Google+ Sign-In for iOS

The Google+ Sign-In button manages the OAuth 2.0 flow and token lifecycle, simplifying your integration with the Google APIs. Furthermore, if the user has the native Google+ mobile app installed, the Google+ SDK also automatically integrates with it, so users will not have to re-enter their Google credentials to authorize your app.

A user always has the option to revoke access to an application at any time.

Before you begin

You must create an APIs Console project and initialize the Google+ client.

Enable sign in

To enable sign in, you must configure the GPPSignIn shared singleton instance. You can do this in many places in your app. The easiest place is often to configure this instance in your view controller's viewDidLoad method.

In your view controller's .h file, import GooglePlus/GooglePlus.h, and declare that this class implements the GPPSignInDelegate protocol.
```
#import <GooglePlus/GooglePlus.h>

@interface MyViewController : UIViewController <GPPSignInDelegate>
```
In your view controller's .m file, import GoogleOpenSource/GoogleOpenSource.h.
```
#import <GoogleOpenSource/GoogleOpenSource.h>
```
Choose a login scope for use in the next step based on this criteria:
- If you need access to the user's identity, social graph and the ability to write app activities, set the scope to kGTLAuthScopePlusLogin, which resolves to https://www.googleapis.com/auth/plus.login.
- If you just need access to basic profile information, set the scope to profile.
Your app can request additional scopes along with the login scope or request them anytime after the initial scopes have been granted. See Requesting additional scopes.

In your view controller's viewDidLoad method, configure the GPPSignIn shared singleton instance by declaring its client ID, delegate, and scopes. Be sure to choose the signIn.scopes statement below that you picked in the previous step.

- (void)viewDidLoad
{
  [super viewDidLoad];

  GPPSignIn *signIn = [GPPSignIn sharedInstance];
  signIn.shouldFetchGooglePlusUser = YES;
  //signIn.shouldFetchGoogleUserEmail = YES;  // Uncomment to get the user's email

  // You previously set kClientId in the "Initialize the Google+ client" step
  signIn.clientID = kClientId;

  // Uncomment one of these two statements for the scope you chose in the previous step
  signIn.scopes = @[ kGTLAuthScopePlusLogin ];  // "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/plus.login" scope
  //signIn.scopes = @[ @"profile" ];            // "profile" scope

  // Optional: declare signIn.actions, see "app activities"
  signIn.delegate = self;
}

Implement the GPPSignInDelegate in the view controller to handle the sign-in process by defining the following method.

- (void)finishedWithAuth: (GTMOAuth2Authentication *)auth
                   error: (NSError *) error
{
    NSLog(@"Received error %@ and auth object %@",error, auth);
}

In your app delegate .m file, and import GooglePlus/GooglePlus.h.
```
#import <GooglePlus/GooglePlus.h>
```

Call the GPPURLHandler URL handler from your app delegate's URL handler. This handler will properly handle the URL that your application receives at the end of the authentication process.

- (BOOL)application: (UIApplication *)application
            openURL: (NSURL *)url
  sourceApplication: (NSString *)sourceApplication
         annotation: (id)annotation {
 return [GPPURLHandler handleURL:url
               sourceApplication:sourceApplication
                      annotation:annotation];
}

Add the sign-in button

Next, you will add the Google+ Sign-In button so that the user can initiate the sign-in process.

If you added the test code [signIn authenticate] from the previous section, remove that code from your viewDidLoad controller.
In your view controller's .h file, add the forward class declaration for the GPPSignInButton.
```
@class GPPSignInButton;
```
Also in your view controller's .h file, declare the sign-in button as a property.
```
@property (retain, nonatomic) IBOutlet GPPSignInButton *signInButton;
```
In your view controller's .m file, import the header files for the Google+ Sign-In button.
```
#import <GooglePlus/GooglePlus.h>
```
Synthesize the GPPSignInButton property if necessary, although this step should no longer be required in newer versions of Xcode.
```
@synthesize signInButton;
```
Add the GPPSignInButton to your storyboard, XIB file, or instantiate it programmatically. GPPSignInButton inherits from UIButton, so if you are using a storyboard or XIB file, you can drag a Round Rect Button or View onto your view controller and set its Custom Class to GPPSignInButton. The resources for the sign-in button are contained in the GooglePlus.bundle file and should be imported into your xCode project to add it to your target.
Connect the button it to the signInButton property of your view controller.

