12/4/2014 iOS8:IntegratingTouchIDTuts+CodeTutorial

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IOS 8

iOS8:IntegratingTouchID
byJoshSephton 17Sep2014
16Comments

60 150 18

InSeptember2013,AppleunveiledthelatestiPhonewitharangeofhardware
improvements.ThemostinnovativefeatureofiPhone5swasathinmetalband
surroundingthehomebutton,afingerprintsensorcalledTouchID.Developers
clamberedtoknowabouttheAPI.AyearonandiOS8introducesanewframework
givingdeveloperstheabilitytousethefingerprintsensor.

TheLocalAuthenticationframeworkprovidesmethodstopromptauserto
authenticate.Youcouldusethisasaloginforyourapporuseitjusttoprotect
sensitivedatawithinanapp.Inthistutorial,Iwillexplaintheoptionsavailabletoyou,
whatdatayoucangetfromthedevice,andwellalsobuildasampleapp.

ThistutorialrequiresXcode6tocreatetheprojectandyoullneedadevicewith
TouchIDtotestthesampleappthatwe'llcreate.

1.TouchID
TouchIDreferstothefingerprintsensorbuiltintothehomebuttonofiPhone5s.It
wasaddedtohelpencouragetheuseofpasscodesbymakingiteasierforusersto
authenticate.Youcanconfigureeachdevicewithamaximumoffivefingerprints.Up
tonow,ithasbeenusedtounlockthedeviceandtomakepurchasesintheiTunes
Store,AppStore,andiBooksStore.Beforeweseehowyoumightuseitinyour
apps,here'saquickoverviewofthesensoritself.

https://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/ios8integratingtouchidcms21949 1/15
12/4/2014 iOS8:IntegratingTouchIDTuts+CodeTutorial

TheTouchIDsensorisabletoscanyourfingersataresolutionof500pixelsper
inch,allowingittoputeachprintintooneofthreecategories,arch,whorl,orloop.
Thesensorisdesignedtobetrulyconvenient,youcanscanyourfingerinany
orientationandit'lldetermineamatchwithanyexistingfingerprintregardlessofthe
originalorientation.

Appleclaimthattheoddsofafalsepositiveforagivenfingerprintis1in50,000,
whichismuchbetterthantheoddsofguessinga4digitpincodeat1in10,000.
Theydon'tmentionthatit'spossibletofallbacktousingthepinnumberfortimes
whenyou'renotabletouseyourfingerprints,forexample,whenyou'reallwrinkly
afterswimming.

https://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/ios8integratingtouchidcms21949 2/15
12/4/2014 iOS8:IntegratingTouchIDTuts+CodeTutorial

IfyouplantouseTouchID,thenit'simportantthatyoutooconsiderscenarioswhere
userscan'tusetheirfingerasameanstoauthenticate.Becauseyou'renotableto
verifyagainstthedevice'spincodeasAppledo,itmaybeagoodideatohaveusers
createapasswordwithinyourapp.

https://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/ios8integratingtouchidcms21949 3/15
12/4/2014 iOS8:IntegratingTouchIDTuts+CodeTutorial

2.SecurityConsiderations

Thebiggestconcernwiththefingerprintsensoristhatusers'sprivacyis
fundamentallybreached.Ifyourpasswordisrevealed,youcanchangeitto
somethingnewandamaliciouspersonwouldnolongerbeabletouseittoaccess
yourdata.Ifyourfingerprint,orApple'smathematicalrepresentationofit,is
exposed,youcan'tchangeitquitesoeasily.

TheLocalAuthenticationframeworkhandlesalloftheheavyliftingofverifying
users.WhenworkingwithTouchID,it'simportanttoknowthatitrevealsnodetails
abouttheuserandnodataistransferredfromthedevice.However,developerscan
usetheframeworktocheckifauserisallowedtousetheapp.

Ifyou'refamiliarwiththeOAuthspecification,youmayseesimilaritiesintheway
authenticationishandled,youaskathirdpartytoverifytheidentifyofauser,ifyou
trustthethirdparty,youcanusetheirresponseinplaceofrequestingcredentials
directlyfromtheuser.

3. LAContext

TheheartoftheLocalAuthenticationframeworkisthe LAContext class.Developers

canuseaninstanceof LAContext toevaluateasecuritypolicy.Atthetimeof
writing,thereisonlyonepolicy.Itchecks,usingtheTouchIDsensor,thattheperson
authenticatingisthedeviceowner.Inthefuturetheremaybeothersecuritypolicies.
Forexample,Applemayintroduceanunprivilegedrolethatisonlyabletoaccess
certainresources.

