---
schema_version: "1"
id: e8d7da2212ed151f2b6ac9f78fa93a65030737279d4c8c86b3f15dee2fcb3b8b
title: Certificate-Based Authentication
collection: admin
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/xcloud/264-0-0/mobile_security_mdm_cert.md
canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=xcloud.mobile_security_mdm_cert.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5
source_site: help.salesforce.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: c3baac6e7e1b52d9ba4e612932606f7dc71a57a55ca45beb686738632db9b8f2
description: Using certificates to authenticate simplifies provisioning your mobile users, and your day-to-day mobile administration tasks by eliminating usernames and passwords.
products:
  - Security
  - Mobile App
  - Cross Cloud
release: "264"
---
# Certificate-Based Authentication

Using certificates to authenticate simplifies provisioning your mobile users, and your day-to-day mobile administration tasks by eliminating usernames and passwords.

Salesforce uses X.509 certificates to authenticate users more efficiently, or as a second factor in the login process.

## MDM Settings for Certificate-Based Authentication

To enable certificate-based authentication for your mobile users, you configure key-value pair assignments through your MDM suite.

Here are the supported keys:

<table class="slds-table slds-table_bordered slds-max-medium-table_stacked slds-m-bottom_small ">
        <colgroup>
          <col style="width:25%">
          <col style="width:25%">
          <col style="width:25%">
          <col style="width:25%">
        </colgroup>
        <thead class="slds-text-title_caps ">
          <tr class="">
            <th scope="col" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d1965e54">Key</th>
            <th scope="col" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d1965e57">Data Type</th>
            <th scope="col" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d1965e60">Platform</th>
            <th scope="col" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d1965e63">Description</th>
          </tr>
        </thead>
        <tbody>
          <tr class="">
            <td data-label="Key" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d1965e54 ">
              <code>RequireCertAuth</code>
            </td>

            <td data-label="Data Type" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d1965e57 ">Boolean</td>

            <td data-label="Platform" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d1965e60 ">Android, iOS</td>

            <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d1965e63 ">
              <p>If true, the certificate-based authentication flow initiates.
              </p>
              <p><strong>Android:</strong> Uses the user certificate on the device for authentication
                inside a webview.</p>
              <p style="margin-bottom:0;"><strong>iOS:</strong> Redirects the user to Safari for all
                authentication requests. </p>
            </td>

          </tr>
          <tr class="">
            <td data-label="Key" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d1965e54 ">
              <code>ManagedApp​CertAlias</code>
            </td>

            <td data-label="Data Type" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d1965e57 ">String</td>

            <td data-label="Platform" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d1965e60 ">Android</td>

            <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d1965e63 ">Alias of the certificate deployed on the device picked by the app for user
              authentication. Required for Android only.</td>

          </tr>
        </tbody>
      </table>

After you save your key-value pair assignments, you can push the mobile app with the updated certificate-based authentication flow to your users via your MDM suite.