What's New

Notice of forthcoming API Exchange Update

Monday 5th August 2018

API Exchange planned update. On 13th August the APIX Exchange will be updated as follows:

Release date 13th March 2019
Release type Medium
Developer impact Medium
Expected developer action

New Apps need to make sure that any Discovery Request contains the same Redirect URL that has been registered on the Developer Portal (and, therefore, configured in APIX) for that application. Alternatively, this may be contained within the URLs provided in the Sector Identifier URI. Existing applications continue to work, but if you notice any issues please contact Mobile Connect support.

NOTE: This facility will not be activated until a later date, and we will send out a notification in advance of this happening
Release summary

Redirect URL verification

The API Exchange Discovery service will now check the Redirect URL sent in the Discovery request to ensure that it is the URL that was registered when the application was promoted on the Developer Portal.

Once the Redirect URL verification is enabled, the check will verify that either of the conditions below are met:

  • The Redirect URL present in the discovery request is same as the Redirect URL stored in APIX.
  • The Redirect URL present in the discovery request is one of the URLs listed in the Sector Identifier URI document.

If the Redirect URL validation fails then the following error will now be returned:

400 Bad Request
{ "error": "Invalid_Request", "description": "Invalid Redirect_URL" }

Other changes

This release also contains several internal system improvements and bug fixes

Developer Portal Update (SI Polling)

Monday 15 April 2018

The Developer Portal has been updated to support the Server Initiated Polling API. This includes the following changes:

  • The Server Initiated Polling API documentation is now available.
  • The latest version of the Developer Portal Sandbox now supports the Server Initiated Polling API.
  • The Sandbox operators have been changed to add support for the new API.
  • Additional instructions have been added covering which application values are needed for SI Polling.
  • An overview of the different API versions has been added.

Developer Portal Update (SI Polling)

Monday 1st April 2018

The Developer Portal will be updated on the morning of Monday 15th April 2019 (UK Time) to support the Server Initiated Polling API. Because of this, some functionality may be unavailable while the update is carried out.

Developer Portal Update

Tuesday 5th June 2018

The Developer Portal will be updated on the morning of Thursday 7th June (UK Time) to support Mobile Connect Attributes. The portal will be unavailable for a short while during the update.

Discovery Documentation

Thursday 24th May 2018

The Discovery API documentation has now been updated and is now based on the OpenAPI standard, rendered using Redoc.

We plan to migrate all our API documentation over to this format.

API Exchange Update

Tuesday 20th March 2018

The API Exchange has been updated with the following changes:

Release date Tuesday 20th March 20187
Release type Minor
Developer impact Minor
Expected developer action None.
Release summary
  • Application status to use the discovery service is now approved on a per-application, per MNO Basis, meaning discovery will only return the endpoints of a MNO to which an API Access request has been made.
  • A new discovery error response has been added which will be returned for Service Providers who are not approved to discover a particular MNO.
    403
{
    "Error": "Forbidden",
    "Description": "This application is not authorised by the target mobile operator."
}
  • Any existing applications will still be able to Discover all MNO’s and will not be impacted by this change.

Developer portal update

Tuesday 20th march 2018

The Developer Portal has been updated with the following changes:

Release date Tuesday 20th March 2018
Type Minor
Impact Minor
Expected developer action None
Summary
  • Added support to Swagger / OpenAPI documentation in preparation for migration of all API documentation to Swagger.
  • API Access requests will no longer grant Discovery access to all operators. Only the operator where the request is made will be available for Discovery access.

Developer portal maintenance

Monday 19th March 2018

The Developer Portal will be unavailable from 17:00 on Monday 19th March until 12:00 on Tuesday 20th March (UK Times).

Privacy Principles

Tuesday 19th December 2017

The GSMA have recently agreed updates to the Mobile Connect Licence agreement. The updates are to support changes to the Mobile Connect Privacy Principles. These changes have been made to make the text simpler, clearer; to clarify who or what they applied to; and to support trusted service provider models or attribute services.

The changes will become applicable to any current or new service using the Mobile Connect logo within 110 days of this communication.

