OTP Auth

otp authentication for react native using cloud functions introduction in this guide, you will learn how to use a parse cloud code function to integrate twilio verify api in a react native app to enable an otp login feature cloud code functions are the perfect place for this type of operations since it allows you to handle sensitive data and use other apis outside of your application in this guide you will also check how to implement a react native component using the otp integration, improving our previous guide user email verification example at any time, you can access the complete android project built with this tutorial at our github repositories kotlin example repository java example repository prerequisites to complete this tutorial, you will need a react native app created and connected to back4app understand how to deploy a cloud function on back4app an active account at twilio, you can create a free trial one here an active account at sendgrid, you can create a free trial one here goal integrate twilio verify api using parse cloud code functions on back4app and use it in a react native app 1 setting up twilio verify twilio is a well known 2fa token and otp service provider, used by a wide range of companies nowadays the verify api is a simplified api set to help developers to verify phones, emails and to perform passwordless logins with no hassle in this guide, you will be using the sms and email verification methods to enable your application to have an otp feature we will be following the official verify docs https //www twilio com/docs/verify/api , so reference it if any step becomes confused to you after creating your twilio and sendgrid accounts (sendgrid is needed for sending automated emails containing your user tokens), write down the following identifiers, that can be retrieved from each services dashboard twilio’s account sid and auth token; sendgrid id and a simple email template id now, create a new verify service in twilio verify dashboard https //www twilio com/console/verify/dashboard , which is a set of configurations that will manage our otp requests and verifications make sure to write down your service sid here if you want, you can also enable email code sending by adding your sendgrid keys by creating a new email integration within the verify service dashboard https //www twilio com/docs/verify/email that’s it, all setup is done and we may now proceed to create our cloud code functions 2 integrating via cloud code functions as discussed before, using cloud code functions in your application enables great flexibility in your code, making it possible to detach reusable methods from your app and to better control their behavior you can check or review how to use them in our cloud functions starter guide https //www back4app com/docs/get started/cloud functions let´s create our first cloud function called requestotp requestotp , in which an otp will be created and sent to the user through the chosen method the function needs to receive two parameters, userdata userdata containing an email or phone number and v erificationtype erificationtype , specifying which verification method to be used, email email or sms sms here is the function code 1 // define twilio keys and require the library helper 2 const accountsid = 'your twilio account sid here'; 3 const authtoken = 'your twilio auth token here'; 4 const client = require('twilio')(accountsid, authtoken); 5&#x9; 6 // request otp 7 parse cloud define('requestotp', async (request) => { 8 const userdata = request params userdata; 9 const verificationtype = request params verificationtype; 10 let verification request = await client verify 11 services('your twilio verify service id here') 12 verifications create({ to userdata, channel verificationtype }); 13 return { status verification request status, error '' }; 14 }); note that at the top we defined our twilio api keys and also imported the helper library back4app’s parse server implementation provides us access to the twilio library from default, so you don’t need to install it on your server the second and last cloud function is called verifyotp verifyotp , it verifies your user token in twilio’s verify and logs him in automatically, creating a session and passing its id back to your application, so you can log in with no password from there there are four required parameters, being the