GCM (Google Cloud Messaging) returns suddenly 401

Question

Is there any reason why the GCM (Google Cloud Messaging) Service from Google suddenly returns a 401 for a request to send an Android push notification? The call looks like this

curl --header "Authorization: key=<my_android_key>" --header Content-Type:"application/json" https://android.googleapis.com/gcm/send -d "{\"to\":\"/topics/my_topic\", \"data\":{\"category\":\"help\", \"title\":\"Test\", \"text\":\"Test\", \"param\":\"\"}}"

The result is

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Unauthorized</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000">
<H1>Unauthorized</H1>
<H2>Error 401</H2>
</BODY>
</HTML>

UPDATE:

Google names four possible causes for this error:

Authorization header missing or with invalid syntax in HTTP request.
Invalid project number sent as key
Key valid but with GCM service disabled.
Request originated from a server not whitelisted in the Server Key IPs.

I checked the validity of the API key in question here, and it seems to be invalid. The question is why? It used to work so far. Argh. :-/

API keys changed / deleted? also, maybe add some code that shows the request. — Brett, Jul 22 '16 at 12:08
We accidentally deleted the account and restored it a bit later, could this make the token invalid? :-/ Not sure. — 0x4a6f4672, Jul 22 '16 at 12:10
Maybe try creating a new Server API key for the project that the GCM Service is enabled for. — Brett, Jul 22 '16 at 12:12

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:08

Not sure why sending push notifications using the Android Key stopped working, since it used to work before. I managed to send a Push Notification to an Android app by using the Server key instead of the Android key like this:

curl --header "Authorization: key=<my_server_key>" --header Content-Type:"application/json" https://android.googleapis.com/gcm/send -d "{\"to\":\"/topics/my_topic\", \"data\":{\"category\":\"help\", \"title\":\"Test\", \"text\":\"Test\", \"param\":\"\"}}"

Apparently this seems to be the correct method now for Android: Why Android key (api key) is invalid or that key is deprecated by GCM server?

I found a site which says that "Google made a change that stopped Android Keys from working for GCM/FCM for security reasons" https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/firebase-talk/4lCPr-UIuY0/ShWZk6z2AAAJ

So the answer seems to be to use the "Server Key" to send Android GCM messages (not the "Android Key").

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 22 '16 at 12:06

1

It seems like you were not use server key from developer console for your application.

answered Jul 22 '16 at 12:06

Oleg Skidan

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GCM (Google Cloud Messaging) returns suddenly 401

2 Answers2