Pre-authenticated URLs
Use the pre-authenticated URLs feature to open a website from a native app in an authenticated state.
Pre-authenticated URLs is a feature that enables single sign-on (SSO) from a mobile application to a website. It allows users who are authenticated on a mobile application to open a website in an authenticated state.
An example use case for a pre-authenticated URL is opening a web application in a WebView.
Prerequisites
To use pre-authenticated URLs, you must have the following:
A native app using Authgear as authentication
A web application using the same Authgear project as authentication
How to Implement Pre-authentication URLs in your application
Step 1: Enable SSO & Pre-authenticated URLs in Native Client App
First, ensure your mobile application uses an Authgear application with the Native App. Enable both SSO and "preAuthenticatedURL" to allow pre-authenticated URLs to work.
Step 2: Add Allowed Origin to Web App Client
Next, add an allowed origin to the web application client in Authgear. Navigate to Applications in the Authgear Portal, select the web application client, and scroll to the Allowed Origins section. Then, add the origin you wish to use for Pre-authentication URLs. Note that the origin should be of the format "protocol (scheme) + domain + port". For example, if the mobile application wants to open https://www.mywebapp.com/home?key=value
, the origin must be https://www.mywebapp.com
.
Step 3: Generate Pre-Authenticated URL
The Pre-Authenticated URL is a link that the Authgear SDK can generate for a mobile client that has the Pre-Authenticated URLs feature enabled. Your mobile application can open the Pre-Authenticated URL in a web view for users to start browsing the origin in an authenticated state.
To generate the Pre-Authenticated URL, call the makePreAuthenticatedURL()
method of the Authgear SDK as shown below:
The makePreAuthenticatedURL()
method accepts an object as a parameter. Inside the object, you should provide your web application's client ID and web app URI.
Step 4: Open Pre-Authenticated URL in a WebView
After the makePreAuthenticatedURL()
return the URL, your mobile application should open the URL in a WebView. From there, users should be able to continue their current authenticated session (from the mobile app) on the web application.
The following code sample shows how to open the pre-authenticated URL using the Browser.open()
method in Ionic.
Step 5: Get authenticated state in the web application
The pre-authenticated URL is opened in the browser via the native app. In the web application, trigger authentication with the injected SSO session and get the authenticated state.
In the web application, enable SSO to allow pre-authenticated URLs to work. You can initialize the SDK as following
And in the web application URI, trigger authentication as following. Note here prompt: PromptOption.None
is used to skip the SSO continue screen.
In a normal login flow, for example the user browses the web page in the browser rather than from a link in the native app, the prompt should not be used because it will hinder the user from opening the login page. Only use this prompt when an SSO session is surely set in the browser, for instance in conjunction with this Pre-authentication URL feature.
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