error: googleapi: Error 401: Request is missing required authentication credential

[DavidAZimmerly]

Troubleshooting

• [ x] I've searched discuss.bitrise.io for possible solutions.
• Which version of the step is effected? 3.7.3
• Is the issue reproducible with the latest version? It happens sporadically with latest version
• Does the issue happen sporadically, or every time? SPORADIC
• Is the issue reproducible locally by following our local debug guide? NOT APPLICABLE

Useful information

• FAQ
• devcenter.bitrise.io

Issue description

When running the google play deploy step, I occasionally get a failure with: Failed to upload application(s): failed to upload app bundle, error: googleapi: Error 401: Request is missing required authentication credential. Expected OAuth 2 access token, login cookie or other valid authentication credential. See https://developers.google.com/identity/sign-in/web/devconsole-project., unauthorized

Bitrise info

• Build URL: https://app.bitrise.io/build/b48a3369-e0d3-46a9-9013-c4dcbf027a98
• Bitrise Support enabled: YES
• Log:

Getting configuration
Configs:
- JSONKeyPath: *****
- PackageName: com.arcxp.thearcxp
- AppPath: /bitrise/deploy/app-arcXPInternal-release.aab
- ExpansionfilePath: 
- Track: internal
- UserFraction: 0
- UpdatePriority: 0
- WhatsnewsDir: 
- MappingFile: 
- ReleaseName: 
- Status: 
- RetryWithoutSendingToReview: false
- AckBundleInstallationWarning: false
Using app from: /bitrise/deploy/app-arcXPInternal-release.aab
Configuration read successfully
Authenticating
Authenticated client created
Create new edit
 editID: 05832712845556463172
Edit insert created
Available tracks on Google Play:
- production
- beta
- alpha
- internal
- Investigation
- ReleaseCandidate
Tracks listed
Upload apks or app bundles
Uploading /bitrise/deploy/app-arcXPInternal-release.aab 1/1
Failed to upload application(s): failed to upload app bundle, error: googleapi: Error 401: Request is missing required authentication credential. Expected OAuth 2 access token, login cookie or other valid authentication credential. See https://developers.google.com/identity/sign-in/web/devconsole-project., unauthorized
  

Steps to reproduce

unsure, it happens regularly though

[mmiller-wfc]

This started happening for our account as well (as of today 9/15/23). Some builds deploy successfully and some fail with the same error.

[richdapice]

The same is happening today for us as well.

[sebastian-zero]

Same, our Android builds fail constantly now.

[daniel-zero]

Fastlane was able to find a workaround: https://github.com/fastlane/fastlane/pull/21518

[jaymengxy]

I encountered the same issue yesterday.

[dranoer]

We faced the same issue today.

[CrazyScrubber]

Same issue since last week

[lpusok]

Released a workaround in version 3.7.4 wich retries on the 401 errors: https://github.com/bitrise-steplib/steps-google-play-deploy/releases/tag/3.7.4

[martyphee]

Having issues also and I'm using 3.7.4

[sameermore412]

Encountered the same issue. Version 3.7.4 was used when it failed.

[lpusok]

Version 3.7.4 retries 4 times with relatively short wait (1, 2, 4 and 8 seconds). There is a verbose_log input you can set to true to see these in the log. Version 3.7.5 retires more times with more wait time (2, 4, 8, 16, 30 and 30 seconds).

I recommend to report the 401 status issue to Google Play at https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/contact/general_contact, so they can hopefully resolve it.

[martyphee]

3.7.5 seems to have fixed the issue. At least my last build worked

[CrazyScrubber]

3.7.5 => Still have the same issue. But not with the app bundle upload with the mapping file upload

[J6ey]

@CrazyScrubber Also not able to upload with mapping file on 3.7.5. Are you saying it uploads fine without it?

[CrazyScrubber]

@J6ey Yes. We got the following error Failed to upload application(s): failed to upload mapping file, error: googleapi: Error 401: Request is missing required authentication credential. Expected OAuth 2 access token, login cookie or other valid authentication credential. See https://developers.google.com/identity/sign-in/web/devconsole-project., unauthorized

The upload of the app bundle works but the mapping file is causing us the 401 exception. It just works every 10 tries of restarting the build

[lpusok]

@CrazyScrubber can you share a log with verbose_log enabled?

