Recognized by Clutch.co as a top-rated Mobile App Development Company.
folio3-mobile
US 408 365 4638
START YOUR PROJECT
  • Solutions
    • Apps Discovery Services
    • Team Augmentation
    • Enterprise
    • AR/VR
    • IoT
    • Wearables
    • Field Sales
    • On Demand Apps
  • Industries
    • Retail
    • Agriculture
    • Healthcare
    • Pharmaceutical & Life Sciences
    • Manufacturing
    • Automotive
    • Logistics
    • Education
  • Technologies
    • Native Mobile Apps
      • iOS
      • Android
    • Cross Platform Apps
      • React Native
      • Flutter
      • Ionic
      • Xamarin
      • NativeScript
      • Sencha
  • Portfolio
  • Blog
  • Contact Us
  • Solutions
    • Apps Discovery Services
    • Team Augmentation
    • Enterprise
    • AR/VR
    • IoT
    • Wearables
    • Field Sales
    • On Demand Apps
  • Industries
    • Retail
    • Agriculture
    • Healthcare
    • Pharmaceutical & Life Sciences
    • Manufacturing
    • Automotive
    • Logistics
    • Education
  • Technologies
    • Native Mobile Apps
      • iOS
      • Android
    • Cross Platform Apps
      • React Native
      • Flutter
      • Ionic
      • Xamarin
      • NativeScript
      • Sencha
  • Portfolio
  • Blog
  • Contact Us

Secure Mobile App Credentials in React Native

Published by: Noc Folio3 | June 10, 2022
SCROLL AND BE AMAZED!
Home > App Development • React Native > Secure Mobile App Credentials in React Native

How to secure mobile app credentials using React Native key-chains?

Businesses prioritize robust security at all levels, mainly around customer data. And they are extra vigilant in the case of mobile applications. 

With the growing rates of mobile usage, almost every business offers a mobile application these days to connect with their customers promptly. And if the security is compromised with these apps, it can be strongly detrimental to their brand.  

Since there are quite a many operating systems, managing the mobile security can be difficult owing to the different configurations. A survey backs this argument by claiming that over 75% of mobile apps can’t pass the basic security tests. And this is quite concerning.

Most people install the applications from the online stores to access the enterprise assets or perform various functions. Sadly, these apps offer weak security, making them vulnerable to attacks.

If you wish to safeguard your business from this menace, you must ensure the following checklist.

  • Use a PIN, pattern, or password
  • Biometric verification like a fingerprint or a face id

In this article we will explore how to secure the credential storage in mobile devices using react-native-keychain library.

Why we need a Keychain?

By default, React-Native does not come bundled with any method of storing secure data.

But, there are two separate existing solutions for Android and iOS, which are,

  • iOS Keychain service
  • Android Secure Shared Preferences

To use these two services, either you can write a bridge by yourself or more quickly you can use libraries.

The react-native-keychain library provides keychain/key store access to your React Native application, making your application secure.

First and foremost, we can start by installing the react-native-keychain in our React-Native project.

Installing packages

Run the following command:

You can use either npm or yarn to install the package.

npm i react-native-keychain 

yarn add react-native-keychain

Make sure to link your library:
react-native link react-native-keychain

You can verify if the linking was complete by making sure that the library was added to the MainApplication.java.

If you are developing iOS, Run pod install in the ios/ directory to install iOS dependencies. 

Now, you are ready to rebuild your application.


react-native run-ios

react-native run-android

Once the above steps are complete, you are all set to start using the react-native-keychain library within your app.

Using the library in practice

Step# 1 – Check supported Biometric Type

This function can be used to check the phone’s hardware biometry that is supported. It works for both Android and iOS devices.

Step# 2 – Set Biometric

This function will store the username/password combination in the secure storage. It resolves to true or reject in case of an error scenario.

Step# 3 – Get Biometric

This function retrieves the credentials from the secure storage.

(Note: By default, the function returns String. So when retrieving objects, it is recommended to use JSON.parse).