Next, you can implement and handle automatic signing in of the user.

Automatically sign in the user

If you run your app at this point, you will be able to use the Google+ sign-in button to sign in to the app. You might also notice that after your first sign in, subsequent sign-in attempts succeed "silently" without any disruption to your app.

The GPPSignIn class has a trySilentAuthentication method that attempts to automatically sign in the user. This call succeeds if the user has authorized your application in the past, they haven't revoked access to your application, and the app isn't requesting new scopes since they last signed in. If this call succeeds, it calls your finishedWithAuth:error: method when sign in is complete.

Add the [signIn trySilentAuthentication] call to the end of your viewDidLoad method.
```
[signIn trySilentAuthentication];
```

You probably want to hide the sign-in button after the user has successfully signed in. You can test for your GPPSignIn's authentication property and if it exists, the user has signed in and you can refresh your interface appropriately. For example:

-(void)refreshInterfaceBasedOnSignIn
{
  if ([[GPPSignIn sharedInstance] authentication]) {
    // The user is signed in.
    self.signInButton.hidden = YES;
    // Perform other actions here, such as showing a sign-out button
  } else {
    self.signInButton.hidden = NO;
    // Perform other actions here
  }
}

Call this method in your finishedWithAuth:error handler.

- (void)finishedWithAuth: (GTMOAuth2Authentication *)auth
                   error: (NSError *) error
{
  NSLog(@"Received error %@ and auth object %@",error, auth);
  if (error) {
    // Do some error handling here.
  } else {
    [self refreshInterfaceBasedOnSignIn];
  }
}

Sign out the user

You can use the signOut method of the GPPSignIn object to sign out your user, for example:

- (void)signOut {
  [[GPPSignIn sharedInstance] signOut];
}

Revoking access tokens and disconnecting the app

To comply with the terms of the Google+ developer policies, you must offer users who signed in with Google the ability to disconnect from your app. If the user deletes their account, you must delete the information that your app obtained from the Google APIs.

The following code example demonstrates how to programmatically revoke access tokens that your app was granted on behalf of the user and to disconnect the user's account from your app.

- (void)disconnect {
  [[GPPSignIn sharedInstance] disconnect];
}

- (void)didDisconnectWithError:(NSError *)error {
  if (error) {
    NSLog(@"Received error %@", error);
  } else {
    // The user is signed out and disconnected.
    // Clean up user data as specified by the Google+ terms.
  }
}

The disconnect method signs out the user in addition to disconnecting and revoking tokens. You must not sign out the user prior to calling disconnect.

You can trigger the above disconnect method from a button that you add to your app. You can then respond to the successful disconnection within the didDisconnectWithError method and trigger any appropriate logic in your app or your back-end code. For more information, see the deletion rules in the developer policies.

Requesting additional scopes

Your app can request additional scopes anytime after the initial scopes have been granted. In this case, only those additional scopes will appear in the user's consent screen. Your app should request all previously granted scopes with these additional scopes to ensure your app proceeds with all the access it expects.

To request additional scopes, append the new scopes to the scopes property of the GPPSignIn shared singleton instance, then call the authenticate method to request consent. You will received a call back to your finishedWithAuth:error: method as with a regular sign-in.

You might use this technique if you suspect users are avoiding sign-in because your consent screen is overwhelming new users, or if you think users are confused why they are being asked for certain permissions. In either case, you can delay the additional scopes and present them just before they are needed.

Troubleshooting

Authentication is slow - If the authenticate: method is very slow, you might be trying to call the method before your app has fully loaded. Try using the trySilentAuthentication: method instead. See automatically signing in the user.

Error redirect_uri_mismatch - This error can occur when you entered an incorrect bundle ID in your Google APIs Console project that does not match your app's bundle ID. Check that your client ID and bundle ID match the values that are displayed in the APIs Console.

Error invalid_client - This error can occur when the client ID that you entered in your app's controller does not match a client ID in your Google APIs Console project. Check that your client ID and bundle ID match the values that are displayed in the APIs Console.

Next steps

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Last updated January 6, 2014.

Google+ Platform for iOS