[lpusok]

Anecdotally recreating the Google Play service account can help, maybe worth a try.

[jordan819]

Same problem here in 3.7.5: can't deploy 2 out of 20 applications due to authorization error. I've tried several times and get exactly the same error.

Failed to upload application(s): failed to upload app bundle, error: googleapi: Error 401: Request is missing required authentication credential. Expected OAuth 2 access token, login cookie or other valid authentication credential. See https://developers.google.com/identity/sign-in/web/devconsole-project., unauthorized

[CrazyScrubber]

OK with verbose_log it is the same app bundle issue as before. There were 6 Tries but every time 401. We deploy multiple apps with one Build. Sometimes 2 of three will be uploaded to Google Play and the last one gets the 401. Failed to upload application(s): failed to upload app bundle, error: googleapi: Error 401: Request is missing required authentication credential. Expected OAuth 2 access token, login cookie or other valid authentication credential. See https://developers.google.com/identity/sign-in/web/devconsole-project., unauthorized

[anthony-fresneau-kiplin]

3.7.5 => Still have the same issue.

[koral--]

@lpusok here is the log of the build failed for the same reason. Support access granted: https://app.bitrise.io/build/183b9a60-dc54-4063-a6bb-550b48475c60

[ruialmeida51]

+1 Also having the same issue using the latest version.

[labreu-bc]

Same issue here, we're on 3.7.5, multiple attempts for the past couple of hours and only 1 got through

[loopyzort]

same here, cannot upload our builds to the play store anymore using 3.7.5

[empowerDan]

Same.

[Ahmadin29]

Same issue on latest version

[minalaroraswiggy]

same issue https://app.bitrise.io/build/213af157-3882-448f-9fed-761804beeb2a

[scruffyfox]

Same issue with 3.7.x

80% of builds are failing

[valls]

Same issue, Previous deploy with version 3.7.3 on 8/29/23 working ✅ Last deploy with version 3.7.5 on 9/20/23 failing ❌

[xcibik00]

Same issue

[martyphee]

Failing again for me

[bmgswile]

Same issue here.

The workaround that worked for me was to downgrade to version 3.6.x

[lpusok]

It seems we can not fix this problem with Google API. Error 401 is returned at random, and retrying does not always help. Reached out to Google Play developer support, waiting for a response. Please also report the problem here, to speed up resolution: https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/contact/general_contact.

Would like to try a different approach:

• Try to upload only one bundle at a time, and remove mapping files if any. This helps because the binary upload related APIs seem to be failing.
• Remove the Deploy Step from frequently triggered workflows (manual/tag trigger is ok). Bombarding the Google APIs with requests is not helping solve 401 Unauthenticated (it seems to make things worse), so the idea is that you can deploy more successfully if you do it less frequently.
• Generating a new Service Account for Google Play Console can help in some cases to avoid rate limiting.
• Release Management is a recommended alternative worth trying until a complete resolution.

[loopyzort]

~I'm not sure if this is related, but after these problems, I manually uploaded an apk and the Play Store had a new Financial Products compliance declaration I needed to accept. After doing that, my last 2 executions of the task have worked. using version 3.7.5~ Not related, but leaving here for posterity (see @GrahamBorland 's comment below)

[GrahamBorland]

It's not related to Financial Products. We submitted that declaration a few weeks ago, and have been hitting this error much more recently.

[GrahamBorland]

Discussion and some possible workarounds in this thread: https://androidstudygroup.slack.com/archives/C51GTR17A/p1695146387223879

[scruffyfox]

@GrahamBorland can you post the possible solution here for those without slack access?

[GrahamBorland]

The possible solution may not be the answer after all, but the suggestion was to make sure the tools are on the latest version of the androidpublisher npm package. Maybe it doesn't apply here at all.

Sorry for giving false hope...

[RichardLima]

same issue on 3.7.x we used 3.6.x as workaround and it worked

[J6ey]

3.6.x is working on my end too. I also had to stop sending the mapping file or it would error out the same way

[Ahmadin29]

Working well after downgrade to 3.6.x

[bbq-all-stars]

I had the same issue, but after downgrading to 3.6.x it's working completely.

[lpusok]

Good news everyone, Google finally fixed the issue based on Step success rates.