If you have any question, please contact mclicence@gsma.com.

API Exchange update

Tuesday 19th December 2017

The API Exchange has been updated with the following changes:

Release date Tuesday 19th December 2017
Release type Minor
Developer impact Minor
Expected developer action The Developer Portal now supports multiple Redirect URIs and Client Names (previously 'Application Short Name' for applications.
Release summary
  • Changes have been made to rephrase some of the Urdu language to make the Discovery UI more user friendly.
  • Replace Application Short Name with Client Name Array..
  • Support multiple Redirect URIs

Developer portal update

Tuesday 19th December 2017

The Developer Portal has been updated with the following changes:

Release date Tuesday 19th December 2017
Type Minor
Impact Minor
Expected developer action None
Summary
  • Create/Edit application now supports multiple Redirect URIs
  • Application Short Name has been replaced with Client Name. Client Name is tied directly to an application and applications can now support multiple Client Names. Existing applications that support Application Short Name are unchanged.

API Exchange update

Tuesday 14th November 2017

The API Exchange has been updated with the following changes:

Release date Tuesday 14th November 2017
Release type Minor
Developer impact Minor
Expected developer action Developers need to handle a new error for an unauthorised SP, to display a user friendly message to the end user.
Release summary

Discovery UI

Support for Finnish language

The Discovery UI will now support the Finnish language. The user will be able to choose the Finnish language from the language drop down.

Discovery

Handling SPs that are not authorised for particular MNOs

Allow an operator to mark a particular SP as “not authorised”. This release makes the technical feature available for testing. The Service will not be available for use until further notice.

  • In the UI Discovery input, the API Exchange will verify that the SP is “authorised” by targeted mobile operator (MNO). If the SP is not authorised by the MNO the (language specific) message below is displayed to the user:

    This application is not authorised by the target mobile operator.

  • For a discovery call where the SP is not “authorised”, the error message returned in the discovery response will be:

    Response 403 Forbidden

    Body

    {
  "error": "Forbidden",
  "description": "This SP is not authorised by the target mobile operator"
}

Developer Portal update

Monday 16th October 2017

The Developer Portal has been updated with the following changes:

Release date Monday 16th May 2017
Type Medium
Impact Medium
Expected developer action None
Summary

  • The following changes have been made to the portal structure to improve access to content:

    • The About menu has been removed.
    • The API section has moved to the top navigation
    • The step-by-step guide has moved to the top navigation
    • The Documentation section has disappeared
    • The Footer menu has expanded to include items in the About menu and the Documentation menu

    NOTE: URLS are NOT impacted by this change in structure.

  • There is now support for customising the Discovery UI (see below)
  • Changes have been made to the support form and web chat due to changes in the support back-end.
  • Changes to the Terms & Conditions to align with the addition of the UI Customisation functionality.

 

UI Customisation

This release of the Dev Portal supports a new functionality of the API Exchange that allows an application to customise some aspects of the Discovery UX.

 

 

The application details page now has a new tab 'UX Customisation' which allows the following to be areas of the Discovery UX to be configured:

  • Header text: the text that is used in Discovery header bar
  • Header text colour: the colour of the header bar text
  • Header background colour: the background colour of the header bar
  • Main button colour: the colour of the main button and the highlight text on the page

When these changes are saved then the Discovery UX will change to match the example screen on the customisation page. NOTE: These changes may take up to 24 hrs to take effect due to caching.

API Exchange update

Tuesday 19th September 2017

The API Exchange has been updated with the following changes:

Release date Tuesday 19th September 2017
Release type Minor
Developer impact Minor
Expected developer action
  • French MSISDN discovery will be redirected to EU (Dublin) if the request lands on another node. Developer app should follow the redirection (status code : 302)
  • Optional extra attribute SDK version in discovery request which will be logged in the analytics for further analysis.
    Release summary

    Redirection of French Numbers

    For regulatory reasons French MSISDN discovery should be handled in EU (Dublin) region. If the French MSISDN discovery request reaches any other node then the request will be redirected to EU (Dublin) region.

