React Native Biometric ID (react-native-biometric-id)

React Native Biometric ID is a React Native library for authenticating users with biometric authentication methods like Face ID and Touch ID on both iOS and Android (experimental).

Note: the awesome folks over at Expo have begun open-sourcing some of their modules for compatability with React Native projects not built with Expo. As such you can attempt to use their equivalent library called LocalAuthentication at expo-local-authentication if you run into any issues here!

Documentation

• Install
• Usage
• Example
• Fallback
• Methods
• Errors

Install

npm i --save react-native-biometric-id

or

yarn add react-native-biometric-id

Support

Due to the rapid changes being made in the React Native ecosystem, we are not officially going to support this module on anything but the latest version of React Native. The current supported version is indicated on the React Native badge at the top of this README. If it's out of date, we encourage you to submit a pull request!

Usage

Linking the Library

In order to use Biometric Authentication, you must first link the library to your project.

Using react-native link

Use the built-in command:

react-native link react-native-biometric-id

Using Cocoapods (iOS only)

On iOS you can also link package by updating your podfile

pod 'TouchID', :path => "#{node_modules_path}/react-native-biometric-id"

and then run

pod install

Using native linking

There's excellent documentation on how to do this in the React Native Docs.

Platform Differences

iOS and Android differ slightly in their TouchID authentication.

On Android you can customize the title and color of the pop-up by passing in the optional config object with a color and title key to the authenticate method. Further, you can disable the alert in android and implement your own UI in react-native. (Please note: For in display fingerprint embedded devices the native fingerprint sensor will popup on top of your customized UI).Even if you pass in the config object, iOS does not allow you change the color nor the title of the pop-up. iOS does support passcodeFallback as an option, which when set to true will allow users to use their device pin - useful for people with Face / Touch ID disabled. Passcode fallback only happens if the device does not have touch id or face id enabled.

Error handling is also different between the platforms, with iOS currently providing much more descriptive error codes.

App Permissions

Add the following permissions to their respective files:

In your AndroidManifest.xml:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.USE_FINGERPRINT" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.USE_BIOMETRIC"/>

In your Info.plist:

<key>NSFaceIDUsageDescription</key>
<string>Enabling Face ID allows you quick and secure access to your account.</string>

Requesting Face ID/Touch ID Authentication

Once you've linked the library, you'll want to make it available to your app by requiring it:

var BiometricAuthenticator = require('react-native-biometric-id');

or

import BiometricAuthenticator from 'react-native-biometric-id';

Requesting Face ID/Touch ID Authentication is as simple as calling:

BiometricAuthenticator.authenticate('to demo this react-native component', optionalConfigObject)
  .then(success => {
    // Success code
  })
  .catch(error => {
    // Failure code
  });

Example

Using Face ID/Touch ID in your app will usually look like this:

import React from "react"
var BiometricAuthenticator = require('react-native-biometric-id');
//or import BiometricAuthenticator from 'react-native-biometric-id'

class YourComponent extends React.Component {
  _pressHandler() {
    BiometricAuthenticator.authenticate('to demo this react-native component', optionalConfigObject)
      .then(success => {
        AlertIOS.alert('Authenticated Successfully');
      })
      .catch(error => {
        AlertIOS.alert('Authentication Failed');
      });
  },

  render() {
    return (
      <View>
        ...
        <TouchableHighlight onPress={this._pressHandler}>
          <Text>
            Authenticate with Touch ID
          </Text>
        </TouchableHighlight>
      </View>
    );
  }
};

Methods

authenticate(reason, config)

Attempts to authenticate with Face ID/Touch ID. Returns a Promise object.

Arguments

• reason - optional - String that provides a clear reason for requesting authentication.

• config - optional - configuration object for more detailed dialog setup:

  • title - Android - title of confirmation dialog
  • imageColor - Android - color of fingerprint image
  • imageErrorColor - Android - color of fingerprint image after failed attempt
  • sensorDescription - Android - text shown next to the fingerprint image
  • sensorErrorDescription - Android - text shown next to the fingerprint image after failed attempt
  • cancelText - Android - cancel button text
  • fallbackLabel - iOS - by default specified 'Show Password' label. If set to empty string label is invisible.
  • unifiedErrors - return unified error messages (see below) (default = false)
  • showAlert - Android - hide the native alert
  • passcodeFallback - iOS - by default set to false. If set to true, will allow use of keypad passcode.

Examples

const optionalConfigObject = {
  title: 'Authentication Required', // Android
  imageColor: '#e00606', // Android
  imageErrorColor: '#ff0000', // Android
  sensorDescription: 'Touch sensor', // Android
  sensorErrorDescription: 'Failed', // Android
  cancelText: 'Cancel', // Android
  fallbackLabel: 'Show Passcode', // iOS (if empty, then label is hidden)
  unifiedErrors: false, // use unified error messages (default false),
  showAlert: false, // Android - default set to true
  passcodeFallback: false, // iOS - allows the device to fall back to using the passcode, if faceid/touch is not available. this does not mean that if touchid/faceid fails the first few times it will revert to passcode, rather that if the former are not enrolled, then it will use the passcode.
};

BiometricAuthenticator.authenticate('to demo this react-native component', optionalConfigObject)
  .then(success => {
    AlertIOS.alert('Authenticated Successfully');
  })
  .catch(error => {
    AlertIOS.alert('Authentication Failed');
  });

isSupported()

Returns a Promise that rejects if TouchID is not supported. On iOS resolves with a biometryType String of FaceID or TouchID.

