How to get email is using twitter api on callback page using php

leetheguy · 2012-05-29T19:33:17.000Z

I totally agree. Having access to the user’s email is important for a number of the reasons mentioned.

consistency - why should a user be able to sign up with 2 clicks through facebook but have to enter an email to enter through twitter?

difficulty - the extra step could mean the difference between getting a member and having them bounce

unification - people may want to sign in through facebook one day and twitter the next - if every other auth system uses email and our database is based on email, then we would wind up creating a duplicate account for the user and that’s no good

One other word @kurrik. As for your response to just “ask them”. We are asking them by requesting that they sign in through twitter. Why should we ask them twice?

polobus · 2012-06-04T08:37:07.000Z

How to get email id… Please help me anyone.

xorrox · 2012-06-05T10:00:41.000Z

I’m in the midst of designing a new mobile application.

Because I can’t get the email out of twitter, unlike Facebook, I will dump Twitter as a signup option. Having the user type his/her email is not an option.

It’s a sorry state of affairs. I hope someone is listening.

chumkiu81 · 2012-06-05T14:42:19.000Z

We use external api for login/register users for save time to validate their email. Create form to insert email, create a thank you page, send a confirm email, create an url engine to activate this email, routine for change it… all that only for the simple “just ask for it”. No. Simply, just don’t use twitter

garrethmcdaid · 2012-06-07T14:56:38.000Z

I’m currently designing a web app. I told the customers I’d set up Sign in with Facebook and Sign in with Twitter.

Took about 30 mins to to the Facebook sign in. Spent a day figuring out the Twitter sign in, and now I’ve discovered that I can’t get the the user’s email address. Have told the customer that Sign In with Twitter won’t be an option on the web app because without the email address is completely pointless.

EPIC FAIL.

garrethmcdaid · 2012-06-07T14:58:47.000Z

The whole point of OAuth based sign-in is that you don’t have to ask for user details. Why would I not just ask for a password while I’m at it? What’s the point of Sign In with Twitter if you have to ask for user details?

jason2li · 2012-06-07T19:54:41.000Z

I just wanted to add my name to the list of disappointed developers. Email needs to be returned, especially for unification purposes. Until Twitter returns the email, I will not be using it as a method of one-click signin.

webago · 2012-06-08T14:33:42.000Z

me too very disappointing we will have to only let users connect twitter to there existing accounts.
it would be nice to let them start an account this way.

we will be charging for a subscription so an email is necessary for billing information

kind of weird not supplying it when everybody else does

gtkx · 2012-06-08T21:19:46.000Z

I agree with KosterAndrew : No way to uniquely identify users across services, without an email address.
twitter oauth api is useless.

YuvalKalev · 2012-06-10T13:56:54.000Z

/agreed
Email address is the most unique way to identify users across the web. Say I want users to use multiple accounts to sign up using my app (google, facebook, twitter, yahoo, etc…).
With the email address not a part of the response, I cannot cross reference the user and essentially I would have to create another one.
I don’t understand the reason behind this to be honest. If Google and Facebook return the email address (pending approval by user ofcourse), I don’t really see why Twitter won’t.

solcre · 2012-06-11T03:12:21.000Z

Twitter login is about to be removed from my site also. Very short-minded decision not to let an application retrieve the email.

CareCommander · 2012-06-14T01:12:57.000Z

One more user completely in agreement with what everybody else has mentioned here. I’ll use google and facebook as sign in options. Twitter is out. What’s more is I wasted a bunch of time getting this set up before discovering this shortcoming. Very disappointed. Give the user the choice. Enough said.

marsti85 · 2012-06-17T13:52:51.000Z

To give another point of view: Email address is personal data, and as such it mustn’t be offered by an API, in my opion. Especially if it would be returned as basic data and the user don’t have a choice.

I’m not using Facebook apps, and one reason is that their API is offering too many basic data to each app and that too many apps are asking for even more additional data which IMO wouldn’t be required in many cases.

So I like that Twitter is caring for privacy and doesn’t offer the email address. Even if it would be on a permission base, than too many apps would request that permission (so that I can’t use them) even if there is no real reason (requesting data/permissions for no obvious reason is not acceptable behavior).

In this thread the most common case I read is that you want to identify the user, which you could do via unique Twitter ID and IMO isn’t a good reason for requesting personal data. Also there is no guarantee that the same email address is used for all services, so you can’t rely on that to avoid double accounts if someone logs in with Twitter and Facebook.
Also you are implying that the user want’s that you can identify him outside of the Twitter account he used to login, and you implying that the user wants that you use the emal address of his Twitter account instead of another one.

Instead of forcing the user to give your app a permission to read email address, you should inform him: Hey we want your email address for reason XYZ, you can (optionally!) please give it to us? You can still use our app without doing so, if you don’t want to use feature XYZ.
My experience is that most apps (of the services which offer many data via API/permissions) fail at caring for that and don’t give the user the choice and don’t explain why they need permission XYZ.

PS: I’m a developer, however I’m not using Twitter API atm. The reason I found that thread is because I was afraid that apps can read my mail address and that an app could store/display it somewhere on my smartphone.

cyrusBloo · 2012-06-27T11:27:39.000Z

Epic fail…

nateweisiger · 2012-06-29T23:41:46.000Z

Hey buddy. Quick question…

It has been nearly a year since this question has been asked, and I don’t see any recent updates. Surely by now you (Twitter API team) realize the short-sided thinking on this topic. Twitter login will simply not be taken seriously until this issue is resolved. Can you please provide an update for if/when this issue will be resolved?

If the answer is “never”, a quick explanation for your reasoning would go a long way. “Just ask for it” is obviously not the answer everyone is asking for as this defeats the purpose of using Twitter login in the first place. As someone pointed out below: It’s like getting an axe to break into the toolshed, so you can get an axe from the toolshed.

Thanks!
Nate

Kabardosik · 2012-07-01T11:21:06.000Z

no email = useless api.
unknown DNA problem is detected at twitter API team…

billxinli · 2012-07-03T19:16:21.000Z

I, as an user would not use any kind of “single click sign on” mechanism if I feel the third party application will spam me. That said, Both Facebook and Google are giving out the user’s email for the purpose of identity. So I don’t see why Twitter can’t, stop being close minded and see the frustrations of the developers.

User IDs are not unique across applications, ie) my twitter ID could be someone completely different on Facebook. That said, the better method to ensure uniqueness (in a model where an User has many Identities,) is by the email address. Without this, one has to use some forms of tuples of data.

However, on the other hand, having the email of the user allows for better communication and notifications. Rather than “No, we will never give out their emails” how about “We will add mechanisms to allow the application to request the email from the user (like FB), so that it will still be ‘one click sign on’”?

I wonder how many developers have turned down Twitter API because of this stupid limitation.

cwolfe_sicom · 2012-07-03T20:49:41.000Z

Wasted the whole day trying to get sign up via twitter working. I am about to add a ‘link account to twitter’ on the edit page and on the registration page so then my users could use twitter to log in in the future. But like others have said, facebook made it easy - because it gives email if you ask for it and because they have a whole registration page that autofills in data.

AusArtGallery · 2012-07-05T01:59:39.000Z

Just in case twitter are taking any notice … I agree with (almost) everyone. To make the sign in usable you need to return the email address. Twitter will be left off our login page, and that will annoy the Twitter fans. The “just ask for it” response shows a clear lack of understanding. Let’s hope Arne Roomann-Kurrik is not the only Twitter employee reading this.

ecrisful · 2012-07-06T10:48:29.000Z

Disappointed too, there is no point of having a sign in button to ask later on an email address