Simple data sharing general terminology

Learn about simple data sharing general terminology.

MobileFirst application family

An application family is a way to associate a group of applications which share the same level of trust. Applications in the same family can securely and safely share information with each other.

To be considered part of the same MobileFirst application family, all applications in the same family must comply with the following requirements:

• Specify the same value for the application family in the application descriptor.

  • For iOS applications, this requirement is synonymous to the access group entitlements value and the wlAppFamily value in the worklight.plist file.

  • For Android applications, this requirement is synonymous to the sharedUserId value in the Android manifest file.

    • For Android, the name must be in the x.y format.

    • Enable or changing the MobileFirst application family settings require prior Android applications to be uninstalled. Upgrading an application that modified its sharedUserId is not allowed by the Android operating system for security reasons.

• Applications must be signed by the same signing identity. This requirement means that only applications from the same organization can use this feature.

  • For iOS applications, this requirement means the same Application ID prefix, provisioning profile, and signing identity is used to sign the application.

  • For Android applications, this requirement means the same signing certificate and key.

Aside from the MPF provided APIs, applications in the same MobileFirst application family can also use the data sharing APIs available through their respective native mobile SDK APIs.

String tokens

Sharing string tokens across applications of the same MobileFirst application family can now be accomplished in hybrid or native iOS and Android applications through the Simple Data Sharing feature.

String tokens are considered simple strings, such as passwords or cookies. Using large strings results in considerable performance degradation.

Consider encrypting tokens when we use the APIs for added security. See JSONStore security utilities.

Parent topic: Simple data sharing