Examples

const optionalConfigObject = {
  unifiedErrors: false // use unified error messages (default false)
  passcodeFallback: false // if true is passed, itwill allow isSupported to return an error if the device is not enrolled in touch id/face id etc. Otherwise, it will just tell you what method is supported, even if the user is not enrolled.  (default false)
}

BiometricAuthenticator.isSupported(optionalConfigObject)
  .then(biometryType => {
    // Success code
    if (biometryType === 'FaceID') {
        console.log('FaceID is supported.');
    } else {
        console.log('TouchID is supported.');
    }
  })
  .catch(error => {
    // Failure code
    console.log(error);
  });

cancelAuthentication()

This method supports for both Android and IOS and you do not need to perform a platform check prior calling this method. This method will cancel the authentication if the authentication is in progress such that you can execute your RN tasks. (This method is now available on IOS. Please ensure you are using the latest version of this package)

Examples

handleOnCancelPressed = () => {
      BiometricAuthenticator.cancelAuthentication();
}

Errors

There are various reasons why biomentric authentication may not be available or fail. TouchID.isSupported and TouchID.authenticate will return an error representing the reason.

iOS Errors

Format:

{
  name: "TheErrorCode",
  message: "the error message",
  details: {
    name: "TheErrorCode",
    message: "the error message"
  }
}

| name | message | | ----------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | LAErrorAuthenticationFailed | Authentication was not successful because the user failed to provide valid credentials. | | LAErrorUserCancel | Authentication was canceled by the user—for example, the user tapped Cancel in the dialog. | | LAErrorUserFallback | Authentication was canceled because the user tapped the fallback button (Enter Password). | | LAErrorSystemCancel | Authentication was canceled by system—for example, if another application came to foreground while the authentication dialog was up. | | LAErrorPasscodeNotSet | Authentication could not start because the passcode is not set on the device. | | LAErrorTouchIDNotAvailable | Authentication could not start because Touch ID is not available on the device | | LAErrorTouchIDNotEnrolled | Authentication could not start because Touch ID has no enrolled fingers. | | RCTTouchIDUnknownError | Could not authenticate for an unknown reason. | | RCTTouchIDNotSupported | Device does not support Touch ID. |

More information on errors can be found in Apple's Documentation.

Android errors

Format:

{
  name: "Touch ID Error",
  message: "Touch ID Error",
  details: "the error message",
  code: "THE_ERROR_CODE"
}

isSupported:

| name | message | details | code | | ---------------- | ---------------- | -------------- | --------------- | | Touch ID Error | Touch ID Error | Not supported. | NOT_SUPPORTED | | Touch ID Error | Touch ID Error | Not supported. | NOT_AVAILABLE | | Touch ID Error | Touch ID Error | Not supported. | NOT_PRESENT | | Touch ID Error | Touch ID Error | Not supported. | NOT_ENROLLED |

authenticate:

| name | message | details | code | | ---------------- | ---------------- | ----------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------- | | Touch ID Error | Touch ID Error | Not supported | NOT_SUPPORTED | | Touch ID Error | Touch ID Error | Not supported | NOT_AVAILABLE | | Touch ID Error | Touch ID Error | Not supported | NOT_PRESENT | | Touch ID Error | Touch ID Error | Not supported | NOT_ENROLLED | | Touch ID Error | Touch ID Error | failed | AUTHENTICATION_FAILED | | Touch ID Error | Touch ID Error | cancelled | AUTHENTICATION_CANCELED | | Touch ID Error | Touch ID Error | Too many attempts. Try again Later. | FINGERPRINT_ERROR_LOCKOUT | | Touch ID Error | Touch ID Error | Too many attempts. Fingerprint sensor disabled. | FINGERPRINT_ERROR_LOCKOUT_PERMANENT | | Touch ID Error | Touch ID Error | ? | FINGERPRINT_ERROR_UNABLE_TO_PROCESS, | | Touch ID Error | Touch ID Error | ? | FINGERPRINT_ERROR_TIMEOUT, | | Touch ID Error | Touch ID Error | ? | FINGERPRINT_ERROR_CANCELED, | | Touch ID Error | Touch ID Error | ? | FINGERPRINT_ERROR_VENDOR, |

Unified errors

Format:

{
  name: "TouchIDError",
  message: "the error message",
  code: "THE_ERROR_CODE"
}

| name | message | code | | -------------- | ----------------------------------- | ----------------------- | | TouchIDError | Authentication failed | AUTHENTICATION_FAILED | | TouchIDError | User canceled authentication | USER_CANCELED | | TouchIDError | System canceled authentication | SYSTEM_CANCELED | | TouchIDError | Biometry hardware not present | NOT_PRESENT | | TouchIDError | Biometry is not supported | NOT_SUPPORTED | | TouchIDError | Biometry is not currently available | NOT_AVAILABLE | | TouchIDError | Biometry is not enrolled | NOT_ENROLLED | | TouchIDError | Biometry timeout | TIMEOUT | | TouchIDError | Biometry lockout | LOCKOUT | | TouchIDError | Biometry permanent lockout | LOCKOUT_PERMANENT | | TouchIDError | Biometry processing error | PROCESSING_ERROR | | TouchIDError | User selected fallback | USER_FALLBACK | | TouchIDError | User selected fallback not enrolled | FALLBACK_NOT_ENROLLED | | TouchIDError | Unknown error | UNKNOWN_ERROR |

Copyright (c) 2021, [Shehan Guruge]