Using refresh tokens

Last updated: 2022-05-23

Contributors

Developers should be aware that access tokens expire over time. As a result, your application will lose access to your customer's account data, and your user's will need to go through the authorization process again, unless you take measures to keep their access tokens live, by refreshing them via the refresh token operation.

Access and refresh tokens expire according to the following schedule:

Token	TTL
Access token	1 hour
Refresh token	7 days

Key facts about refresh tokens:

Refresh tokens are transmitted to developers alongside access tokens
Refresh tokens can only be used once.
A new refresh token is generated when access tokens are refreshed.

How to keep access tokens fresh

It is recommended that developers implement a separate service dedicated to the task of refreshing access tokens on a regular basis. Such a service would ensure that at no time will your application lose access to a user's account data, and require them to re-login.

The JWT auth flow provides non-expiring auth credentials

The JWT auth flow is ideal for apps that lack a frontend user interface. Through the JWT auth flow, access tokens are still issued, but they are easily refreshed without the need for human interaction.

Refresh access token request

Special considerations for client-side web apps

Pay close attention to the following for REST API apps with the app type of "Client-side web app":

An Authorization header is not transmitted in the refresh token request in order to keep the app's client secret hidden from the request/response
The app's client_id should be transmitted in the refresh token request.

HTTP Headers

Header	Value
`Content-type`	`application/x-www-form-urlencoded`
`Authorization`	Only required if app type is "Client-side web app." Must be equal to `Basic` + base64_encoded( Client ID + ":" Client Secret )

POST Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
`grant_type`	string	Must be equal to `refresh_token`.
`refresh_token`	string	Required. The refresh token corresponding to the access key you want to refresh.
`client_id`	string	Only required if the corresponding app type is "Client-side web app."

Example request

POST /restapi/oauth/token HTTP/1.1
Accept: application/json
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded

refresh_token=BCMDFUMDRKV1MwMXx5d5dwzLFL4ec6U1A0XMsUv935527jghj48
   &grant_type=refresh_token&client_id=adsadsadsadadsad

Refresh access token response

Example response

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json

{
    "access_token" : "U1BCMDFUMDRKV1MwMXxzLFSvXdw5PHMsVLEn_MrtcyxUsw",
    "token_type" : "bearer",
    "expires_in" : 7199,
    "refresh_token" : "U1BCMDFUMDRKV1MwMXxzLFL4ec6A0XMsUv9wLriecyxS_w",
    "refresh_token_expires_in" : 604799,
    "scope" : "AccountInfo CallLog ExtensionInfo Messages SMS",
    "owner_id" : "256440016"
}