Introducing required permissions

In anticipation of some exciting new API endpoints that will be announced in the coming weeks, we’re thrilled to launch a mighty feature today. Meet required permissions!

Required permissions will make it easier for you to:

1. Let your users link their cars to your app
2. Send successful API requests to those cars

But what are required permissions? Great question! To get a better understanding, let’s look at two other words first:

Permissions 📃

Whenever a user links their car(s) to your app, Smartcar Connect prompts them to accept a scope of permissions. Those permissions might include “access location,” “lock and unlock vehicle,” and more.

Optional permissions 🤞

So far, all permissions that your app would ask access to during Connect were optional. If the user’s vehicle didn’t possess the demanded functionalities (e.g. if the vehicle was incompatible with the “access location” endpoint), the user was still able to accept the scope of permissions and successfully link their vehicle to your app. This is how optional permissions look in test mode using Node.js:

As we’re launching more API endpoints, we want to give your app all the necessary information to successfully send requests to your users’ cars. Starting today, required permissions will make this possible.

Required permissions 💪

All permissions in Smartcar Connect will stay optional by default. However, if certain permissions are essential for your use case, you can now make them required, like so:

If your user’s vehicle is not compatible with one or more required permissions, the user won’t be able to link their vehicle to your application. Instead, we will redirect them to your app and send important information (such as the vehicle’s make, model, and year) back to you.

How do I get started? 🚀

Please check out our Scope guide for more information about optional and required permissions. As always, please let us know if you have any questions!