80008: Connection recovery failed on an outdated SDK

An older Ably SDK could not recover a dropped connection. This code is produced only by SDK versions that use a retired version of the Ably protocol; current SDKs connect differently and do not report it.

What you should do

Update the Ably SDK to a current version. This error comes only from older SDKs that connect using an earlier version of the Ably protocol, which is being retired, so upgrading is the durable fix and is worth doing regardless of this error.

Until you upgrade, it is not fatal. When recovery fails, Ably still establishes a fresh connection, so re-attaching your channels and continuing works. Messages published while the original connection was gone are not recovered, so retrieve any that matter from history.

Why it happens

An older SDK recovers a dropped connection by asking Ably to resume it from where it left off. This error means the connection could not be resumed, most often because too much time had passed and its state had already been discarded; recovery is only possible for a short time after a connection drops.

What you'll see

The failure is reported as a non-fatal error on the new connection rather than preventing it. The error carries code 80008, commonly with the message Unable to recover connection (connection expired).