    Notification of API Exchange update

    Tuesday 11th July 2017

    This release will not impact the operation of the API Exchange services, except for a small number of existing developer.

    Please monitor your services carefully and if you see any issues contact us immediately.

     

    Release Details

    Release date Tuesday 11th July 2017
    Release type Major
    Developer impact Low
    Expected developer action

    In certain circumstances, for regulatory reasons, if an Indian MSISDN is received by the discovery service outside of India, it will be redirected to the Indian Local discovery instance.  If the HTTP status code 302 is received, the application should follow the redirect.

    Service provider can provide the optional parameter (correlation_id) in discovery to uniquely identify the request.
    Release summary

    Unique Credentials

    Once the release is live individual MNOs will be set to “UNIQUE” which means that any new applications will have unique credentials per MNO per application. All existing credentials remain unchanged. MNOs may choose to move all apps over to “UNIQUE” credentials but that requires a detailed communication with the impacted SPs to ensure business continuity.

    Correlation ID

    An optional extra request parameter - correlation_id has been added to the discovery call. correlation_id can be used to uniquely identify and trace the call.

    Sample request

    curl -X POST -H "Authorization: XXXXX" -H "Cache-Control: no-cache"  -H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded" -d 'MSISDN=MSISDN&correlation_id=qwessafsdfd12334' "https://discover.mobileconnect.io/{dev-org}/v2/discovery?Redirect_URL=redirect-url

    The discovery response is updated to include the correlation_id in the response.

    Sample response

       {
  "ttl": 1497780292,
  "response": {
    "client_id": "XXX",
    "client_secret": "XXX",
    "serving_operator": "operator",
    "country": "India",
    "currency": "Rupee",
    "client_name": "apigee_test_3",
    "apis": {
      "operatorid": {
        "link": [
          {
            "href": "link",
            "rel": "authorization"
          },
          {
            "href": "link",
            "rel": "token"
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  },
  "correlation_id": "qwessafsdfd12334",
  "subscriber_id": "encrypted MSISDN"
}

    The discovery error response is also updated to include correlation_id

    Sample response

    {
  "error": "Not_Found_Entity",
  "description": "Operator not supported for the MSISDN supplied",
  "correlation_id": "qwessafsdfd12334r"
}

    The correlation_id, stored in the analytics server, allows retrieval of the call details using the correlation_id.

    UI Flows

    UI-Discovery redirect flow now includes the correlation_id.

    Pre- requisites: MSISDN POST discovery call should include correlation_id.

    Sample redirect

    redirecturl?correlation_id=qwessafsdfd12334r&mcc_mnc=mcc_mnc

    Indian numbers redirect

    This resolves the inconsistent behaviour of MSISDN POST and UI MSISDN flow for Indian numbers landing in Global Discovery Node (GDN). Before the change MSISDN POST returns success and UI MSISDN fails.

    Changes have been made to process the Indian number discovery in the Indian Local Discovery Node (LDN) even if the discovery requests lands in GDN. When the Indian number lands in GDN the request is redirected to LDN with HTTP status code 302 and ldnsessionid for both UI MSISDN and POST MSISDN flows. Once the request reaches LDN the usual flow continues.

    IP Discovery Performance Improvement

    Changes done to add the IP based response into inline memory cache to improve the IP based discovery call. IP based discovery tries to retrieve the response from in memory and tries to retrieve from database only if the cached response is not present. This is an internal code change will not have any impact.

    API Exchange update

    Friday 12th May 2017

    The API Exchange has been updated with the following changes:

    Release date Wednesday 10th may 2017
    Release type Major
    Developer impact Moderate Impact. Backward Compatible
    Expected developer action
    • Developer Apps using the description from error object can now directly present it to end user.
    • Developer Apps can now rely on ttl from the Discovery response.
    • Developer Apps can use X-Redirect: APP header in case of an unsupported operator to skip the UI flow.
      Release summary
      1. Expired ttl on discovery response is renewed on new discovery request.
      2. Discovery UI flow: “Remember me” of the same number multiple times is now fixed and shown only once.
      3. Operator not discovered message has changed:

        previously

        {
  "error": "Not_Found_Entity",
  "description": "We could not find your operator based on the MSISDN supplied"
}

        now

        {
  "error": "Not_Found_Entity",
  "description": "Operator not supported for the MSISDN supplied"
}
      4. Allow Redirect error messages to the App without UI error notification in the case of "operator not supported".
      5. Support added for charset=ISO-8859-1 with Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded for MSISDN post.