Step# 4 – Remove Biometric

This function as the name suggests will remove the credentials from the secure storage completely and reset it.

Benefits of using react-native-keychain

  • One library to access both iOS Keychain and Android Keystore in React-Native apps.
  • There are many reasons why react-native-keychain is the most popular library. 
  • Let us look at some significant pros.
    • The device must be unlocked to access the Keychain.
    • The Keychain cannot be restored to a different device.
    • In never devices, the encryption keys are stored on the hardware level.

Conclusion

Based on my experience, as I have shown above, using a react-native-keychain is the best option to store credentials and use biometrics in React-Native mobile apps. As I can see, the main advantage is that the usage of the existing iOS Keychain and Android shared preferences under the hood.

I hope the approach discuss here is helpful for most of you. Thank you for reading.

Detailed Example

For a more detailed example, check out the example from the library here:

react-native-keychain


About Noc Folio3

Newsletter

Search

Archives

  • December 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • May 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • May 2019

Recent Posts

  • Exploring Flutter Navigation: From Basics to Advanced Routes
  • Web UI Test Automation with Pytest-BDD
  • How to fix IOS compass calibration issues
  • Testing Android Applications With Perfect Coverage
  • How to use useRef hook efficiently? – React

Tags

  • android
  • angular-state-management
  • Automation
  • Compass
  • cross-platform
  • css
  • development
  • firebase
  • hooks
  • ios
  • learn-ngrx
  • ngrx-beginner
  • ngrx/store
  • QA
  • react-native
  • reactjs
  • scss
  • stylesheet
  • styling
  • Testing
  • Test Script
  • UI-UX

Newsletter

Newsletter

Post navigation

Previous Bugs Count & Test Coverage
Next Getting started with NgRx
Schedule an Appointment with our Mobile App Development Expert
Footer Menu
  • Company
    • About Us
    • Portfolio
    • Blog
    • Careers
    • Contact Us
  • Solutions
    • Apps Discovery Services
    • Team Augmentation
    • Enterprise App Development
    • AR/VR Application Development
    • IoT Application Development
    • Wearables Apps Development
    • Field Sales
    • On-Demand Apps Development
  • Technologies
    • iOS
    • Android
    • React Native
    • Flutter
    • Ionic
    • Xamarin
    • NativeScript
    • HTML5
    • Sencha
  • Industries
    • Retail
    • Agriculture
    • Healthcare
    • Pharmaceutical
    • Manufacturing
    • Automotive
    • Logistics
    • Education

US Office

Belmont, California – 1301 Shoreway Road, Suite 160, Belmont, CA 94002

Pleasanton, California – 6701 Koll Center Parkway, #250 Pleasanton, CA 94566

Tel: +1 408 365 4638
Support: +1 (408) 512 1812

Mexico Office

Amado Nervo #2200, Edificio Esfera 1 piso 4, Col. Jardines del Sol, CP. 45050, Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico

Bulgaria Office

49 Bacho Kiro Street, Sofia, 1000, Bulgaria

Canada Office​

895 Don Mills Road, Two Morneau Shepell Centre, Suite 900, Toronto, Ontario, M3C 1W3, Canada

UK Office

Export House, Cawsey Way, Woking Surrey, GU21 6QX

Tel: +44 (0) 14 8361 6611

UAE Office

Dubai, UAE – Dubai Internet City, 1st Floor, Building Number 12, Premises ED 29, Dubai, UAE

Tel: +971-55-6540154
Tel: +971-04-2505173

Pakistan Office

Folio3 Tower, Plot 26, Block B, SMCH Society, Main Shahrah-e-Faisal, Karachi.

First Floor, Blue Mall 8-R, MM Alam Road Gulberg III, Lahore.

Tel: +92-21-3432 3721-4 

© 2025, Folio3 Software Inc., All rights reserved.

  • Privacy policy and terms of use
  • Cookie Policy
Follow us on
Facebook-f Linkedin-in Instagram

Get a free app audit

[contact-form-7 id="3548" title="Float Banner Form"]