Wattpad discontinues their API service

in #wattpad7 years ago

Today I have discovered that Wattpad discontinued their developers page and API services. Going to the developers site redirects to the main website and any API keys seem to have been invalidated. There has been no official announcement, but given that the API has not been developed for at least a year this does not come as a surprise. 

Given that there is at least a response of invalid key when reaching to API services it seems that the actual services are still running, but are accessible only to internal Wattpad projects and no longer to the public.

This is a pity since I have been using the API and was in final stages to develop an OAuth login package for Meteor which could have been potentially used to allow Wattpad users to login to multitude of Meteor apps. Yet, given the ongoing scandal with Facebook and Cambridge Analytica the company might have decided that since they had no plans to develop the API further it was a safer way to shut it down to any outsiders given that they use user data in a similar manner to Facebook.

This should have little impact on Wattpad users as the API wasn't used much (as it wasn't that extensive), but it prevents any new apps to allow user login from Wattpad accounts and build functionality related to Wattpad. Hopefully Wattpad will introduce a new API in the future to allow for outside innovation to happen around their platform.