      Sandbox update

      Friday 12th May 2017

      The Developer Portal Sandbox has been updated with the following changes:

      Release date Thursday 11th May 2017
      Release type Minor
      Developer impact Minor
      Expected developer action None
      Release summary The sandbox discovery api now covers a new parameter, X-Redirect that makes it easier for native apps to handle the discovery UI. This is documented here

      Developer Portal update

      Wednesday 10th May 2017

      The Developer Portal has been updated with the following changes:

      Release date Wednesday 10th May 2017
      Type Minor
      Impact Minor
      Expected developer action None
      Summary
      • The discovery documentation now covers a new parameter, X-Redirect that makes it easier for native apps to handle the discovery UI.
      • The application details page has been re-designed to make it easier to navigate and to show the content more clearly
      • Improvements to the discovery documentation covering the use of Accept: application/json
      • Non-verified accounts are now removed after 1 month
      • The token revocation documentation has now been removed as it is not covered by the Mobile Connect specification.

      Notification of forthcoming API Exchange update

      Wednesday 10th May 2017

      Please note the following changes in the forthcoming release.

      • Operator not supported error message

        The Discovery error response has been updated to distinguish between a “MSISDN not found” and an “operator not supported” error. This give the developer an opportunity to accurately inform the user of the specific error condition and guide the user to alternative authentication methods.

      • Operator not supported re-direct

        A new parameter is being added to the Discovery UI call to indicate that if an operator is not supported then the error should go back to the app and not to the Discovery UI page. The App can then give the user alternative ways of authentication.

      All of these changes have been designed to be backward compatible.

      The release is due to go live on Wednesday 26th April 2017. It is not expected that the release will impact the operation of the API Exchange services, or your use of them. However, we would like you to be aware of the changes so that you can utilise the improved error descriptions within your own services if you wish.

      Please monitor your services carefully and if you see any issues contact us immediately.

       

      Release Details

      Release date Wednesday 26th April 2017
      Release type Major
      Developer impact Moderate Impact. Backward Compatible
      Expected developer action
      • Developer Apps using the description from error object can now directly present it to end user.
      • Developer Apps can now rely on ttl from the Discovery response.
      • Developer Apps can use X-Redirect: APP header in case of an unsupported operator to skip the UI flow.
        Release summary
        1. Expired ttl on discovery response is renewed on new discovery request.
        2. Discovery UI flow: “Remember me” of the same number multiple times is now fixed and shown only once.
        3. Operator not discovered message has changed:

          previously

          {
  "error": "Not_Found_Entity",
  "description": "We could not find your operator based on the MSISDN supplied"
}

          now

          {
  "error": "Not_Found_Entity",
  "description": "Operator not supported for the MSISDN supplied"
}
        4. Allow Redirect error messages to the App without UI error notification in the case of "operator not supported".
        5. Support added for charset=ISO-8859-1 with Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded for MSISDN post.

        Sandbox update

        Wednesday 5th April 2017

        The Developer Portal Sandbox has been updated with the following changes:.

