Help Topic
Why doesn't the iOS app let me sign in?
Sometimes, even if you typed your email and password correctly, the iOS app does not allow you to sign in to Goodreads, producing error messages along the lines of (412) An unexpected error occurred.
This problem happens when the time on your iOS device is incorrect, which is most often due to your time zone setting (PDT, EST, etc) being incorrect. Goodreads turns down important requests when your clock is too far off as part of protecting your account.
For example, let's say you're in California and it's 3:00 PM. The time on your iOS device reads 3:00 PM, but the time zone is set to "Eastern Daylight Time". Since it's 6:00 PM on the East Coast, your clock is actually three hours behind.
Here's how to fix the time:
- From the iOS home screen, launch the Settings app.
- Choose "General".
- Choose "Date & Time," which is around the bottom-half of the page.
- Ensure that the date, time zone, and time are all correct.
- To make things even more reliable, set the "Set Automatically" switch to the ON position. This allows your device to automatically set the correct time and timezone everywhere you go, and it typically solves any related issues. (Some old iPods running iOS 3 may not have this option.)
