QR Authentication

Keyri's QR authentication allows your users to log into your web app just by scanning a QR code with a phone camera and confirming the login event in your mobile app. This multi-factor authentication flow is extremely secure and convenient for your users, and can be used for either login or for any subsequent high-risk events in your application.

The primary use of this system is to quickly launch QR authentication on your multi-client platform. Your users will be able to use your mobile app to authenticate into your desktop web platform or smart TV app, all without a single click or keystroke. Our frontend Widget, mobile SDKs, and API handle the heavy lifting, ensuring the smoothest UX and most secure architecture possible.

The only requirement for using the Keyri QR system is that your platform must have both a mobile app and another client app that will show the QR code. The client displays the QR code through the Keyri Widget, while the mobile app uses the Keyri SDK to send payloads over to the Widget via our API.

If you currently only have a mobile app, you can launch a web app or other client like a smart TV app without having to set up authentication on it, just by installing the Keyri QR widget. In doing so, the authentication and authorization system you already have in your mobile app will be instantly extended to your new client app by sending authorization tokens to it from the mobile app. Keyri integration into your system is comprised of three parts:

1. Web frontend (wherever the QR code is shown, for example, desktop or smart TV login page)
2. Mobile app (use our mobile SDK in your app to send payloads to the Widget)
3. Server (optional: only required if going through the server-side authentication strategy, not client session extension)

Below is code for how to implement QR authentication on your mobile app. You must also install the Keyri QR Widget. Seemobile SDK installation and initialization instructions to get started on your mobile app.

High-Level Overview

The Keyri flow proceeds as follows, taking QR login as an example:

1. User navigates to web login page

   • Keyri QR widget loaded

     1. Creates a session-specific P-256 keypair

     2. Establishes a websocket connection with Keyri API

     3. Receives session ID from Keyri API

     4. Renders QR code with session ID

2. User scans QR code with mobile phone containing your app

3. Your app extracts the session ID from the QR code and hands it to the Keyri SDK

4. SDK returns a session object and presents relevant security information to the user for their confirmation

5. User confirms

6. Application gives SDK a payload

   • In the case of client-side authorization, payload is the session token currently active in the app

   • In the case of server-side authentication, payload is an ECDSA-signed authentication request

7. SDK encrypts payload using browser's public key

8. Keyri API recieves encrypted payload and passes it back to Keyri widget on the browser to be decrypted

For a more visual representation of this flow and some more details into its inner workings, see the diagrams on the client session extension and server-side authentication documentation pages, each of which represent two distinct ways to implement QR login with Keyri. The vast majority of the steps you see here are automated by the Keyri Widget and mobile SDKs.

Read on to learn more about specific features of Keyri QR authentication.

Mobile Login Examples

func qrLogin(username: String) throws {
    let keyri = KeyriInterface(appKey: appKey, publicApiKey: publicApiKey, serviceEncryptionKey: serviceEncryptionKey)
 
    let loginObject = keyri.login(publicUserId: username)
 
    let jsonLoginObject = try JSONSerialization.data(withJSONObject: loginObject, options: .prettyPrinted)
 
    keyri.easyKeyriAuth(payload: jsonLoginObject, publicUserId: username) { res in
        // Process result
    }
}