        Release date Wednesday 5th April 2017
        Release type Minor
        Developer impact Minor
        Expected developer action None
        Release summary
        • Change token revoke messages to indicate if there was a token to revoke
        • Return an error if one of the Selected- parameters is used alone
        • Add a set of IP addresses for the test operators to support IP based requests
        • Add support for X-Source-IP parameter

        Developer Portal update

        Wednesday 5th April 2017

        The Developer Portal has been updated with the following changes:

        Release date Wednesday 5th April 2017
        Release type Minor
        Developer impact Minor
        Expected developer action None
        Release summary
        • The create application page has been modified to align with other UX changes
        • The application details page has been re-designed to make it easier to navigate and to show the content more clearly
        • The phrase promote has been replaced by request API access to make it clearer what the process actually does.
        • A new document covering supported AMR values has been added
        • Bug fixes

        Mobile Profile v.12 renamed

        Monday 20th March 2017: 11:11

        Mobile Profile v1.2 has now been renamed to Mobile Profile v2.0 to keep it in line with the Mobile Profile release plans - this change has now been implemented in the Developer Portal. The API definition is unchanged.

        Developer Portal update

        Tuesday 7th March 2017: 11:10

        The Developer Portal has been updated with the following changes:

        Release date Tuesday 7th March 2017
        Release type Minor
        Developer impact Minor
        Expected developer action None
        Release summary
        • Improve sign-in process by supporting the enter/return key better.
        • Review and update the Discovery API Documentation.
        • Replace existing Discovery API examples with Sandbox requests.
        • Added What's New section for updates and release notes.
        • Mobile Connect accounts now allow Password Recovery.
        • Bug fixes

        Sandbox update

        Tuesday 7th March 2017: 11:05

        The Developer Portal Sandbox has been updated with the following changes:.

        Release date Tuesday 7th March 2017
        Release type Minor
        Developer impact Minor
        Expected developer action None
        Release summary
        • Passthrough numbers now ignore any configuration when in My Test Numbers and ignore the operator setting.
        • Small bug fixes

        API Exchange update

        Tuesday 7th March 2017: 10:53

        The API Exchange Discovery planned update has now been completed with the following changes.

        Release date Tuesday 7th March 2017
        Release type Minor
        Developer impact Minor
        Expected developer action None
        Release summary

        These languages will now be supported in the Discovery UI.

        • বাংলা (Bengali)
        • English (UK)
        • Français (French)
        • Italiano (Italian)
        • हिंदी (Hindi)
        • 简体中文 (Mandarin)
        • Español (Spanish)
        • Türkçe (Turkish)
        • اردو (Urdu)

        API Exchange update notification

        Friday 3rd March 2017: 11:36

        The API Exchange Discovery service will be updated on Tuesday 7th March with support for an additional 9 languages.

        More details

        The Mobile Connect App Challenge

        The Mobile Connect App Challenge starting October 26th and finishing February 6th, is an online contest that will allow participants to build an app that will change the way we connect with different apps and websites using Mobile Connect technology.

        The first prize up for grabs is the chance to travel to Barcelona (flights, hotel, expenses) and the unforgettable opportunity to showcase your winning app at Mobile World Congress 2017 – a prize value of €10,000!!

        New Event: Mobile Connect Summit Bengaluru - Sat 20th August

        12th August 2016

        Mobile Connect has arrived in India with the six major mobile network operators (Aircel, Airtel, Idea, Tata Teleservices Ltd, Telenor and Vodafone) enabling over 800 million people to use the secure digital identity solution.

        Having this enabled base opens up a wide range of opportunities for developers and digital service providers to evolve their authentication methods for the next generation in a more secure and convenient manner.

        The Mobile Connect Summit will be an opportunity to meet some of the key stakeholders that have made this service available – operators, vendors and the GSMA will reveal use cases and discuss how Mobile Connect can enhance your business. The event will conclude with networking drinks.

        Click here for more details & registration

        Developer Portal Updates

        1st July 2016

        As part of the continuing upgrades and improvements to the portal you will see that some of the content sections are being moved around, existing content is being rewritten and additional content added.

