Authentication to dropbox on tvOS

[Guy G.7]

I want to authenticate to dropbox in tvOS. However, when dropbox opens the authentication dialog, there is not way for the user to fill it- the UI does not meet the tvOS requirements. So I want to open a tvOS dialog for username/password. But Is there a way then to take this data to authenticate manually, i.e. using code that will input the dropbox username and password?

Thanks

[Greg-DB]

Thanks for posting about this. Can you elaborate on what you mean when you say "the UI does not meet the tvOS requirements"? Can you link to any relevant documentation? Once we have a better understanding of the capabilities available, we'll be happy to investigate to see if/what solution we might be able to offer.

[Guy G.7]

I'll try to explain the scenario.

I'm using the dropbox iOS sdk. When I'm trying to setup a dropbox connection, Dropbox SDK opens a UI element require the user for username and password. On iPhone it is working well, the user fill in the information and it establish the connection.

In tvOS, the form with the username and password is presented on the screen (see attached)

But since it is tvOK, there is no way for the user to type the username or password. It should be a tvOS spacial screen - see also attached below a tvOS input screen

So I assume there are two options to solve it. 

1. Dropbox develop a tvOS login screen

2. Find a way to send the username and password programmatically so I will be able to develop the UI myself.

Thanks!

[Phil K.7]

I'm curious about this too.

To sharpen the question a bit: it's not possible to use webviews on tvOS, so the OAuth flow shown above won't work. Does Dropbox have any plans to ship a tvOS optimized login method?

[Greg-DB]

Thanks for all of the information and screenshots guys, that's very helpful. I'll bring this up with the team internally.

One thing that may work with the existing infrastructure though would be how Apple TV apps of the current generation work for connecting external accounts. That is, the Apple TV app gives the user a short URL for the app's web site to browse to on an Internet connected device with a browser, and that web site processes a standard OAuth 2 app authorization flow. Upon redirected back to the app's web site, it can send down the necessary token to the TV app. That would offer a better user experience, especially if the user is already signed in to Dropbox on their phone, for example, as they'd only have to type in the short URL on their device, as opposed to typing in their full Dropbox credentials on the Apple TV (possibly including a second factor, etc.).

[Lars M.4]

Has anyone got this working yet, or are the dropbox team still working on a proper solution?

[Greg-DB]

I don't have any updates on this, either internally or externally. We'd love to hear if anyone has experimented with the flow I mentioned in my last reply though, as we imagine that'd be a much better experience for the user than trying to enter all of their credentials on the TV.

[Lars M.4]

Not sure if I follow your suggestion you gave earlier - not used dropbox that much earlier (from a developer perspective).

Entering credentials on the AppleTV will not be any problem, since it supports using the iPhone or iPad as an input device, AFAIK.

Since the tvOS doesn't support any local storage larger than ~0.5MB/app, we have to use cloud services for storing/retrieving data that we don't want/can deliver with the app download. So in my opinion, it is very important that you support tvOS 🙂

[Greg-DB]

Thanks for the information! Do you have any documentation for the input method using an iOS device you can link to? 

[Lars M.4]

Regarding ATV4, consider it a qualified guess - even if I know I can't tell you 🙂

For ATV3, the iPhone/iPad can act as a keyboard to it, so it should be the same for ATV4!? Dictating with Siri will only be supported in eight languages in the beginning, so for everyone else it's the iPhone/iPad-keyboard they have to use...