed yet, but if OAuth is the reason for the failure, HTC really pissed the bed on this one. Twitter has made the switch known to developers since December 2009, so I really hope that’s not the issue. It just seems strange that when Twitter turns off Basic Auth, Peep/Friendstream suddenly goes kaput.
Thanks, MrViZZiATO!
UPDATE
The problem was indeed the failure to switch OAuth. HTC and Twitter seem to have fixed the issue. If problems persist, reboot your phone and re-sign into Peep or Friendstream.
![I bet $20 that an official Android Twitter client is coming [OPINION]](/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/twitter_logo.png){kind=logo}
I was theorizing this for a couple things on my phone too that have Twitter login. I assumed Twitter gave them "special permission" but I guess not. I wonder if it's even possible to implement OAuth, since it usually requires going to the web browser.
I'm more concerned about how they would update (if that's indeed the problem). I've contacted HTC for an update to see if that's the problem.
Just some points –
1) yes it is because of oauth which is why the android logs on peoples phones for the last month have been showing warnings from twitter about API limits (twitter reduced the API limit per hour, each day from Aug 16th)
2) a couple of people in their android logs have a message from twitterapi explaining Basic Auth has been turned off.
3) Twitter also support xAuth for those situations where a web-browser is not as user friendly in the authorization process – this still requires you to provide the username and password for your account, but the app will then go to twitter and exchange your credentials for an access token – it will then use the access token instead of your login details and you can still revoke access to the app in the connections bit of your twitter account.
Gwibber on Ubuntu for instance now uses xAuth instead of Basic / oAuth
So that's what XAuth is about, thanks for the explanation. If this is indeed the case with HTC, then they need to step up their game and get some sorta update out fast in any way possible. As a last resort, HTC might be able to get Twitter to extend the basic auth API limits just for them.
Apologies for talking out of my arse – it seems Gwibber doesn't use xAuth as gwibber has stopped working and you need to test the BETA of gwibber with oAuth enabled.
Seems HTC aren't the only ones who haven't bothered about it.
I was sure I read somewhere that Gwibber was not going to use oAuth because Gwibber is open source software which meant the Application Secret Token and Application Secret Key would become public……
Seems I just alerted the Tech support at Verizon Wireless. They are not too familiar with the HTC PEEP app. not functioning. So hopefully they work to solve and resolve the issue quickly.
Having the same issue here, I was glad to see today's date on the original post. Will wait for any updates…
we need to start calling htc and our carriers i have called both today so they can make note of it but what im getting from them is that its the first theyve heard of it.
Yup, can’t get the HTC Legend Peep to log in, even tried a Factory Reset of the phone, still the same problem. So both Peep and Friend Stream are broken,
Experiencing the same here! I have a Diamond2 running WinMo, accessing Twitter with "HTC Peep".
However, I can also run Android on my device (XDAndroid), and then I access Twitter through "Twitter for Android by Twitter, Inc.", the official app downloaded from the market. Both "HTC Peep" and " Twitter for Android by Twitter, Inc." had access to my account without problems until now. HTC Peep reports "the account was forbidden to access the twitter server" and Twitter for Android reports "Invalid username or password", though logging in on twitter.com is no problem.
It seems fair to assume that HTC failed to implement some authorization change on time, but the official Twitter app from the Android Market??
Right when I discovered Twitter was denying Peep, a message popped up for a phone upgrade (Incredible). I hoped that they would be updating Peep as well, but nope. I LOVE Peep. I love the large widget, clean style, and can't find another app like it. I'm hoping they fix it soon, but from what I hear, HTC is slow with fixing problems. I guess Twitter through the browser is my best bet.
This happened to me yesterday, thanks for this!!
Same problem here. This is stupid!
Hi i got my htc desire yesterday.
Tryed to log into peep at the start up sceen with no joy.
Messed around with it for a few hours tryed again did a soft reset cuz im a noob an didnt no if i had dun anything wrong still no joy.
Tryed hard reset still didnt work by this point i was gettin worried that a had a dodgy phone.
So glad i found this post as i would ov sent the phone back when theres nothing wrong with it.
Yep, pretty lame as it seams this was known that it was going to change and they would need to update it. Oh well so my freindstream now just shows my facebook friends and I downloaded a different twitter app which works no problem from the market. The bad thing is, until we get froyo I can't store apps on my card yet. So now Im stuck with 2 facebooks and 2 twitters on my memory because the stock FB didnt work right either lol.
HTC Desire selling point of friend stream has just expired! This was my main reason for sticking with HTC and not becoming an isheep. Not happy with this situation.
Same issue here on Galaxy S:
Twitter for Android and Seesmic for Android not logging in, the default Samsung Twitter Widget works though.
Was relieved to see today’s date on the original post. just bought my phone yesterday.
I really like friend stream, but now I can only link my Facebook which isn't enough.
After a quick check, Peep authenticates with Basic-Auth, so THIS IS the issue …
So now all we can do is download another third app? anyone know a twitter app that works for WinMo? I hate using the brrowser for twitter it’s retarded.
HTC HD2 user
Hmmm… I downloaded Seesmic just today, and the latest version of the Twitter app on a Desire I just got yesterday. Both work, but Friend Stream is non-Twittering. Not a big issue, to me, but it does take up more screen space to have the Twitter widget separate from the Friend Stream. But it does work, at least…
did everyone receive the email from Twitter about OAuth and wrapped links?
Yes I got the email from Twitter last night, about 3 days after the turned off Basic Auth! It would have been handy to have the info before the change happened.
could you post the email on this forum here please? I'm having the same problem but didn't receive the mail from twitter.
issue is now fixed
No it's not…
Am using my HTC the same problem still persists that I can’t log in to my twitter peep and friend stream is not getting updated.
This really sucks because with twitter in friends stream its of no use.
Any one who can fix it up any help pls…
HTC couldn’t solve this problem from so long is showing its poor expertise i’m problem solving…
I have the same problem too!
Up till now, my Peep and Twitter for HTC sense isnt working.
I tried the Official Twitter app from market and the one on web is working fine.