Iftheframeworkisunabletoauthenticate,itthrowsanerror.Thereareseveral
reasonswhyadeviceisn'tabletoauthenticate.

LAErrorTouchIDNotAvailable Thedevicedoesn'thaveafingerprintsensor.
LAErrorPasscodeNotSet Thereisnopasscodesetonthedevice,whichmeans
thatTouchIDisdisabled.
LAErrorTouchIDNotEnrolled Thereisapasscodesetbutthedevicehasnot
beenconfiguredwithanyfingerprints.

Ifanerroristhrownwithanyoftheaboveerrorcodes,thenyouneedtoprovide
https://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/ios8integratingtouchidcms21949 4/15
12/4/2014 iOS8:IntegratingTouchIDTuts+CodeTutorial

someothermethodforuserstoauthenticate.Atthispoint,youcan'trelysolelyon
TouchID.

Let'screateasampleapptolearnhowwecanmakeuseoftheLocalAuthentication
framework.

4.ProjectSetup

Step1
OpenXcodeandselectNew>Project...fromtheFilemenu.ChooseSingleView
ApplicationfromthelistofiOSApplicationtemplatesandclickNext.

Step2
Enteranameforyourproject,I'vecalledmineAuth.Enteryourorganization's
name,companyidentifier,andclassprefix.ChooseiPhonefromtheDeviceslist,
clickNext,andchoosealocationtosavetheproject.

Step3
ClickViewController.handdefineanewaction, authenticateButtonTapped ,which
willtriggertheauthenticationprocess.Theinterfaceofthe ViewController class
shouldlooklikethis:
https://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/ios8integratingtouchidcms21949 5/15
12/4/2014 iOS8:IntegratingTouchIDTuts+CodeTutorial

1 #import<UIKit/UIKit.h>
2
3 @interfaceViewController:UIViewController
4
5 (IBAction)authenticateButtonTapped:(id)sender;
6
7 @end

Step4
OpenMain.storyboardanddragaButtonontotheviewcontroller'sview.Change
thebuttonlabeltoreadAuthenticate.

Step5
RightclickthebuttontoshowtheConnectionsInspector.Clicktheplusontheleft
oftheTouchUpInsideeventandselecttheviewcontrollerthatcontainsthebutton.
Anothermenuwillappearinwhichyoucanselecttheactionwedeclaredamoment
ago.

https://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/ios8integratingtouchidcms21949 6/15
12/4/2014 iOS8:IntegratingTouchIDTuts+CodeTutorial

5.AuthenticateaUser

Step1
SwitchtoViewController.mtoimplementthe authenticateButtonTapped method.
AtthetopofthefileaddthefollowingimportstatementfortheLocalAuthentication
framework.

1 #import<LocalAuthentication/LocalAuthentication.h>

Step2
Inthe authenticateButtonTapped method,wecreateacontextanddetermineifthe
contextcanevaluatethe LAPolicyDeviceOwnerAuthenticationWithBiometrics policy,
otherwiseshowanerrormessage.

01 (IBAction)authenticateButtonTapped:(id)sender{
02 LAContext*context=[[LAContextalloc]init];
03
04 NSError*error=nil;
05
06 if([contextcanEvaluatePolicy:LAPolicyDeviceOwnerAuthenticationWithBiometrics
07 //AuthenticateUser
08
09 }else{
10
11 UIAlertView*alert=[[UIAlertViewalloc]initWithTitle:@"Error"
12 message:@"Yourdevicecannot
13 delegate:nil
14 cancelButtonTitle:@"Ok"
15 otherButtonTitles:nil];
16 [alertshow];
17
18 }
19 }

Step3
Ifthe LAContext objectisabletoauthenticateusingTouchID,thenwetrytoverify
theuser'sidentity.Ifnoerroristhrown,wetelltheuseriftheyaretheownerofthe
device.Thefinalimplementationofthe authenticateButtonTapped methodisshown
below.

