Easy account restoration for Android apps

Posted by Neelansh Sahai – Developer Relations Engineer

Do you know that, on common, 40% of the folks within the US reset or substitute their smartphones yearly? This frequent system turnover presents a problem – and a chance – for sustaining robust consumer relationships. When customers get a brand new telephone, the friction of re-entering login credentials can result in frustration, app abandonment, and churn.

To handle this problem, we’re introducing Restore Credentials, a brand new characteristic of Android’s Credential Supervisor API. With Restore Credentials, apps can seamlessly onboard customers to their accounts on a brand new system after they restore their apps and knowledge from their earlier system. This makes the transition to a brand new system easy and fosters loyalty and long run relationships.

On high of all this, there isn’t any developer effort required for the switch of a restore key from one system to the opposite, as this course of is tied along with the android system’s backup and restore mechanism. Nonetheless, if you wish to login your customers silently as quickly because the restore is accomplished, you would possibly wish to implement BackupAgent and add your logic within the onRestore callback. The expertise is pleasant – customers will proceed being signed in as they have been on their earlier system, and they’re going to be capable to get notifications to simply entry their content material with out even needing to open the app on the brand new system.

A number of the advantages of the Restore Credentials characteristic embody:

• Seamless consumer expertise: Customers can simply transition to a brand new Android system.
• Speedy engagement: Have interaction customers with notifications or different prompts as quickly as they begin utilizing their new system.
• Silent login with backup agent integration: For those who’re utilizing a backup agent, customers might be mechanically logged again in after knowledge restoration is full.
• Restore key checks with out backup agent integration: If a backup agent is not getting used, the app can verify for a restore key upon first launch after which log the consumer in mechanically.

How does Restore Credentials work?

The Restore Credentials characteristic permits seamless consumer account restoration on a brand new system. This course of happens mechanically within the background throughout system setup when a consumer restores apps and knowledge from a earlier system. By restoring app credentials, the characteristic permits the app to signal the consumer again in with out requiring any extra interplay.

The credential sort that’s supported for this characteristic is named restore key, which is a public key appropriate with passkey / FIDO2 backends.

Person stream

On the previous system:

1. If the present signed-in consumer is trusted, you may generate a restore key at any level after they’ve authenticated in your app. As an illustration, this might be instantly after login or throughout a routine verify for an current restore key.
2. The restore key’s saved domestically and backed as much as the cloud. Apps can opt-out of backing it as much as the cloud.

On the brand new system:

1. When organising a brand new system, the consumer can choose one of many two choices to revive knowledge. Both they’ll restore knowledge from a cloud backup, or can domestically switch the information. If the consumer transfers domestically, the restore key’s transferred domestically from the previous to the brand new system. In any other case, if the consumer restores utilizing the cloud backup, the restore key will get downloaded together with the app knowledge from cloud backup to the brand new system.
2. As soon as this restore key’s accessible on the brand new system, the app can use it to log within the consumer on the brand new system silently within the background.

Observe: You need to delete the restore key as quickly because the consumer indicators out. You don’t need your consumer to get caught in a cycle of signing out deliberately after which mechanically getting logged again in.

How one can implement Restore Credentials

Utilizing the Jetpack Credential Supervisor allow you to create, get, and clear the related Restore Credentials:

• Create a Restore Credential: When the consumer indicators in to your app, create a Restore Credential related to their account. This credential is saved domestically and synced to the cloud if the consumer has enabled Google Backup and finish to finish encryption is obtainable. Apps can decide out of syncing to the cloud.
• Get the Restore Credential: When the consumer units up a brand new system, your app requests the Restore Credential from Credential Supervisor. This permits your consumer to sign up mechanically.
• Clear the Restore Credential: When the consumer indicators out of your app, delete the related Restore Credential.

Restore Credentials is obtainable via the Credential Supervisor Jetpack library. The minimal model of the Jetpack Library is 1.5.0-beta01, and the minimal GMS model is 242200000. For extra on this, confer with the Restore Credentials DAC web page. To get began, comply with these steps:

// construct.gradle.kts
implementation("androidx.credentials:credentials:1.5.0-beta01")

// Fetch Registration JSON from server
// Similar because the registrationJson created on the time of making a Passkey
// See documentation for more information
val registrationJson = ... 

// Create the CreateRestoreCredentialRequest object
// Cross within the registrationJSON 
val createRequest = CreateRestoreCredentialRequest(
  registrationJson,
  /* isCloudBackupEnabled = */ true
)

NOTE: Set the isCloudBackupEnabled flag to false if you need the restoreKey to be saved domestically and never within the cloud. It’s set as true by default

val credentialManager = CredentialManager.create(context)

// On a profitable authentication create a Restore Key
// Cross within the context and CreateRestoreCredentialRequest object
val response = credentialManager.createCredential(
    context,
    createRestoreRequest
)

4. When the consumer units up a brand new system, name the getCredential() methodology on the CredentialManager object.

// Fetch the Authentication JSON from server
val authenticationJson = ...

// Create the GetRestoreCredentialRequest object
val choices = GetRestoreCredentialOption(authenticationJson)
val getRequest = GetCredentialRequest(Immutablelist.of(choices))

// The restore key might be fetched in two eventualities to 
// 1. On the primary launch of app on the system, fetch the Restore Key
// 2. Within the onRestore callback (if the app implements the Backup Agent)
val response = credentialManager.getCredential(context, getRequest)

For those who’re utilizing a backup agent, carry out the getCredential half throughout the onRestore callback. This ensures that the app’s credentials are restored instantly after the app knowledge is restored.

5. When the consumer indicators out of your app, name the clearCredentialState() methodology on the CredentialManager object.

// Create a ClearCredentialStateRequest object
val clearRequest = ClearCredentialStateRequest(/* requestType = */ 1)

// On consumer log-out, clear the restore key
val response = credentialManager.clearCredentialState(clearRequest)

Conclusion

The Restore Credentials characteristic offers important advantages, making certain customers expertise a easy transition between units, and permitting them to log in rapidly and simply via backup brokers or restore key checks. For builders, the characteristic is easy to combine and leverages current passkey server-side infrastructure. Total, Restore Credentials is a helpful software that delivers a sensible and user-friendly authentication resolution.