CODEWITHSUNDEEP
objective-cios
dr.teck
dr.teck

Reputation: 41

Is there a way to provide a custom user authentication process to the iOS Unlock Screen?

I'm developing iPad apps for large enterprises that have existing security solutions that provide authentication/authorization, etc. services to myriad web and non-web apps throughout the firm. Employees authenticate against these security platforms using corporate credentials (userid/pwd). Nowadays these employees are BYOD'ing their iPads to work and I'd like to devise a way to allow them to use those same corporate credentials to unlock the device instead of using a totally separate device passcode.

So my questions is this: is there a way to plug-in a custom "authentication provider" to the iOS unlock screen instead of relying on iOS validating the device passcode? I understand that the passcode is also utilized to derive encryption keys on the device, but we could utilize the user's corporate password for that same purpose.

What I'm looking for is a solution similar to ASP.NET's authentication provide model. I doubt this exists currently as all iOS development is app-centric (except for MDM) but maybe someone knows about a valid option.

Upvotes: 3

Views: 159

Answers (1)

Benjamin
Benjamin

Reputation: 1862

Are you saying you want the authentication to occur every time the screen unlocks via a swipe regardless of which app you will be returning to? If so:

I am 99% sure this is not possible yet. A member of my family works for CIRM (California Institute for Stem Cell Research) and even though they switched to iPhones for work, they still use the 4 digit passcode setup as applied in settings for authentication to gain access to the entirety of the phone.

Everything related to the underlying operating system is off limits because of Apple for the most part, so I'd imagine this is mostly not possible.

Maybe you could do some tedious hacking after jail-breaking the phones but that would violate a lot of laws which is especially bad in a corporate setting, so don't do that.

What is possible is having an app you create requiring re-authentication each time someone begins using it (Whenever it re-enters the foreground). It seems like you already knew that though and that wasn't really your question.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Upvotes: 1

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