Mobile SDK Development Guide

Introduction to Mobile Development
Introduction to Salesforce Mobile SDK Development
What’s New in Mobile SDK 11.1
Getting Started With Mobile SDK 11.1 for iOS and Android
Updating Apps (5.0 and Later) Apps (5.0 and Later)
Native iOS Development
Native Android Development
HTML5 and Hybrid Development
Using Lightning Web Components in Hybrid Apps
React Native Development
Offline Management
Files and Networking
Push Notifications and
Authentication, Security, and Identity in Mobile Apps
OAuth Terminology
OAuth 2.0 Authentication Flow
Connected Apps
About PIN Security
Biometric Authentication
Portal Authentication Using OAuth 2.0 and Salesforce Sites
Using MDM with Mobile SDK Apps
Using Advanced Authentication
Upgrading Android Single Sign-On Apps to Google Login Requirements
Using OpenID Tokens to Access External Services
Secure Key Storage in iOS
Secure Key Storage in Android
Login Screen Customization
Identity Provider Apps
Using Key-Value Stores for Secure Data Storage
Dark Mode and Dark Theme Settings
Using Experience Cloud Sites With Mobile SDK Apps
Multi-User Support in Mobile SDK
Mobile SDK Tools for Developers
Logging and Analytics
Migrating from the Previous Release
Reference
iOS Current Deprecations
iOS APIs Removed in Mobile SDK 11.0
Android Current Deprecations
Android APIs Removed in Mobile SDK 11.0
Trademark Attributions
Removing UIWebView from iOS Hybrid Apps
PDF

Biometric Authentication

Starting in Mobile SDK 11.0, you can configure your app to use the device system biometric authentication to log in. For example, when the app exceeds its timeout period in the background, the login screen appears upon the user’s return to the app. This behavior gives the appearance that the user is logged out, even if the user’s login session hasn’t expired. The user can then log in using their username and password or their device’s biometric authentication if they enabled that option.

Alternatively, you can configure your app to require a passcode after login to achieve a similar effect. This feature is presented as a lock screen, while the biometric authentication introduced in Mobile SDK 11.0 presents a login screen. See also:

Note

Connected App Configuration

To configure biometric authentication, go to your org’s connected app.

  1. Add a custom attribute to your connected app with the key ENABLE_BIOMETRIC_AUTHENTICATION.
  2. To change the timeout period, add the BIOMETRIC_AUTHENTICATION_TIMEOUT key. You can adjust its value to the number of minutes that you want the app to be backgrounded for before it locks. If you choose not to add this key, the default value is set for 15 minutes.

The user’s authentication token doesn’t refresh while the app is locked. We recommend that admins enable a session timeout in the connected app and set the Lock App After attribute to the same value.

Note

API and Customization

To manage biometric opt-in from within the app, use SalesforceSDKManager to get the BiometricAuthenticationManager instance. You can use this instance to:

  • Check whether the user has opted in to biometric authentication.
  • Prompt the user to opt in or out of biometric authentication and update the SDK with their response.
  • Check whether the app is locked.
  • Lock the app immediately.
  • Disable the native biometric unlock button entirely.

To opt the user in to biometric authentication, you can use the Mobile SDK-provided prompts or create your own.

To use the Mobile SDK-provided prompts, implement one of these lines.

Android (Kotlin)
1SalesforceSDKManager.getInstance().biometricAuthenticationManager.presentOptInDialog(fragmentManager)
iOS (Swift)
1SalesforceManager.shared.biometricAuthenticationManager().presentOptInDialog(viewController: viewController)

If you choose to create a custom prompt, implement one of these lines to pass the user’s response to Mobile SDK.

Android (Kotlin)
1SalesforceSDKManager.getInstance().biometricAuthenticationManager.biometricOptIn(userResponse)
iOS (Swift)
1SalesforceManager.shared.biometricAuthenticationManager().biometricOptIn(optIn: userResponse)

If the user enables biometric authentication, a native button is added to the login screen so that they can trigger the OS prompt.

To create a custom button within the app’s web view, you can use an API found in BiometricAuthenticationManager to disable the native button. Then, configure the button to redirect to mobilesdk://biometric/authentication/prompt. Mobile SDK automatically ignores this redirect and presents the native OS prompt.