        Discovery Updates

        4th May 2016: 16:07

        A new version of Discovery has been released with the following updates

        • The Discovery User interface has been updated with support for the following languages:
          • Bengali
          • French
          • Mandarin
          • Turkish
          • Urdu
        • The following bug fixes have been released:
          • Support for Discovery Redirect URL with query parameters
          • Disabling replaying of session id using nonce mechanics

        GSMA’S Mobile Connect available to 2 billion consumers globally

        22nd February 2016

        Mobile Connect Launched with 34 Operators in 21 Countries Around the World

        Barcelona: The GSMA today announced that the GSMA Mobile Connect mobile-based authentication solution is now available to 2 billion consumers globally. Since the solution was introduced at Mobile World Congress 2014, 34 mobile network operators (MNOs) have launched the service in 21 countries, with plans for additional launches and trials to follow in 2016 and beyond. Operators offering services based on Mobile Connect include América Móvil, Axiata Group (Bangladesh, Indonesia, Sri Lanka), China Mobile, China Mobile Pakistan (Zong), China Telecom, China Unicom, DNA, Elisa, Globe Telecom, Indosat Ooredoo, Mobilink, Mobitel, Orange (Egypt, France, Morocco, Spain), Sunrise, Swisscom (Switzerland), Telefónica Group (Argentina, Mexico, Peru, Spain), Telenor Group (Bangladesh, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Thailand), TeliaSonera (Finland), Telkomsel, Telstra, TIM and Turkcell (Turkey).

        More details

        Developer Portal Update

        19th February 2016: 11:30

        New functionality on the Mobile Connect Developer portal has created a new distribution channel to enable service providers to contract with Mobile Connect operators through one standard set of terms and conditions.

        This single enhancement means service providers can now quickly and efficiently deploy Mobile Connect, practically within a couple of days of first visiting the Mobile Connect Developer Portal.

        To access this new distribution channel service providers need to

        1. Register on the developer portal
        2. Accept the marketing license terms to access and use the Mobile Connect brand
        3. Click on My Operators to view and accept the terms and conditions for the markets and subsequently operators you wish to contract with
        4. When your Application is ready to go live you can select the operators that you want to launch with and “promote” your application to their live environments. You’ll immediately receive a set of credentials for the live discovery service and then an email from each operator you selected confirming when your Application is provisioned on their network

        This service is live in Bangladesh, Finland, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines and Thailand. At this time the platform supports only no charge services. New operators and thus more markets are expected to follow quickly as Mobile Connect continues to expand its touch points.

        Mobile World Congress Event

        18th February 2016: 11:30

        Next week at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona we will be holding an event exclusively for developers interested in getting started with Mobile Connect. During the two hour session developers will get an introduction to the Mobile Connect flow, the developer website and how to run a small HTML5 app using the Mobile Connect APIs. Developers should leave the session being able to get started with building Mobile Connect into their apps and know where to go to get helpful information when building. This session will be held in the main Mobile World Congress venue, Fira Gran Via. Attendees will need a Mobile World Congress pass to be able to attend the event, a separate special ticket is not needed.

        Name: Building Apps with Mobile Connect: Login and Two Factor Authentication for Users
        Date: 24th February
        Time: 9-11am
        Room: Hall 3, CC3, Level 1, Room 3.14b

        New Discovery Interface now available

        17th February 2016: 14:30

        Today the much improved user interface for Mobile Connect discovery goes live. This will be available with immediate effect in all active markets with the exception of India, which will follow later.

        New Discovery Interface

        This year, GSMA commissioned the User Experience Design Agency “Fjord” to review the API Exchange Discovery user interface and the login and registration user experience for Mobile Connect. As a result, a friendlier and richer discovery service has been designed which is now in the implementation phase with Apigee, the vendor for the API Exchange. The release of the new API Exchange discovery service, featuring this new user interface, is nearly ready and will be integrated into all deployments. We plan to release this before Mobile World Congress on 22 February.

        Come see us at Mobile World Congress 2016

        Experience Mobile Connect at the GSMA Innovation City where operators who have successfully launched Mobile Connect in their markets will be showcased alongside their partners demonstrating the ease, added security and privacy delivered by the new standard in authentication. Preview future use-cases for Mobile Connect and learn how the simple, secure access benefits and transforms online businesses through increased customer loyalty and trust. Meet the experts at our Discovery Bar to learn how to get started with Mobile Connect and join the growing global community.

        Click here for more details