---
schema_version: "1"
id: bf88b114c6b3cb445b4f516fe2c96195ee09162b49b2e2c36bee1ad60f6e7e34
title: Migrating Connected Apps to External Client Apps
collection: admin
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/xcloud/264-0-0/branded_apps_eca_migration.md
canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=xcloud.branded_apps_eca_migration.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5
source_site: help.salesforce.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: ac8723508873f9c9761d866bc885f2c0ec527897bfe60f9e851b583decd8c987
description: The Mobile Publisher platform is transitioning from using Connected Apps (CA) to External Client Apps (ECA). This migration reduces manual effort and bottlenecks associated with creating and managing Connected Apps.
products:
  - Experiences
  - Mobile App
  - Cross Cloud
release: "264"
---
# Migrating Connected Apps to External Client Apps

The Mobile Publisher platform is transitioning from using Connected Apps (CA) to External Client Apps (ECA). This migration reduces manual effort and bottlenecks associated with creating and managing Connected Apps.

No action is required by customers to migrate their existing applications to ECA. The Mobile Publisher team will handle the migration automatically.

The main goal of the migration is to provide a smooth process for existing applications, avoiding the need for customers to submit new apps or create new external client apps. However, there are a few important considerations regarding potential impacts:

- Migration Time: The migration takes 1-3 minutes. Salesforce will communicate with admins before the migration takes place.
- Setup Lock: During the migration process, you can’t make any changes to the Mobile Publisher Setup configurations.
- Consumer Key: The migration process is designed to keep the consumer key the same.
- Connected App Status: The original Connected Apps remain installed and visible to customers. However, they’re no longer used for authentication, and any changes you make to policies won’t be reflected in the app experience.
- Functionality: The migration keeps all existing connected app settings.

## Sandbox Considerations

The migration efforts for existing Connected Apps to External Client Apps (ECA) are intended only for production orgs. Customers must manage their sandbox environments as if these are new External Client Apps.

After a production org’s connected apps are migrated, you need to manually deploy ECAs from your production org to your sandboxes. You have two options to get ECAs to sandboxes:

- Deploy ECA metadata to the sandbox using Mobile Publisher. Using metadata in this way doesn’t copy any app policies to the sandbox, and must be done so manually.
- Refreshing your sandbox. A sandbox refresh copies all policies related to an ECA.