first two the same ones from the previous function, with the addition of usertoken usertoken , containing the informed verifying token, and also userinstallationid userinstallationid , which will be explained later on 1 // since we need in uuid v4 id for creating a new session, this function 2 // mocks the creation of one without the need to import the `uuidv4` module 3 // for a more robust solution, consider using the uuid module, which uses 4 // higher quality rng apis 5 // adapted from https //stackoverflow\ com/a/2117523 6 function uuidv4() { 7 return 'xxxxxxxx xxxx 4xxx yxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx' replace(/\[xy]/g, function (c) { 8 var r = (math random() 16) | 0, 9 v = c == 'x' ? r (r & 0x3) | 0x8; 10 return v tostring(16); 11 }); 12 } 13&#x9; 14 // verify otp 15 parse cloud define('verifyotp', async (request) => { 16 const { userdata, verificationtype, usertoken, userinstallationid } = 17 request params; 18 let verification check = await client verify 19 services('your twilio verify service id here') 20 verificationchecks create({ to userdata, code usertoken }); 21 // status can be 'approved' if correct or 'pending' if incorrect 22 if (verification check status === 'approved') { 23 try { 24 // get user to login 25 let user = null; 26 if (verificationtype === 'sms') { 27 user = await new parse query(parse user) 28 equalto('phonenumber', userdata) 29 first({ usemasterkey true }); 30 } else { 31 user = await new parse query(parse user) 32 equalto('email', userdata) 33 first({ usemasterkey true }); 34 } 35 // create new session for login use in 36 // manually create session (without using parse session because of it's update restrictions) 37 // adapted from https //stackoverflow\ com/a/67432715 38 let session = new parse object(' session', { 39 user user, 40 installationid userinstallationid, 41 sessiontoken `r ${uuidv4()}`, 42 }); 43 session = await session save(undefined, { usemasterkey true }); 44 return { sessionid session get('sessiontoken') }; 45 } catch (error) { 46 console log(error); 47 return { error `${error}` }; 48 } 49 } 50 return { error 'could not validate your token or account! try again!' }; 51 }); make sure to deploy these functions in your parse server before moving to the next step 3 creating an otp feature in react native let’s now use the same project example from the user email verification guide https //www back4app com/docs/react native/parse sdk/working with users/react native email verification as a base and add some changes to it enabling the new otp feature we recommend downloading the project example and setting it up before continuing with the guide first, to allow users to log in using their phone number, add a new input field and add the value to the user registration saving method in the userregistration js userregistration js (or userregistration tsx userregistration tsx ) file javascript 1 import react, {usestate} from 'react'; 2 import { 3 alert, 4 image, 5 text, 6 textinput, 7 touchableopacity, 8 view, 9 } from 'react native'; 10 import parse from 'parse/react native'; 11 import {usenavigation} from '@react navigation/native'; 12 import {stackactions} from '@react navigation/native'; 13 import styles from ' /styles'; 14&#x9; 15 export const userregistration = () => { 16 const navigation = usenavigation(); 17&#x9; 18 const \[username, setusername] = usestate(''); 19 const \[password, setpassword] = usestate(''); 20 const \[email, setemail] = usestate(''); 21 const \[phonenumber, setphonenumber] = usestate(''); 22&#x9; 23 const dousersignup = async function () { 24 // note that this values come from state variables that we've declared before 25 const usernamevalue = username; 26 const passwordvalue = password; 27 const emailvalue = email; 28 const phonenumbervalue = phonenumber; 29 try { 30 // since the signup method returns a promise, we need to call it using await 31 // note that now you are setting the user email value as well 32 let createduser = await parse user signup(usernamevalue, passwordvalue, { 33 email emailvalue, 34 phonenumber phonenumbervalue, 35 }); 36&#x9; 37 // parse user signup returns the already created parseuser object if successful 38 alert alert( 39 'success!', 40 `user ${createduser get( 41 'username', 42 )} was successfully created! verify your email to login`, 43 ); 44 // since email verification is now required, make sure to