API Authentication

The recent user system update introduced an authentication system for users. For the last month, we still allowed write access for unauthenticated users (meaning, users who hadn’t updated the app could still edit maps). But that grace period is over, and we’ve locked down the API.

If you are using the API for a tool/website, and you just lost write access, please hit this endpoint: https://pinballmap.com/api/v1/docs/1.0/users/auth_details.html it’ll tell you what your auth token is.

From there, just add user_email=$EMAIL;user_token=$TOKEN to all the requests you make to the API.

If you’re using the app and things seem weird, update the app! The iOS version will give you a detailed error message about the problem, but the Android app will not. We also updated the “Message of the Day” on a lot of regions to try and spread the word. Fortunately, we can see that the vast majority of edits are made by authenticated users, so this should only affect a few people.

Donations
Thank you for your generous donations!! As noted earlier, we recently started accepting donations to help us cover infrastructure costs. To date, we’ve received ten donations, covering over half a year’s costs!

Shout out! Thank you:

• William B.
• Matthew C.
• Jason C.
• Stephen H.
• Julie A.
• Tyler D.
• Jukka A.
• John K.
• Erin K.\
• Amy C.

If you want to help out, here’s the link!

Side note
We’ve noticed that some people mess up when entering their email address (when they sign up). This makes it so you can’t confirm your account. In some cases (…@gmail.con), we’ve noticed and corrected the problem. But sometimes we don’t know what the problem is - except that the email wasn’t delivered. So! Let us know if you need your email fixed.

Similarly, if you want a new username, let us know.