01 (void)authenicateButtonTapped:(id)sender{
02 LAContext*context=[[LAContextalloc]init];
https://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/ios8integratingtouchidcms21949 7/15
12/4/2014 iOS8:IntegratingTouchIDTuts+CodeTutorial

03
04 NSError*error=nil;
05 if([contextcanEvaluatePolicy:LAPolicyDeviceOwnerAuthenticationWithBiometrics
06 [contextevaluatePolicy:LAPolicyDeviceOwnerAuthenticationWithBiometrics
07 localizedReason:@"Areyouthedeviceowner?"
08 reply:^(BOOLsuccess,NSError*error){
09
10 if(error){
11 UIAlertView*alert=[[UIAlertViewalloc]initWithTitle:@"Error"
12 message:@"Therewasa
13 delegate:nil
14 cancelButtonTitle:@"Ok"
15 otherButtonTitles:nil
16 [alertshow];
17 return;
18 }
19
20 if(success){
21 UIAlertView*alert=[[UIAlertViewalloc]initWithTitle:@"Success"
22 message:@"Youarethe
23 delegate:nil
24 cancelButtonTitle:@"Ok"
25 otherButtonTitles:nil
26 [alertshow];
27
28 }else{
29 UIAlertView*alert=[[UIAlertViewalloc]initWithTitle:@"Error"
30 message:@"Youarenot
31 delegate:nil
32 cancelButtonTitle:@"Ok"
33 otherButtonTitles:nil
34 [alertshow];
35 }
36
37 }];
38
39 }else{
40
41 UIAlertView*alert=[[UIAlertViewalloc]initWithTitle:@"Error"
42 message:@"Yourdevicecannot
43 delegate:nil
44 cancelButtonTitle:@"Ok"
45 otherButtonTitles:nil];
46 [alertshow];
47
48 }
49 }

6.BuildandRun

Buildandruntheapplicationonaphysicaldevicewithafingerprintsensorandtap

https://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/ios8integratingtouchidcms21949 8/15
12/4/2014 iOS8:IntegratingTouchIDTuts+CodeTutorial

thebuttontoauthenticate.AslongasyourdevicehasTouchIDsupport,youshould
bepromptedtoauthenticate.Ifyouputyourfingeronthesensor,theappshouldtell
youifyou'rethedeviceownerornot.

Conclusion
Inthistutorial,welookedattheLocalAuthenticationframeworkintroducediniOS8.
Bycheckingtheidentityoftheauthenticatinguser,the LAContext classallowsusers
toidentifythemselveswithoutprovidingsensitivedatadirectlytotheapp.

Difficulty:
Beginner

https://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/ios8integratingtouchidcms21949 9/15
12/4/2014 iOS8:IntegratingTouchIDTuts+CodeTutorial

Length:
Medium
Categories:

iOS8 iOSSDK Xcode Xcode6 MobileDevelopment IDEs

TranslationsAvailable:

Tuts+tutorialsaretranslatedbyourcommunitymembers.Ifyou'dliketotranslatethispostintoanotherlanguage,
letusknow!

ViewonGithub

AboutJoshSephton
Joshworksat383(http://383project.com/),helpingambitiousclientscreateopportunitythrough
innovation.Webelievethatnewtechnology,newcategorycompetitionfromstartupsandnewcustomer
behaviourshouldbechanginghoworganisation'sareoperating.

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SortbyBest Share Favorite

Jointhediscussion

BarathanKulothongan 3monthsago
GreatArticle!,Ihaveonequestiononhowtomatchwhichuserisactuallyswipingthe
finger?HowdowematchtheTouchIDtoUser?pleaseadvise.
5 Reply Share

eggman33 2monthsago
IsthereanywaytobenotifiedtheTouchIDsensorisbeingtouched?Nodataneeded,just
needtoknowaneventoccurred.
2 Reply Share

BijuUIDeveloper:www.bijudes 2monthsago
GreatArticle:)
1 Reply Share

MarioGhersi amonthago
Whytakesalotoftimetoappearsthemessages?MaybebecauseisiPhone5S?(10to16
seconds!)
Reply Share

RicardoFunk >MarioGhersi 25daysago

Sameissuehere.Itshouldnottakethislong.
Reply Share

Fahad>RicardoFunk 16daysago
Becausethealertviewisshownonthebackgroundthread,getthemain
threadandshowalertviewonit.

dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(),^{
https://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/ios8integratingtouchidcms21949 11/15
12/4/2014 iOS8:IntegratingTouchIDTuts+CodeTutorial
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(),^{
//AlertViewCode
})
1 Reply Share

