WordPress 403 Forbidden after using WordPress app

This happened to me twice now, so I’m writing it down for future reference.

A sudden WordPress 403 Forbidden error. Googling points to two common causes. Both resolutions have no effect. In this case, you might experience the third common cause for WordPress 403 Forbidden error.

Problem: website 403 Forbidden error after using WordPress app

After trying to hook up your website to the WordPress iOS app, you might experience a sudden website 403 Forbidden malfunction.

Common cause of WordPress 403 Forbidden screen

When Googling, you will find two common root causes:

1. Check and fix your .htaccess file
2. Check and fix filesystem permissions (both files and folders)

There is however a third cause as well.

How to Fix the 403 Forbidden Error in WordPress

Are you getting a 403 forbidden access denied error in WordPress? Here’s a step by step guide on how to easily fix the 403 forbidden error in WordPress .

https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-fix-the-403-forbidden-error-in-wordpress/

403 Forbidden after use of WordPress iOS app

There is a third cause of WordPress 403 Forbidden error: the (first) use of the WordPress iOS app.

To verify if you are in this last situation, fire up a web browser and try to visit your website by using a different IP adress. You can accomplisch this by e.g. disabling your mobile phone Wi-Fi, and accessing your website over the 4G network. If your website loads just fine, read on…

Now, you’re thinking, how can using an app to connect to my website trigger this behaviour? This has to do with the protocol it uses to communicate: XML-RPC. This protocol is very useful for remote website control, but has, over the years, also gained a lot of attention from hackers.

Subsequently, a lot of webhosting companies implemented protection against the use of the XML-RPC protocol. This means, their algorithms will detect any XML-RPC usage and block the originators IP adress.

How to fix WordPress 403 Forbidden error after using iOS app

First of all, you should realise there is nothing wrong with your website. It’s (just) your IP adress that is blocked from accessing it!

All that’s left to do is to contact your hosting provider, explain them the situation, and ask how your IP adress can be unblocked.

Further reading about XML-RPC

A detailed article about XML-RPC background is available here. By the time you found this article, you’ve probably read it already 🙂

A Complete Guide on xmlrpc.php in WordPress (And How to Disable It)

https://kinsta.com/blog/xmlrpc-php/