How to use native Spotify app for authentication instead of web browser on mobile?

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1

I’m working on implementing Spotify authentication for mobile users and currently using the web-based flow. The issue is that when users try to authenticate on their phones, it opens Safari which feels clunky.

Right now I have a callback handler that processes the auth response like this:

(function() {
  var params = {};
  window.location.hash.replace(/^#\/?/, '').split('&').forEach(function(pair) {
    var splitIndex = pair.indexOf('=');
    if (splitIndex != -1) {
      params[pair.substring(0, splitIndex)] = decodeURIComponent(pair.substring(splitIndex + 1));
    }
  });

  if (params.token) {
    window.parent.postMessage(
      JSON.stringify({
        event:'login_success',
        token: params.token,
        expiry: params.expires_in || 3600
      }), 
      window.location.origin
    );
    window.close();
  }
})();

I want to detect if the Spotify app is installed on iOS and redirect users there for authentication instead of the browser. This would make the login flow much smoother. Has anyone figured out how to implement this properly?

2

Use the Spotify SDK for iOS instead of web authentication. Register your app in the Spotify Developer Dashboard and implement the SpotifyiOS SDK - it handles native app detection automatically. When users authenticate, the SDK checks if Spotify’s installed and redirects there. No Spotify app? It falls back to Safari. Instead of handling callbacks through JavaScript like you’re doing now, you’ll handle them through your app delegate. Just make sure your bundle identifier is configured correctly in the Spotify app settings and handle the URL scheme response in your AppDelegate. This completely eliminates the clunky browser experience since the SDK manages everything between your app and Spotify.

3

For Spotify authentication on iOS, you should implement URL scheme detection. Begin by attempting to open spotify://. If the app is installed, users will be redirected there seamlessly. To manage potential failures, include a 500ms timeout to determine if the app is launched successfully. If there’s no response, revert to the web authentication method. Additionally, ensure your custom URL scheme is added to Info.plist to allow Spotify to send the auth token back to your app. This approach greatly enhances the user experience, as most users already have Spotify installed.

4

Check if spotify:// works first, then fall back to browser auth if it doesn’t. Try window.location = 'spotify://auth/... and if nothing happens after a second, redirect to your web flow. There are iOS tricks for checking custom URL schemes, but the timeout approach works fine most of the time.