When to embed
ReadyThere are two ways to give users the device side of the ceremony: ship them the ready-made Ydentifi authenticator, or embed the ceremony directly inside your own app with the Swift or Kotlin SDK. The security is identical either way — the choice is about the user’s journey, and how much mobile work you want.
Both paths ship on iOS and Android at launch: the authenticator app on both, the Swift and Kotlin SDKs for your own app. The design below is the same on both platforms.
Who this is for: the product and mobile team deciding how the phone participates. Pick a lane here, then follow the SDK or authenticator path. Nothing about the server or the security model changes with the choice.
Two ways to carry the device side#
Both deliver the same signed ceremony from the same secure hardware. They differ only in where it lives.
Ship the authenticator
- Users install the Ydentifi authenticator from the app store; it stays blank until your enrollment QR wakes it.
- Zero mobile development — you write no app code.
- The fastest path to a working deployment.
- Trade-off: it is a separate app in the user’s life.
Choose the authenticator if…#
- You have no mobile app, or no mobile team to spare.
- You want the shortest path to something users can enroll on today.
- Your users are fine with a dedicated authenticator — common in workforce and B2B settings.
Choose to embed if…#
- You already have an app your users open often — a second app would be friction.
- You want a seamless, single-app experience and your own brand on the approval sheet.
- You are building for consumers, where every extra install costs conversions.
Same security — who builds what#
Embedding does not move any security into your code. The SDK owns the ceremony; you own the surface around it.
- The hardware-bound key in the secure element, and every signature.
- Enrollment (the enrolment QR) and challenge signing.
- Biometric gating and location.
- Talking to the device-facing gateway over mutual TLS.
- The screens: an “add this device” flow, and the approval sheet.
- Where in your app enrollment and approvals appear.
- Your app’s store release and lifecycle.
Both device SDKs — Swift and Kotlin / Android — are free under Apache 2.0 and published at launch. Whichever path you pick, the wire protocol is the same — see Device-facing gRPC.