log out 45 // the new user, so any session created is cleared and the user can 46 // safely log in again after verifying 47 await parse user logout(); 48 // go back to the login page 49 navigation dispatch(stackactions poptotop()); 50 return true; 51 } catch (error) { 52 // signup can fail if any parameter is blank or failed an uniqueness check on the server 53 alert alert('error!', error message); 54 return false; 55 } 56 }; 57&#x9; 58 return ( 59 \<view style={styles login wrapper}> 60 \<view style={styles form}> 61 \<textinput 62 style={styles form input} 63 value={username} 64 placeholder={'username'} 65 onchangetext={(text) => setusername(text)} 66 autocapitalize={'none'} 67 keyboardtype={'email address'} 68 /> 69 \<textinput 70 style={styles form input} 71 value={email} 72 placeholder={'email'} 73 onchangetext={(text) => setemail(text)} 74 autocapitalize={'none'} 75 keyboardtype={'email address'} 76 /> 77 \<textinput 78 style={styles form input} 79 value={phonenumber} 80 placeholder={'phone (international format +15017122661)'} 81 onchangetext={(text) => setphonenumber(text)} 82 autocapitalize={'none'} 83 keyboardtype={'phone pad'} 84 /> 85 \<textinput 86 style={styles form input} 87 value={password} 88 placeholder={'password'} 89 securetextentry 90 onchangetext={(text) => setpassword(text)} 91 /> 92 \<touchableopacity onpress={() => dousersignup()}> 93 \<view style={styles button}> 94 \<text style={styles button label}>{'sign up'}\</text> 95 \</view> 96 \</touchableopacity> 97 \</view> 98 \<view style={styles login social}> 99 \<view style={styles login social separator}> 100 \<view style={styles login social separator line} /> 101 \<text style={styles login social separator text}>{'or'}\</text> 102 \<view style={styles login social separator line} /> 103 \</view> 104 \<view style={styles login social buttons}> 105 \<touchableopacity> 106 \<view 107 style={\[ 108 styles login social button, 109 styles login social facebook, 110 ]}> 111 \<image 112 style={styles login social icon} 113 source={require(' /assets/icon facebook png')} 114 /> 115 \</view> 116 \</touchableopacity> 117 \<touchableopacity> 118 \<view style={styles login social button}> 119 \<image 120 style={styles login social icon} 121 source={require(' /assets/icon google png')} 122 /> 123 \</view> 124 \</touchableopacity> 125 \<touchableopacity> 126 \<view style={styles login social button}> 127 \<image 128 style={styles login social icon} 129 source={require(' /assets/icon apple png')} 130 /> 131 \</view> 132 \</touchableopacity> 133 \</view> 134 \</view> 135 <> 136 \<touchableopacity onpress={() => navigation navigate('login')}> 137 \<text style={styles login footer text}> 138 {'already have an account? '} 139 \<text style={styles login footer link}>{'log in'}\</text> 140 \</text> 141 \</touchableopacity> 142 \</> 143 \</view> 144 ); 145 };1 import react, {fc, reactelement, usestate} from 'react'; 2 import { 3 alert, 4 image, 5 text, 6 textinput, 7 touchableopacity, 8 view, 9 } from 'react native'; 10 import parse from 'parse/react native'; 11 import {usenavigation} from '@react navigation/native'; 12 import {stackactions} from '@react navigation/native'; 13 import styles from ' /styles'; 14&#x9; 15 export const userregistration fc<{}> = ({}) reactelement => { 16 const navigation = usenavigation(); 17&#x9; 18 const \[username, setusername] = usestate(''); 19 const \[password, setpassword] = usestate(''); 20 const \[email, setemail] = usestate(''); 21 const \[phonenumber, setphonenumber] = usestate(''); 22&#x9; 23 const dousersignup = async function () promise\<boolean> { 24 // note that this values come from state variables that we've declared before 25 const usernamevalue string = username; 26 const passwordvalue string = password; 27 const emailvalue string = email; 28 const phonenumbervalue string = phonenumber; 29 try { 30 // since the signup method returns a promise, we need to call it using await 31 // note that now you are setting the user email value as well 32 let createduser = await parse user signup(usernamevalue, passwordvalue, { 33 email emailvalue, 34 phonenumber phonenumbervalue, 35 }); 36&#x9; 37 // parse user signup returns the already created parseuser object if successful 38 alert alert( 39 'success!', 40 `user ${createduser get( 41 'username', 42 )} was successfully created! verify your email to login`, 43 ); 44 // since email verification is now required, make sure to log out 45 // the new user, so any session created is cleared and the user can 46 // safely log in again after verifying 47 await parse user logout(); 48 // go back to the login page 49 navigation dispatch(stackactions poptotop()); 50 return true; 51 } catch (error object) { 52 // signup can fail if any parameter is blank or failed an uniqueness check on the server 53 alert alert('error!', error message); 54 return false; 55 } 56 }; 57&#x9; 58 return ( 59 \<view style={styles login wrapper}> 60 \<view style={styles form}> 61 \<textinput 62 style={styles form input} 63 value={username} 64 placeholder={'username'} 65 onchangetext={(text) => setusername(text)} 66 autocapitalize={'none'} 67 keyboardtype={'email address'} 68 /> 69 \<textinput 70 style={styles form input} 71 value={email} 72 placeholder={'email'} 73 onchangetext={(text) => setemail(text)} 74 autocapitalize={'none'} 75 keyboardtype={'email address'} 76 /> 77 \<textinput 78 style={styles form input} 79 value={phonenumber} 80 placeholder={'phone (international format +15017122661)'} 81 onchangetext={(text) => setphonenumber(text)} 82 autocapitalize={'none'} 83 keyboardtype={'phone pad'} 84 /> 85 \<textinput 86 style={styles form input} 87 value={password} 88 placeholder={'password'} 89 securetextentry 90 onchangetext={(text) => setpassword(text)} 91 /> 92 \<touchableopacity onpress={() => dousersignup()}> 93 \<view style={styles button}> 94 \<text style={styles button label}>{'sign up'}\</text> 95 \</view> 96 \</touchableopacity> 97 \</view> 98 \<view style={styles login social}> 99 \<view style={styles login social separator}> 100 \<view style={styles login social separator line} /> 101 \<text style={styles login social separator text}>{'or'}\</text> 102 \<view style={styles login social separator line} /> 103 \</view> 104 \<view style={styles login social buttons}> 105 \<touchableopacity> 106 \<view 107 style={\[ 108 styles login social button, 109 styles login social facebook, 110 ]}> 111 \<image 112 style={styles login social icon} 113 source={require(' /assets/icon facebook png')} 114 /> 115 \</view> 116 \</touchableopacity> 117 \<touchableopacity> 118 \<view style={styles login social button}> 119 \<image 120 style={styles login social icon} 121 source={require(' /assets/icon google png')} 122 /> 123 \</view> 124 \</touchableopacity> 125 \<touchableopacity> 126 \<view style={styles login social button}> 127 \<image 128 style={styles login social icon} 129 source={require(' /assets/icon apple png')} 130 /> 131 \</view> 132 \</touchableopacity> 133 \</view> 134 \</view> 135 <> 136 \<touchableopacity onpress={() => navigation navigate('login')}> 137 \<text style={styles login footer text}> 138 {'already have an account? '} 139 \<text style={styles login footer link}>{'log in'}\</text> 140 \</text> 141 \</touchableopacity> 142 \</> 143 \</view> 144 ); 145 }; let’s now create a new file containing the new userotp userotp screen, which will handle all the otp processes the screen will have two input fields, being the first one for your user to provide the means to get the otp (email address or phone number) the other input field, hidden before submitting the otp request, will contain the user received token here is the full userotp js userotp js (or userotp tsx userotp tsx ) code javascript 1 import react, {usestate} from 'react'; 2 import {alert, text, textinput, touchableopacity, view} from 'react native'; 3 import parse from 'parse/react native'; 4 import {usenavigation} from '@react navigation/native'; 5 import styles from ' /styles'; 6&#x9; 7 export const userotp = () => { 8 const navigation = usenavigation(); 9&#x9; 10 const \[userdata, setuserdata] = usestate(''); 11 const \[usertoken, setusertoken] = usestate(''); 12 const \[tokenrequested, settokenrequested] = usestate(false); 13&#x9; 14 const requestotp = async function () { 15 // note that this values come from state variables that we've declared before 16 const userdatavalue = userdata; 17 // check if value is an email if it contains @ note that in a real 18 // app you need a much better validator for this field 19 const verificationtype = 20 userdatavalue includes('@') === true ? 'email' 'sms'; 21 // we need to call it using await 22 try { 23 await parse cloud run('requestotp', { 24 userdata userdatavalue, 25 verificationtype verificationtype, 26 }); 27 // show token input field 28 settokenrequested(true); 29 alert alert('success!', `token requested via ${verificationtype}!`); 30 return true; 31 } catch (error) { 32 alert alert('error!', error message); 33 return false; 34 } 35 }; 36&#x9; 37 const verifyotp = async function () { 38 // note that this values come from state variables that we've declared before 39 const userdatavalue = userdata; 40 const usertokenvalue = usertoken; 41 // check if value is an email if it contains @ note that in a real 42 // app you need a much better validator for this field 43 const verificationtype = 44 userdatavalue includes('@') === true ? 'email' 'sms'; 45 // we need the installation id to allow cloud code to create 46 // a new session and login user without password 47 const parseinstallationid = await parse getinstallationid(); 48 // we need to call it using await 49 try { 50 // verify otp, if successful, returns a sessionid 51 let response = await parse cloud run('verifyotp', { 52 userdata userdatavalue, 53 verificationtype verificationtype, 54 usertoken usertokenvalue, 55 parseinstallationid parseinstallationid, 56 }); 57 if (response sessionid !== undefined) { 58 // use generated sessionid to become a user, 59 // logging in without needing to inform password and username 60 await parse user become(response sessionid); 61 const loggedinuser= await parse user currentasync(); 62 alert alert( 63 'success!', 64 `user ${loggedinuser get('username')} has successfully signed in!`, 65 ); 66 // navigation navigate takes the user to the home screen 67 navigation navigate('home'); 68 return true; 69 } else { 70 throw response; 71 } 72 } catch (error) { 73 alert alert('error!', error message); 74 return false; 75 } 76 }; 77&#x9; 78 return ( 79 \<view style={styles login wrapper}> 80 {tokenrequested === false ? ( 81 \<view style={styles form}> 82 \<textinput 83 style={styles form input} 84 value={userdata} 85 placeholder={'email or mobile phone number'} 86 onchangetext={(text) => setuserdata(text)} 87 autocapitalize={'none'} 88 keyboardtype={'email address'} 89 /> 90 \<touchableopacity onpress={() => requestotp()}> 91 \<view style={styles button}> 92 \<text style={styles button label}>{'request otp'}\</text> 93 \</view> 94 \</touchableopacity> 95 \</view> 96 ) ( 97 \<view style={styles form}> 98 \<text>{'inform the received token to proceed'}\</text> 99 \<textinput 100 style={styles form input} 101 value={usertoken} 102 placeholder={'token (6 digits)'} 103 onchangetext={(text) => setusertoken(text)} 104 autocapitalize={'none'} 105 keyboardtype={'default'} 106 /> 107 \<touchableopacity onpress={() => verifyotp()}> 108 \<view style={styles button}> 109 \<text style={styles button label}>{'verify'}\</text> 110 \</view> 111 \</touchableopacity> 112 \<touchableopacity onpress={() => requestotp()}> 113 \<view style={styles button}> 114 \<text style={styles button label}>{'resend token'}\</text> 115 \</view> 116 \</touchableopacity> 117 \</view> 118 )} 119 \</view> 120 ); 121 };1 import react, {fc, reactelement, usestate} from 'react'; 2 import {alert, text, textinput, touchableopacity, view} from 'react native'; 3 import parse from 'parse/react native'; 4 import {usenavigation} from '@react navigation/native'; 5 import styles from ' /styles'; 6&#x9; 7 export const userotp fc<{}> = ({}) reactelement => { 8 const navigation = usenavigation(); 9&#x9; 10 const \[userdata, setuserdata] = usestate(''); 11 const \[usertoken, setusertoken] = usestate(''); 12 const \[tokenrequested, settokenrequested] = usestate(false); 13&#x9; 14 const requestotp = async function () promise\<boolean> { 15 // note that this values come from state variables that we've declared before 16 const userdatavalue string = userdata; 17 // check if value is an email if it contains @ note that in a real 18 // app you need a much better validator for this field 19 const verificationtype string = 20 userdatavalue includes('@') === true ? 'email' 'sms'; 21 // we need to call it using await 22 try { 23 await parse cloud run('requestotp', { 24 userdata userdatavalue, 25 verificationtype verificationtype, 26 }); 27 // show token input field 28 settokenrequested(true); 29 alert alert('success!', `token requested via ${verificationtype}!