KennethR.Lewis amonthago
Sowiththissystemwetotallyhavetoacceptit'svalidbutthatmeanswehavetosaveour
passwordinthekeychainorsomewheresecurethatwecanusesotheydon'thaveto
enteritmanuallycorrect?Whatwouldbethebestsolutionforsecuritywhenyouare
successfultoretrievethepasswordandusingthatpassword.Justthinkingoutloudfrom
thestandpointofjailbrokendevicesandsecurityastowhatisthemostsecurewaysothat
thepasswordisnotcompromised.
Reply Share

KennethR.Lewis>KennethR.Lewis amonthago
Afterreadingdiscussionsfrom1Passwordthatisexactlywhatyouhavetodo.:)
Reply Share

KennethR.Lewis amonthago
IseethatweshouldalsobeusingthecodeoftheNSErrortodeterminehowwehandle
thingstoo:

LAErrorAuthenticationFailed=kLAErrorAuthenticationFailed,

///Authenticationwascanceledbyuser(e.g.tappedCancelbutton).

LAErrorUserCancel=kLAErrorUserCancel,

///Authenticationwascanceled,becausetheusertappedthefallbackbutton(Enter
Password).

LAErrorUserFallback=kLAErrorUserFallback,

///Authenticationwascanceledbysystem(e.g.anotherapplicationwenttoforeground).

LAErrorSystemCancel=kLAErrorSystemCancel,

///Authenticationcouldnotstart,becausepasscodeisnotsetonthedevice.

LAErrorPasscodeNotSet=kLAErrorPasscodeNotSet,

///Authenticationcouldnotstart,becauseTouchIDisnotavailableonthedevice.

LAErrorTouchIDNotAvailable=kLAErrorTouchIDNotAvailable,

///Authenticationcouldnotstart,becauseTouchIDhasnoenrolledfingers.

LAErrorTouchIDNotEnrolled=kLAErrorTouchIDNotEnrolled,
Reply Share

ramanan amonthago
https://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/ios8integratingtouchidcms21949 12/15
12/4/2014 iOS8:IntegratingTouchIDTuts+CodeTutorial
ramanan
SimpleandNeatCoding!Superb.
Reply Share

MichalGreg 2monthsago
Whenipresson"EnterPassword"fromtheoutputpopup,itdoesnothing.
Howtosendtheusertoapasswordenteringscreenwhenheclickson"EnterPassword"?

Itriedfallbackmechanismasfollowbutnothingworked

[myContextevaluatePolicy:LAPolicyDeviceOwnerAuthenticationWithBiometrics
localizedReason:myLocalizedReasonString
reply:^(BOOLsucces,NSError*error){

if(succes){

NSLog(@"Userisauthenticatedsuccessfully")
}else{

switch(error.code){
caseLAErrorAuthenticationFailed:
NSLog(@"AuthenticationFailed")
break

caseLAErrorUserCancel:
seemore

Reply Share

KennethR.Lewis>MichalGreg amonthago
Whatyouwanttodoisloadyourpassworddialogandthenmakethecallusing
LAContext.

IhadcreatedacheckTouchIDthatiscalledafterthecontrolsareloadedinmy
passworddialogafterviewDidAppear:

Hopethishelps.

(IBAction)btnTouchIDClicked:(id)sender{
__loadedTouchID=FALSE
[selfcheckTouchID]
}

staticBOOL__loadedTouchID=FALSE
(void)checkTouchID{
MAINTHREAD_SOMETHING(checkTouchID)
self.successTouchID=FALSE
if(__loadedTouchID){
return
seemore

Reply Share
https://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/ios8integratingtouchidcms21949 13/15
12/4/2014 iOS8:IntegratingTouchIDTuts+CodeTutorial

Reply Share

KennethR.Lewis>MichalGreg amonthago
YouneedtolookatthecodeoftheErrortoknowtheyclickedEnterPassword
whichiskLAErrorUserFallbackandatthatpointyouwouldsimplysetfocustoyour
textcontrolforthepassword.
Reply Share

MichalGreg>KennethR.Lewis amonthago
Yes,thatisfine.WhenkLAErrorUserFallbackoccours,icanshowapopup
textfieldforenteringthetouchidpassword.Butonsubmittingit,whichisthe
methodtoverifyifuserenteredcorrectpassword?
Reply Share

KennethR.Lewis>MichalGreg amonthago
Yousimplylookatsuccessintheblockmeaningyousuccessfully
validatedyourselfwithyourfingerprint.Soatthatpointyouwould
retrieveyoursecurepasswordfromthekeychainhoweveryou
storeditandunlockyourappasifyoutypeditin.

TouchIDwon'tbestoringyourpasswordorretrievingit.Itsimplylets

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