Hello and greetings! I’m a software product designer and an ecologist who loves iNaturalist. I’ve have applied for an API key via the form at https://www.inaturalist.org/oauth/app_owner_application but I haven’t heard anything back about the application. It was a few weeks ago I applied and can’t figure out where I would even see the response, I got no email confirming the application and there is nothing listed as pending in my account. I just want to make sure that someone is reviewing the request and it hasn’t gotten lost.
If you are curious or it’s relevant to the query: I’m planning to build tools to assist in identification and am interested in how people learn from this process. I’ve got a partner at CSUMB (Andrea Dingledine) who runs an iNaturalist based programs with her students every year. I’ve got a few ideas I want to build that I hope will help Andrea’s students make better identifications in the system and learn more from the experience about the animals they are interested in.
It’s probably still pending – @tiwane is usually the one to review them and I think he’s been extra busy recently.
The secondary issue of no message to confirm the receipt of the application and no way to check that it’s still pending in the system has been discussed. I think staff agree there could be some improvements there, but I don’t know if there are any concrete plans to address it.
I applied in October 18, 2025, and was approved March 26 2026.
What should be the expected timeline for approval? I sent a couple of emails to iNat support to check on the application status. I seen multiple forum post checking on application status. What is the preferred method of communication for application status?
Sometimes applications fall through the cracks, which is what happened in both cases I apologize. It wasn’t a systemic error. I do agree that we should send some sort of confirmation to applicants that the application was received.