Authenticating Using the Salesforce Mobile SDK

These instructions describe how to authenticate the Service Chat SDK using the provided authentication mechanism within the Salesforce Mobile SDK.

The legacy chat product is scheduled for retirement on February 14, 2026, and is in maintenance mode until then. During this phase, you can continue to use chat, but we no longer recommend that you implement new chat channels. To avoid service interruptions to your customers, migrate to Messaging for In-App and Web before that date. Messaging offers many of the chat features that you love plus asynchronous conversations that can be picked back up at any time. Learn about chat retirement in Help.

Important

Before starting, make sure that you’ve already:

Installed the Service Chat SDK. See Install the Service SDK for Android.
Installed the Salesforce Mobile SDK. If you want to install this SDK using maven, add a dependency on com.salesforce.mobilesdk:SalesforceSDK:<VERSION_NUMBER> to your module's build.gradle file.
Created a connected app that allows the SDK to authenticate with your Salesforce Experience Cloud site. See Connected Apps. For an overview of Salesforce authentication from a mobile device, see Understand Security and Authentication.

When creating a connected app, be sure that it has access to the chatter_api scope. See Scope Parameter Values.

Note

If you're using a Salesforce Experience Cloud site, be sure to configure the login endpoint as described in the Salesforce Mobile SDK documentation (Configure the Login Endpoint).
The documentation describes how to use the first server listed in your servers.xml file as the default login location. For example:
1<servers> 2 <server name="Site Login" url="https://MY_SITE_URL.com"/> 3</servers>
Add an account_type property to strings.xml. The property must be unique to your app to prevent conflicts with other apps that use the Service Chat SDK or the Salesforce Mobile SDK.
1<string name="account_type">com.mycompany.myapp</string>

Implement AuthenticatedUser as a wrapper to your Mobile SDK user.

In Java:

1import com.salesforce.androidsdk.accounts.UserAccount;
2import com.salesforce.android.service.common.http.AuthenticatedUser;
3
4public class MobileSdkUser implements AuthenticatedUser {
5  private final String mUserId;
6
7  public MobileSdkUser (UserAccount userAccount) {
8    mUserId = userAccount.getUserId();
9  }
10
11  @Override public String getUserId () {
12    return mUserId;
13  }
14}

In Kotlin:

1class MobileSdkUser(userAccount: UserAccount) : AuthenticatedUser {
2  private val mUserId: String
3
4  init {
5    mUserId = userAccount.getUserId()
6  }
7
8  override fun getUserId(): String {
9    return mUserId
10  }
11}

AuthenticatedUser.getUserId must return the Salesforce user ID (UserAccount.getUserId) for the Case Management message feed to display correctly.

Note

Implement AuthTokenProvider as a wrapper to your Mobile SDK authentication system.

In Java:

1import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
2import android.support.annotation.Nullable;
3import com.salesforce.android.service.common.http.AuthTokenProvider;
4import com.salesforce.android.service.common.http.ResponseSummary;
5import com.salesforce.androidsdk.rest.ClientManager;
6
7public class MobileSdkAuthTokenProvider implements AuthTokenProvider {
8
9  private final ClientManager.AccMgrAuthTokenProvider mTokenProvider;
10  private String mAuthToken;
11
12  public MobileSdkAuthTokenProvider (ClientManager.AccMgrAuthTokenProvider tokenProvider, 
13                                     String initialToken) {
14    mTokenProvider = tokenProvider;
15    mAuthToken = initialToken;
16  }
17
18  @Nullable @Override public String getToken () {
19    return mAuthToken;
20  }
21
22  @Nullable @Override public String getTokenType () {
23    return "Bearer";
24  }
25
26  @Override public boolean canRefresh () {
27    return true;
28  }
29
30  @Override public void refreshToken (@NonNull ResponseSummary responseSummary) {
31    mAuthToken = mTokenProvider.getNewAuthToken();
32  }
33}

In Kotlin:

1class MobileSdkAuthTokenProvider(
2  private val mTokenProvider: ClientManager.AccMgrAuthTokenProvider,
3  private var mAuthToken: String?) : AuthTokenProvider {
4
5  override fun getToken(): String? {
6    return mAuthToken
7  }
8
9  override fun getTokenType(): String? {
10    return "Bearer"
11  }
12
13  override fun canRefresh(): Boolean {
14    return true
15  }
16
17  override fun refreshToken(responseSummary: ResponseSummary) {
18    mAuthToken = mTokenProvider.getNewAuthToken()
19  }
20}

When your app launches, initialize the Salesforce Mobile SDK.
1// Initialize the Salesforce Mobile SDK 2SalesforceSDKManager.initNative(context, null, MainActivity.class);
For more information, see the SalesforceSDKManager documentation in the Mobile SDK Developer’s Guide.

