OAuth for Pownce on iPhone


Pownce (now defunct) was one of the early web services that adopted OAuth and implemented support for it in their iPhone app. The following screenshots come from a blog post demonstrating the flow that they used.

Note: Following several negative reviews, Mike Malone (one of the Pownce developers) wrote a criticism of popping out of the app for doing authentication.

  1. On launching the app Pownce, prompts the user to "Login".

    Pownce OAuth flow Step 1

  2. On clicking "Login", the Safari browser is launched, asking the user to sign in. The URL bar is clearly visible.

    Pownce OAuth flow Step 2

  3. Once successfully authenticated, the user is prompted to permit the iPhone app access to their account.

    Pownce OAuth flow Step 3

  4. By using a pownce:// URL scheme, Safari closes and reopens the app, successfully authorized to access the user's data.

    Pownce OAuth flow Step 4/Final