Fedi auth flow

[meljoann]

Share your bug report, feature request, or comment.

Sometimes when you click away from the "Enter Code" modal to copy your code in another app, then click back, the modal has disappeared. Then, if you try to authenticate again, it says “there is another authentication in progress”.

This happened me the other night:

• iOS 26.3.1
• Firefox browser

Is it possible to make this auth modal retain the “enter code” box, until the authentication has finished?

[gabek]

I'm not actually sure what you're seeing. There isn't anything purposefully closing it, and other people are able to authenticate ok. But this might be some kind of weird mobile thing. I don't think many people use mobile to chat, so something might be going on there?

[meljoann]

That seems very likely! I often use mobile, so will take a screenshot if it happens again. But it usually works perfectly :)

[taintedcypher]

I tested on my end and almost see the same thing: the error appears, but I can still authenticate.

1. I open the Authenticate modal and choose FediAuth.
2. I enter my fediverse handle and submit it.
3. I close the modal by clicking outside of it (which is probably easy to do by mistake on mobile, since switching apps require touching the screen).
4. I copy the verification code from my fediverse account.
5. I return to Owncast and have to open the Authenticate modal again (because i closed it).
6. In the FediAuth tab, the modal is no longer on the Enter verification code step. Instead, the view has 'reset' and asks for my fediverse handle again.
7. I re-enter my fediverse handle and submit it.
8. The error mentioned by meljoan appears, but the verification code input is still visible below the error.
9. I enter the code I got (step 4), and authentication succeeds.

So I think the issue has three angles. Fixing any two should be enough:

1. Auth modal is too easy to close by mistake
2. State of the 'IndieAuth' view resets when the modal is closed and reopened
3. The error message is misleading: it is very red, says "Error" and asks to try again later, when you can just paste your code and it actually works.

Note: I have only one fediverse account, so I couldn't test using two different accounts in steps 2 and 7. The error message might be warranted in that case.

**Edit**: Diregard the fact that I was authenticated when I took the screenshot. I only wanted to show how the error and code input appear. Same layout when unauthenticated.

[meljoann]

Ok, now I know what happened! Because I just did it again 😆

I closed the modal, to get at the little "pop-out" window, so I could still enjoy the stream -- while switching to the Fedi client app to get my code.

Probably not many people do that...