Six Reasons Why ForgeRock SDKs Make Sense

by Robert Vamosin on January 13, 2020

At ForgeRock, we’re expanding the ease of use of our ForgeRock Identity Platform. Now, if you have ForgeRock Access Manager (AM), Identity Manager (IDM), and Directory Service (DS), your developers can take advantage of our new open source SDKs and add modern identity to your native Javascript, iOS, and Android apps without excess lines of code or third-party resource libraries. Our open source SDKs are designed to be lightweight and extensible.

So what can you do with these SDKs?

Reason 1: Access Intelligent Authentication

Unlock the full potential of the ForgeRock Intelligent Authentication in AM. Use the SDKs to easily step through each stage of an authentication tree by using callbacks. User Login Analytics, built into Intelligent Authentication, offer metrics and timers that measure user interactions as well as their devices, such as the time it takes to authenticate and call out to third-party systems across services and applications. You can change your authentication tree in AM, and the SDK will automatically handle the changes in real time. You don’t have to redeploy the application or make any code changes in the app.

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Reason 2: Speed UI Development

The SDKs also let you pull in a separate UI component. You can use it for rapid prototyping, or as a building block for your application. Let’s say you want to get an authentication experience in front of some of your users or business stakeholders. You can easily use modules to implement different authentication flows, update them in real time in ForgeRock Access Management, and display the results immediately in your application.

Reason 3: Upgrade Security

The ForgeRock SDKs are built from the ground up with the best practices for securing token material. The iOS SDK secures key material in the keychain; the Android SDK uses the keystore. This encrypts and protects the tokens from unauthorized use. The JavaScript SDK uses IndexedDB to store tokens. These best practices all come for free when using the ForgeRock SDKs.

Reason 4: Provide Single Sign-On (SSO)

In some scenarios your company may have multiple native applications that customers have installed on their devices. You can use the SDK to seamlessly sign users in to multiple applications on a device. When the customer signs into one application, they are automatically signed into a second application on that device—without having to authenticate again.

Reason 5: Leverage Greater Pluggability & Extensibility

All SDK modules are pluggable and extensible. Don’t want to use our method for jailbroken detection? No problem! Just plug in your own method, or use any 3rd-party plug-in instead. On top of the plugability of the SDK you can also create any custom node on the server side to send data to a 3rd party to validate user information like phone number or IP address. Now you can tap into our trusted partner program.

Reason 6: Empower Users With Device ID & Meta Data

ForgeRock SDKs will automatically generate a device ID for you. You can use the ID with IDM or AM to allow your users to manage their devices. For example, you can insert the device ID and associated data into a user’s profile. This lets them view their devices and set the devices as trusted. You can also decide to use a recognized device in an authentication flow to avoid asking a user for another factor.

You’ll be hearing more about the ForgeRock SDKs in 2020. For more information see our documentation at https://sdks.forgerock.com/getting-started/overview/ or get started today with these GitHub repositories: