Managing Application Access of a Media Playback System

A server comprising:

• at least one processor;
• and
• at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the server is configured to:
• determine that a first controller application does not meet at least one metric;
• following the determination that the first controller application does not meet the at least one metric, (i) remove an application identifier for the first controller application from an authorized list that identifies one or more controller applications that are authorized to control one or more first computing devices, and/or (ii) add the application identifier for the first controller application to an unauthorized list that identifies one or more controller applications that are not authorized to control the one or more first computing devices;
• following a receipt of a request, from a second computing device, for a validation-key that indicates that an instance of a second controller application operating on the second computing device is allowed to control the one or more first computing devices, determine whether an application identifier for the second controller application is (i) included or not included in the authorized list, and/or (ii) included or not included in the unauthorized list;
• following a determination that the application identifier for the second controller application is (i) included in the authorized list, and/or (ii) not included in the unauthorized list, communicate the validation-key to the second computing device;
• and
• following a determination that the application identifier for the second controller application is (i) not included in the authorized list, and/or (ii) included in the unauthorized list, refuse to communicate the validation-key to the second computing device.

A method performed by a server, the method comprising:

• determining that a first controller application does not meet at least one metric;
• following the determination that the first controller application does not meet the at least one metric, (i) removing an application identifier for the first controller application from an authorized list that identifies one or more controller applications that are authorized to control one or more first computing devices, and/or (ii) adding the application identifier for the first controller application to an unauthorized list that identifies one or more controller applications that are not authorized to control the one or more first computing devices;
• following a receipt of a request, from a second computing device, for a validation-key that indicates that an instance of a second controller application operating on the second computing device is allowed to control the one or more first computing devices, determining whether an application identifier for the second controller application is (i) included or not included in the authorized list, and/or (ii) included or not included in the unauthorized list;
• following a determination that the application identifier for the second controller application is (i) included in the authorized list, and/or (ii) not included in the unauthorized list, communicating the validation-key to the second computing device;
• and
• following a determination that the application identifier for the second controller application is (i) not included in the authorized list, and/or (ii) included in the unauthorized list, refusing to communicate the validation-key to the second computing device.