Author Topic: Failed Validation in iTunes Connect  (Read 512 times)

Tyas Frantz

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Failed Validation in iTunes Connect
« on: August 24, 2018, 03:38:57 pm »
I am submitting my feed to iTunes Connect and getting the "Failed Validation" response.  It says "Can't read your feed."

The feed is:  http://www.banachek.com/feed/podcast/

Can anyone help me.  I'm lost on what to do/try next.

Shawn Thorpe

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Re: Failed Validation in iTunes Connect
« Reply #1 on: August 24, 2018, 07:25:50 pm »
I ran your feed thru a couple validators and everything came up fine. Apple has been kinda wonky lately. Clear your browser cache and try submitting the feed again. If it continues to reject the feed, please reply back here and let us know.

Tyas Frantz

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Re: Failed Validation in iTunes Connect
« Reply #2 on: August 24, 2018, 08:16:12 pm »
Still having the same issues.  Any ideas of what I should try?

Shawn Thorpe

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Re: Failed Validation in iTunes Connect
« Reply #3 on: August 26, 2018, 11:48:01 am »
I did some more research and discovered that the server hosting your podcast RSS feed appears to not be providing http head requests. Apple requires that your feed, your image, file, and your media files all be on servers that accept http head requests. Check with your hosting provider and ask them to add http head requests to your server. Alternatively, you can try using Blubrry's free Podcast Mirror service: https://podcastmirror.com/

Thersa Matsuura

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Re: Failed Validation in iTunes Connect
« Reply #4 on: September 04, 2018, 02:56:58 am »
I'm having the same problem, but I'm absolutely 100% sure my server is accepting HTTP head requests. Here's where I looked up how to check:
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Range_requests

Here's my server:

$ curl -i --head http://www.uncannyjapan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Episode-22_-Great-Screaming-and-Uninterrupted-Pain-More-Buddhist-Hells.mp3
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Server: nginx
Date: Tue, 04 Sep 2018 00:57:22 GMT
Content-Type: audio/mpeg
Content-Length: 11849817
Last-Modified: Mon, 03 Sep 2018 15:02:43 GMT
Connection: keep-alive
ETag: "5b8d4d13-b4d059"
X-Powered-By: EasyEngine 3.8.1
Accept-Ranges: bytes

I can send a request for a byte range:

$ curl http://www.uncannyjapan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Episode-22_-Great-Screaming-and-Uninterrupted-Pain-More-Buddhist-Hells.mp3 -i -H "Range: bytes=0-1023"
HTTP/1.1 206 Partial Content
Server: nginx
Date: Tue, 04 Sep 2018 00:50:31 GMT
Content-Type: audio/mpeg
Content-Length: 1024
Last-Modified: Mon, 03 Sep 2018 15:02:43 GMT
Connection: keep-alive
ETag: "5b8d4d13-b4d059"
X-Powered-By: EasyEngine 3.8.1
Content-Range: bytes 0-1023/11849817

Here's what I got back from Apple Support. Also, no matter what they say there definitely IS a darned <itunes:image /> in the feed http://www.uncannyjapan.com/feed/podcast/ AND the image is absolutely, positively, 3000x3000px.


<QUOTE>

Below, you will find the troubleshooting steps that Engineering took to isolate the issue, and in determining that there is an issue with where the image file is stored and there is no <itunes:image /> tag in feed.

1. Copied their feed verbatim to new location and retained the original source.

2. Validate in PCC

3. Validation error:

"Podcast artwork must be between 1400 x 1400 and 3000 x 3000 pixels, JPG or PNG, in RGB color space, and hosted on a server that allows HTTP head requests."

4. Inspect feed. Feed has no "<itunes:image />”’ tag, only "<image>”

5. Added iTunes image reference to feed "<itunes:image href="http://www.uncannyjapan.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Uncanny-Japan-iTunes-Logo-3000x3000.jpg”/>

6. Same error

7. Change reference to image in feed to "http://[new feed location]/Uncanny-Japan-iTunes-Logo-3000x3000.jpg

8. Moved image to new location

9. Validate again in PCC

10. Validates fine and ready to submit.

</QUOTE>

Whatever's problem with my server, for the life of me I can't figure it out. Other sites running on the same server have the same problem.


One strange thing though, when creating a episode post in Wordpress, when I click the button to validate the MP3 file's URL, I get this error:

The requested URL returned error code 404, file not found.
Test: http://www.uncannyjapan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Episode-22_-Great-Screaming-and-Uninterrupted-Pain-More-Buddhist-Hells.mp3

The URL is valid, I can't figure out the reason for the 404 error.

Shawn Thorpe

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Re: Failed Validation in iTunes Connect
« Reply #5 on: September 04, 2018, 10:29:22 pm »
Your feed overall seems fine to me. Sometimes, hosting providers configure their servers to block http head requests as a security precaution. If Apple continues to reject your feed, make a Podcast Mirror feed instead and see if they'll accept that.