`); 30 return true; 31 } catch (error) { 32 alert alert('error!', error message); 33 return false; 34 } 35 }; 36&#x9; 37 const verifyotp = async function () promise\<boolean> { 38 // note that this values come from state variables that we've declared before 39 const userdatavalue string = userdata; 40 const usertokenvalue string = usertoken; 41 // check if value is an email if it contains @ note that in a real 42 // app you need a much better validator for this field 43 const verificationtype string = 44 userdatavalue includes('@') === true ? 'email' 'sms'; 45 // we need the installation id to allow cloud code to create 46 // a new session and login user without password; this is obtained 47 // using a static method from parse 48 const parseinstallationid string = await parse getinstallationid(); 49 // we need to call it using await 50 try { 51 // verify otp, if successful, returns a sessionid 52 let response object = await parse cloud run('verifyotp', { 53 userdata userdatavalue, 54 verificationtype verificationtype, 55 usertoken usertokenvalue, 56 parseinstallationid parseinstallationid, 57 }); 58 if (response sessionid !== undefined) { 59 // use generated sessionid to become a user, 60 // logging in without needing to inform password and username 61 await parse user become(response sessionid); 62 const loggedinuser parse user = await parse user currentasync(); 63 alert alert( 64 'success!', 65 `user ${loggedinuser get('username')} has successfully signed in!`, 66 ); 67 // navigation navigate takes the user to the home screen 68 navigation navigate('home'); 69 return true; 70 } else { 71 throw response; 72 } 73 } catch (error) { 74 alert alert('error!', error message); 75 return false; 76 } 77 }; 78&#x9; 79 return ( 80 \<view style={styles login wrapper}> 81 {tokenrequested === false ? ( 82 \<view style={styles form}> 83 \<textinput 84 style={styles form input} 85 value={userdata} 86 placeholder={'email or mobile phone number'} 87 onchangetext={(text) => setuserdata(text)} 88 autocapitalize={'none'} 89 keyboardtype={'email address'} 90 /> 91 \<touchableopacity onpress={() => requestotp()}> 92 \<view style={styles button}> 93 \<text style={styles button label}>{'request otp'}\</text> 94 \</view> 95 \</touchableopacity> 96 \</view> 97 ) ( 98 \<view style={styles form}> 99 \<text>{'inform the received token to proceed'}\</text> 100 \<textinput 101 style={styles form input} 102 value={usertoken} 103 placeholder={'token (6 digits)'} 104 onchangetext={(text) => setusertoken(text)} 105 autocapitalize={'none'} 106 keyboardtype={'default'} 107 /> 108 \<touchableopacity onpress={() => verifyotp()}> 109 \<view style={styles button}> 110 \<text style={styles button label}>{'verify'}\</text> 111 \</view> 112 \</touchableopacity> 113 \<touchableopacity onpress={() => requestotp()}> 114 \<view style={styles button}> 115 \<text style={styles button label}>{'resend token'}\</text> 116 \</view> 117 \</touchableopacity> 118 \</view> 119 )} 120 \</view> 121 ); 122 }; take a closer look at the requestotp requestotp and verifyotp verifyotp functions, which are responsible for calling the respective cloud code functions and validating their response more detail on how they work can be inspected in the code comments after creating the new screen, import and declare it in your app js app js (or app tsx app tsx ) after that, add a new button in your userlogin js userlogin js (or userlogin tsx userlogin tsx ) file, enabling your user to navigate to the otp screen 4 testing the new otp feature let’s now test our changes to the app first, register a new user containing a valid email and phone number make sure to use the international notation (e 164) format in the phone number (e g +14155552671) now, navigate to the otp screen from the login screen and inform the same email or phone number as before click on the request button and you should get a message like this, changing the active input on your screen if you informed an email address, you should receive an email containing the otp token; if a phone number was passed, you will get an sms text message on your mobile phone the email should contain a message like this, depending on how you set up the sendgrid template inform the otp token and click on verify if everything went well, you should now be at the home screen with the following message conclusion at the end of this guide, you learned how to use parse cloud code functions to integrate third party services in your react native application in the next guide, you will learn how to work with users in parse