iOS Quickstart

Before you start

Set up a Clerk application

Example repository

iOS Quickstart Repo

Enable Native API

In the Clerk Dashboard, navigate to the Native applications page and ensure that the Native API is enabled. This is required to integrate Clerk in your native application.

Create a new iOS app

If you don't already have an iOS app, create a new project in Xcode. Select SwiftUI as your interface and Swift as your language. See the Xcode documentation for more information.

Follow the Swift Package Manager instructions to install Clerk as a dependency. When prompted for the package URL, enter https://github.com/clerk/clerk-ios. Be sure to add both ClerkKit and ClerkKitUI to your target.

Add your Native Application

Add your iOS application to the Native applications page in the Clerk Dashboard. You will need your iOS app's App ID Prefix and Bundle ID.

Add associated domain capability

To enable seamless authentication flows, you need to add an associated domain capability to your iOS app. This allows your app to work with Clerk's authentication services.

In Xcode, select your project in the Project Navigator.
Select your app target.
Navigate to the Signing & Capabilities tab.
Select the + Capability option.
Search for and add Associated Domains. It will be added as a dropdown to the Signing & Capabilities tab.
Under Associated Domains, add a new entry with the value: webcredentials:{YOUR_FRONTEND_API_URL}

Note

Replace {YOUR_FRONTEND_API_URL} with your Frontend API URL.

Configure Clerk

Configure Clerk once at app launch and provide it to your SwiftUI environment.

Inside your new project in Xcode, open your @main app file.
Import ClerkKit.
Configure Clerk with your Clerk Publishable Key in your app's initializer.
Inject Clerk.shared into the SwiftUI environment using .environment(Clerk.shared) so your views can access it.

ClerkQuickstartApp.swift

import SwiftUI
import ClerkKit

@main
struct ClerkQuickstartApp: App {
  init() {
    Clerk.configure(publishableKey: "YOUR_PUBLISHABLE_KEY")
  }

  var body: some Scene {
    WindowGroup {
      ContentView()
        .environment(Clerk.shared)
    }
  }
}

Conditionally render content

To render content based on whether a user is authenticated or not:

Open your ContentView file.
Import ClerkKit and access the shared Clerk instance that you injected into the environment in the previous step.
Replace the content of the view body with a conditional that checks for a clerk.user.

ContentView.swift

import SwiftUI
import ClerkKit

struct ContentView: View {
  @Environment(Clerk.self) private var clerk

  var body: some View {
    VStack {
      if let user = clerk.user {
        Text("Hello, \(user.id)")
      } else {
        Text("You are signed out")
      }
    }
  }
}

Use Clerk's prebuilt views

Clerk provides prebuilt SwiftUI views that handle authentication flows and user management, eliminating the need to build custom forms and flows.

Update your ContentView to use two key Clerk's prebuilt views:

AuthView: A comprehensive authentication view that handles sign-in and sign-up flows, including email verification, password reset, and multi-factor authentication. It's presented as a sheet when the user taps "Sign in".
UserButton: A circular button that displays the user's profile image. When tapped, it automatically presents the UserProfileView where users can manage their account, update their profile, and sign out.

Replace the existing content with the following code. Import both ClerkKit and ClerkKitUI when using prebuilt views:

ContentView.swift

import SwiftUI
import ClerkKit
import ClerkKitUI

struct ContentView: View {
  @State private var authIsPresented = false

  var body: some View {
    VStack {
      UserButton(signedOutContent: {
        Button("Sign in") {
          authIsPresented = true
        }
      })
    }
    .prefetchClerkImages()
    .sheet(isPresented: $authIsPresented) {
      AuthView()
    }
  }
}

Edit on GitHub

iOS Quickstart

Before you start

Example repository

Enable Native API

Create a new iOS app

Install the Clerk iOS SDK

Add your Native Application

Add associated domain capability

Configure Clerk

Conditionally render content

Use Clerk's prebuilt views

Run your project

Create your first user

Next steps

Prebuilt views

Customization with ClerkTheme

Add native Sign in with Apple

Clerk iOS SDK Reference

iOS Quickstart

Before you start

Example repository

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