Write code that allows a user to log in and log out of their org using the Salesforce Mobile SDK. Make sure the user logs in before showing the Service Chat SDK UI.

For example:

1public void login (final Activity activity) {
2  SalesforceSDKManager.getInstance()
3                      .getClientManager()
4                      .getRestClient(activity, 
5                                     new ClientManager.RestClientCallback() {
6
7    @Override public void authenticatedRestClient (RestClient client) {
8      // Handle authenticated state activity here
9    }
10  });
11}
12
13public void logout (final Activity activity) {
14  SalesforceSDKManager.getInstance().logout(activity, true);
15}

When configuring Knowledge (using KnowledgeConfiguration) or Case Management (using CaseConfiguration), use the withAuthConfig method in the builder and pass in your implementation for AuthenticatedUser and AuthTokenProvider.

This code sample illustrates how it works with Knowledge:

1// Create Knowledge configuration builder
2KnowledgeConfiguration.Builder builder = 
3  KnowledgeConfiguration.builder(siteUrl).offlineResourceConfig(offlineConfig);
4              
5// Grab a user account from the Salesforce Mobile SDK
6UserAccount userAccount = 
7  SalesforceSDKManager.getInstance().getUserAccountManager().getCurrentUser();
8              
9if (userAccount != null) {
10
11  // Create an authorization token provider from the Salesforce Mobile SDK
12  ClientManager.AccMgrAuthTokenProvider authTokenProvider = 
13    new ClientManager.AccMgrAuthTokenProvider(
14      SalesforceSDKManager.getInstance().getClientManager(),
15      userAccount.getInstanceServer(), 
16      userAccount.getAuthToken(), 
17      userAccount.getRefreshToken());
18              
19  // Create a wrapper with the Salesforce Mobile SDK token provider
20  AuthTokenProvider provider = 
21    new MobileSdkAuthTokenProvider(authTokenProvider,
22      userAccount.getAuthToken());
23              
24  // Build a config using the token provider and the authenticated user
25  builder.withAuthConfig(provider, new MobileSdkUser(userAccount));
26}
27              
28// And now build a configuration object!
29KnowledgeConfiguration config = builder.build();

This code sample illustrates how it works with Case Management:

1// Create Case Management configuration builder
2CaseConfiguration.Builder builder = 
3  new CaseConfiguration.Builder(SITE_URL, CREATE_CASE_ACTION_NAME)
4
5// Grab a user account from the Salesforce Mobile SDK
6UserAccount userAccount = 
7  SalesforceSDKManager.getInstance().getUserAccountManager().getCurrentUser();
8
9if (userAccount != null) {
10
11  // Create an authorization token provider from the Salesforce Mobile SDK
12  ClientManager.AccMgrAuthTokenProvider authTokenProvider =
13    new ClientManager.AccMgrAuthTokenProvider(
14      SalesforceSDKManager.getInstance().getClientManager(),
15      userAccount.getInstanceServer(),
16      userAccount.getAuthToken(),
17      userAccount.getRefreshToken());
18
19  // Create a wrapper with the Salesforce Mobile SDK token provider
20  AuthTokenProvider provider =
21    new MobileSdkAuthTokenProvider(authTokenProvider,
22      userAccount.getAuthToken());
23
24  // Build a config using the token provider and the authenticated user
25  builder.withAuthConfiguration(provider, new MobileSdkUser(userAccount))
26         .caseListName(CASE_LIST_NAME);
27}
28
29// Create a core configuration instance
30CaseConfiguration coreConfiguration = builder.build();

At this point, you can use the features of the Service Chat SDK as an authenticated user.

Embedded Service Chat SDK for Android Developer Guide

Authenticating Using the Salesforce Mobile SDK