| name | ionic-biometric-auth |
| description | Add Face ID / Touch ID / fingerprint authentication to an Ionic Capacitor app via @aparajita/capacitor-biometric-auth. Trigger when adding biometric login, app lock, secure reauthentication, or Face ID/Touch ID gating to a sensitive feature. |
| license | MIT |
| metadata | {"author":"erkamyaman","version":"1.0"} |
Biometric Authentication
Use the device's biometric sensor (Face ID, Touch ID, fingerprint) to authenticate the user — for app lock, sensitive feature gating, or as a step-up after a session timeout.
When to consult
Hard rules
- ✅ Biometrics authenticate the user to the device, not to your backend. Don't treat a successful biometric prompt as a backend session — it's a local proof of presence. Pair with a server-issued token / session.
- ✅ For "app lock", store a flag in
@capacitor/preferences and gate route navigation on it.
- ✅ Provide a fallback to passcode / password when biometrics fail or are unavailable.
- ❌ Don't use biometrics to "decrypt" stored secrets directly in this plugin — for true secure-enclave-backed key storage, use a secure-storage plugin backed by the iOS Keychain / Android Keystore (e.g.
capacitor-secure-storage-plugin, or whichever community package is currently maintained — verify on npm before adopting).
- ❌ Don't prompt for biometrics on every API call — that's both annoying and not what biometrics are for. Gate at app launch / on resume after a configurable timeout.
Library
npm install @aparajita/capacitor-biometric-auth
npx cap sync
Alternative plugins: @capgo/capacitor-native-biometric is also widely used. Pick one and stay consistent — they have similar APIs but different defaults.
