Google Drive backup: setup for later

Status: not in use. The app currently backs up through GitHub. Google Drive backup was built and then set aside until there are more users. The working code is in commit 7a0b66a (“Google Drive backup (sign in once per device)”) and can be restored from there.

What it gives learners: one “Sign in with Google” tap per device; progress saves to a private, hidden app folder in their own Google Drive at the start and end of every session; a new device restores by signing in. No keys or QR codes.

Register the app (on your PC, signed in to your Google account)

Go to console.cloud.google.com and create a new project named Learn Thai.
Search the top bar for Google Drive API, open it and click Enable.
Open Google Auth Platform (search “OAuth consent” if you can’t find it) and click Get started:
- App name Learn Thai, your email as support email.
- Audience: External.
- Contact email: yours, then Create.
Still in Google Auth Platform:
- Audience → Test users → Add users: add your Gmail, plus the other learners’.
- Data access → Add or remove scopes: search drive.appdata, tick it and Update, then Save.
Clients → Create client:
- Application type: Web application.
- Authorized JavaScript origins, add both: https://newhopelaw.github.io and http://localhost:8765 (the second is for local testing).
- Create, then copy the Client ID. It ends in .apps.googleusercontent.com.
Put the Client ID in app/config.js as window.GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID = '…';. It isn’t a secret: it only works on the two addresses above.

Notes

While the app is in Google’s “testing” mode, only the test users from step 4 can sign in, and each sees an “unverified app” warning the first time (click Continue). That’s fine for a small group; publishing to production removes the limit.
The scope drive.appdata only lets the app see its own hidden folder, not the user’s other Drive files.
Sign-in tokens last an hour, so on phones Google’s sign-in window may briefly blink when a session starts.