P.S. – I have also checked with my hosting company. They said everything looks fine in their end and that I should contact WordPress support.
Hey @chrismonty,
Thanks for listing what you’ve already tried, that rules out the most common troubleshooting I’d recommend first. 🙂
Your site’s Jetpack connection is healthy from our side, so the site isn’t blocking the app. The “HMAC Verification failed [invalid_hmac]” error means the app is still signing its requests with older connection credentials that no longer match the ones your site is using now. That’s why it can load the posts it created locally but not the ones written on desktop.
The disconnect and the app logout you did won’t always clear those stored credentials. The step that frequently resolves this is removing the site from the app and adding it back:
- In the app, open the site, go to the site’s settings, and remove the site from the app.
- Force-quit the app (swipe it away from the app switcher), then reopen it.
- Add the site again so it pulls fresh credentials.
Make sure you’re signing into the app with the same WordPress.com account your site’s Jetpack connection is tied to. If the app is tied to a different account, that can also result in this error. After signing in, you can confirm you’re on the right account by checking that this site shows in your connected sites.
Let us know what you find!
Understood.
Would this be located under Jetpack Settings —> Manage Connections —> Disconnect from WordPress?
Then reconnect?
Hi @chrismonty
Yes, that’s the right place. In your WP Admin (on the desktop, not the app), go to Jetpack > My Jetpack, click “Site and account connected” near the bottom of the page, and choose Disconnect in the window that appears.
Since you’ve already tried reconnecting once from the app without it sticking, let’s make this a full reset rather than just a reconnect. After you disconnect, deactivate the Jetpack plugin, delete it, then install a fresh copy from Plugins > Add New and reconnect to your WordPress.com account. Doing this in a private/incognito browser window, and clearing any caching plugin or host cache first, gives it the best chance of holding. Full steps here: https://jetpack.com/support/reconnecting-reinstalling-jetpack/
The detail you mentioned, where the app shows only the posts you wrote in the app and not the ones from desktop, is a helpful clue. It points to the app and the site getting their wires crossed on the connection, which the clean reinstall above is aimed at sorting out. Once it reconnects, give the app a refresh and your desktop posts should come back into view.
If the error returns after that, reply here and let me know, and we’ll take a closer look at the connection from our side.
OK, I’ve done the steps above. I still received the same error message. Here’s what I’ve discovered…
If I log out of the WordPress iOS app, delete it, reinstall the app, and login with my Wordpress.com account, I can see my website, but none of the posts load, I can only see posts made via mobile, and I get the same error message.
If I log out of the WordPress iOS app, delete it, reinstall it, and connect by simply typing in my domain ([ redundant link deleted ]), then everything is fine as long as I don’t connect Jetpack. The moment I connect to Jetpack, the error message re-appears and I can’t see posts composed via desktop.
I was going to use the app by just manually entering the domain name without using any Jetpack features (instead of logging in with my WordPress.com credentials), but then I can’t see or use any of our existing “Categories” or “Tags.”
If you have any other thoughts on how to resolve this when logged into the mobile app via my Wordpress.com account or when connected to Jetpack, please let me know.
Thank you.
Hi @chrismonty
Thanks for your patience, and for all the detailed testing you did.
I was able to reproduce the “HMAC verification failed / invalid_hmac” sync error on your account/site, even with the Jetpack connection showing healthy and a full sync completed.
I’ve flagged it to our mobile app engineering team to investigate. I don’t have a timeline, but I’ll update this thread as I hear back.
I was going to use the app by just manually entering the domain name without using any Jetpack features (instead of logging in with my WordPress.com credentials), but then I can’t see or use any of our existing “Categories” or “Tags.”
Categories and Tags: those should still be available to you. In the editor, tap the three-dot menu (…) in the top corner and choose Post Settings, and you’ll find Categories and Tags there, where you can pick from your existing ones. So you haven’t lost access, they just live in that panel rather than the main posts list. Let us know if you see anything different on your end.
Internal Reference: CMM-2171.
Best,
Thanks for the follow-up. The Categories and Tags options are still available in “Post Settings,” but without connecting Jetpack, my existing categories and tags are unavailable. In other words, when I tap on “Categories,” it’s a blank page and none of our existing categories populate. When I click on “Tags” and start typing an existing tag, it doesn’t populate. For some reason, our categories and tags are “blank,” for lack of a better word, unless Jetpack is connected. That’s disappointing since I could almost get by using the app without connecting to Jetpack. If none of our categories and tags will populate, though, I’ll have to connect Jetpack anyway.
Howdy @chrismonty
Thanks for all that testing. What you’re describing matches a known bug we’re fixing in the iOS app.
When you connect a self-hosted site directly (without Jetpack), the app should pull your categories and tags from your site’s REST API. There’s currently a bug that prevents this from working properly, which is why the category list shows blank and tags don’t populate.
The fix is complete and will ship in the next iOS app update. Once you update, connecting without Jetpack should give you access to your categories and tags.
Until then, wp-admin in a mobile browser is the most reliable workaround if you need to assign categories or tags.
Good to know. I’ll try again after the next app update and check back in. Thank you.
Hi @chrismonty ,
Good news, and a quick update on what Josh mentioned. The fix for this sync error is now in place. It turned out to be something we could correct on the server end, so you don’t actually need to wait for an app update after all.
Please give it another try and let us know how it goes.
If they don’t appear straight away, sign out of your account in the app and sign back in. If it still lags, deleting and reinstalling the app and then logging back in will force a fresh sync.
I’ll go ahead and mark this thread as resolved for now but if anything else comes up, please feel free to reach out again.
Best,
.
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