Twitbit HTTP 401 Error When Posting Tweets
What Happened
Some time around late afternoon or early evening yesterday, July 27, Twitter pushed out a security update to its OAuth implementation. This security fix had the extremely unfortunate side effect of exposing a bug in how Twitbit submits new tweets and new direct messages to Twitter.
The result of their update and our bug is the now infamous error message everyone started getting at about the same time when sending tweets or direct messages:
We apologize to our customers for this problem.
The Fix
The good news is that fixing this issue is extremely simple. So simple, in fact, that it’s already been done and required changing only a single line of Twitbit code.
Even better news is that we’ve been wrapping up development of Twitbit 1.1 over the last few days and were already planning to submit it to Apple today. We included the fix for this issue into 1.1 and gave it to Apple earlier this afternoon.
What’s New in Twitbit 1.1
Twitbit 1.1 is a significant upgrade from 1.0.1, the current App Store version. Its new features include:
- More granular push configuration
- Selectively push DMs, mentions, neither, or both for each Twitter account.
- Better push support while the app is running (new message badges, vibrations, etc.)
- New direct message workflow
- Summary/inbox view that’s modeled after the built-in “Messages” app, organized by user
- Threaded conversations
- Landscape typing of tweets and direct messages
- Built-in photo browser with landscape support
- Landscape mode in the built-in web browser
- Saved searches
- Person search
- Saved timeline position
- More tweet actions (open in browser, send in email)
- More browser actions (send in email, post link in tweet)
- Customizable tab order
- Customizable re-tweet format
- Ability to view users by their Twitter usernames or real names.
- Lots of other UI enhancements and bug fixes
You can read more about what’s in Twitbit 1.1 on our release notes page.
That Sounds Awesome! When Do I Get the New Version?
The bad news is that Apple’s App Store approval process is notoriously slow. Approval could take a week or more. Worse, they provide no facility for developers to expedite the release of critical bug fixes. We are at their mercy.
We do have one trick up our sleeve, though.
Getting Twitbit 1.1 Before It’s on the App Store
Apple allows for developers to send the application to people for testing without going through the App Store. Apple calls this “ad hoc distribution.”
We encourage Twitbit customers to send us their iPhone or iPod Touch’s device ID, along with their Twitter username. We’ll then send you Twitbit 1.1, which you’ll be able to use until Apple approves “the official version” for the App Store. Once it’s on the App Store, you can simply switch back to the App Store version. You’ll continue to receive all future upgrades for free as normal.
For instructions on obtaining your iPhone or iPod Touch’s device ID, please see Apple’s documentation and follow the steps under “Sending Your Device ID to Developers.” Email us your device ID along with your Twitter username, and we’ll send you a copy.
We’d like to apologize again to all of our customers for this issue. We recognize this is an inconvenience, and we’re doing everything we can to make things easy for our users.
If you have any further questions, comments, problems, or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.