For our new friends:

Logto is an Auth0 alternative designed for modern apps and SaaS products. It offers both Cloud and Open-source services to help you quickly launch your identity and management (IAM) system. Enjoy authentication, authorization, and multi-tenant management all in one.

We recommend starting with a free development tenant on Logto Cloud. This allows you to explore all the features easily.

In this article, we will go through the steps to quickly build the WeChat (Native) sign-in experience (user authentication) with WordPress plugin and Logto.

Prerequisites

• A running Logto instance. Check out the introduction page to get started.
• Basic knowledge of WordPress plugin.
• A usable WeChat (Native) account.

Create an application in Logto

Logto is based on OpenID Connect (OIDC) authentication and OAuth 2.0 authorization. It supports federated identity management across multiple applications, commonly called Single Sign-On (SSO).

To create your Traditional web application, simply follow these steps:

1. Open the Logto Console. In the "Get started" section, click the "View all" link to open the application frameworks list. Alternatively, you can navigate to Logto Console > Applications, and click the "Create application" button.
2. In the opening modal, click the "Traditional web" section or filter all the available "Traditional web" frameworks using the quick filter checkboxes on the left. Click the "WordPress" framework card to start creating your application.
3. Enter the application name, e.g., "Bookstore," and click "Create application".

🎉 Ta-da! You just created your first application in Logto. You'll see a congrats page which includes a detailed integration guide. Follow the guide to see what the experience will be in your application.

Integrate WordPress with Logto

Install the plugin

From WordPress admin panel

1. Go to Plugins > Add New.
2. Search for "Logto", or enter https://wordpress.org/plugins/logto/ in the search box.
3. Click Install Now.
4. Click Activate.

From upload

1. Download the Logto WordPress plugin from one of the following links:
   • Latest release: Download the file which name in the format of logto-plugin-<version>.zip.
   • WordPress plugin directory: Download the file by clicking the Download button.
2. Download the plugin ZIP file.
3. Go to Plugins > Add New in your WordPress admin panel.
4. Click Upload Plugin.
5. Select the downloaded ZIP file and click Install Now.
6. Click Activate.

Configure the plugin

Now you should be able to see the Logto menu in your WordPress admin panel sidebar. Click Logto > Settings to configure the plugin.

note:

You should have a traditional web application created in Logto Console before configuring the plugin. If you haven't created one, please refer to Integrate Logto into your application for more information.

The minimum configuration to get started for the plugin is:

• Logto endpoint: The endpoint of your Logto tenant.
• App ID: The app ID of your Logto application.
• App secret: One of the valid app secrets of your Logto application.

All values can be found on the application details page in Logto Console.

After filling in the values, click Save Changes (scroll down to the bottom of the page if you can't find the button).

Configure redirect URI

The redirect URI is the URL to which Logto will redirect users after they have authenticated; and the post sign-out redirect URI is the URL to which Logto will redirect users after they have logged out.

Here's a non-normative sequence diagram to illustrate the sign-in flow:

Here's how the sign-out flow looks like in a non-normative sequence diagram:

To learn more about why redirect is needed, see Sign-in experience explained.

In our case, we need to configure both redirect URIs in your Logto Console. To find the redirect URI, go to the Logto > Settings page in your WordPress admin panel. You'll see the Redirect URI and Post sign-out redirect URI fields.

1. Copy the Redirect URI and Post sign-out redirect URI values and paste them into the Redirect URIs and Post sign-out redirect URIs fields in your Logto Console.
2. Click Save changes in Logto Console.

Checkpoint: Test your WordPress website

Now you can test your Logto integration in your WordPress website:

1. Open an incognito browser window if needed.
2. Visit your WordPress website and click the Log in link if applicable; or directly visit the login page (e.g., https://example.com/wp-login.php).
3. The page should redirect you to the Logto sign-in page.
4. Complete the sign-in or sign-up process.
5. After successful authentication, you should be redirected back to your WordPress website and logged in automatically.
6. Click the Log out link to log out of your WordPress website.
7. You should be redirected to the Logto sign-out page, then back to your WordPress website.
8. You should be logged out of your WordPress website.

To learn more about the WordPress plugin settings, see WordPress quick start.

Add WeChat (Native) connector

To enable quick sign-in and improve user conversion, connect with WordPress as an identity provider. The Logto social connector helps you establish this connection in minutes by allowing several parameter inputs.

To add a social connector, simply follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Console > Connectors > Social Connectors.
2. Click "Add social connector" and select "WeChat (Native)".
3. Follow the README guide and complete required fields and customize settings.

note:

If you are following the in-place Connector guide, you can skip the next section.

Set up WeChat mobile app

Create a mobile app in the WeChat Open Platform

tip:

You can skip some sections if you have already finished.

Create an account

Open https://open.weixin.qq.com/, click the "Sign Up" button in the upper-right corner, then finish the sign-up process.

Create a mobile app

Sign in with the account you just created. In the "Mobile Application" (移动应用) tab, click the big green button "Create a mobile app" (创建移动应用).

Let's fill out the required info in the application form.

Basic info

Most of them are pretty straightforward, and we have several tips here:

• If you just want to test WeChat sign-in and the app is not on the App Store, in the "App is available" section, choose "No" to skip the "App download link".
• The "App operation flow chart" looks tricky. From our experience, you need to prepare a simple flowchart and several app screenshots to improve the possibility of passing the review.

Click "Next step" to move on.

Platform info

You can configure one or both iOS and Android platforms to integrate Logto with WeChat native sign-in.

iOS app

Check "iOS app" (iOS 应用), then check the target device type of your app accordingly.

If you chose "No" for the App Store availability, you cloud skip filling out the "AppStore download address" here.

Fill out Bundle ID, Test version Bundle ID, and Universal Links (actually, only one link is needed 😂).

note:

Bundle ID and Test version Bundle ID can be the same value.

tip:

WeChat requires universal link for native sign-in. If you haven't set up or don't know it, please refer to the Apple official doc.

Android app

Check "Android app" (Android 应用).

Fill out Application Signing Signature (应用签名) and Application Package Name (应用包名).

note:

You need to sign your app to get a signature. Refer to the Sign your app for more info.

After finish signing, you can execute the signingReport task to get the signing signature.

./gradlew your-android-project:signingReport

The MD5 value of the corresponding build variant's report will be the Application Signing Signature (应用签名), but remember to remove all semicolons from the value and lowercase it.

E.g. 1A:2B:3C:4D -> 1a2b3c4d.

Waiting for the review result

After completing the platform info, click "Submit Review" to continue. Usually, the review goes fast, which will end within 1-2 days.

We suspect the reviewer is allocated randomly on each submission since the standard is floating. You may get rejected the first time, but don't give up! State your status quo and ask the reviewer how to modify it.

Enable WeChat native sign-in in your app

iOS

We assume you have integrated Logto iOS SDK in your app. In this case, things are pretty simple, and you don't even need to read the WeChat SDK doc:

1. Configure universal link and URL scheme in your Xcode project

In the Xcode project -> Signing & Capabilities tab, add the "Associated Domains" capability and the universal link you configured before.

Then goes to the "Info" tab, add a custom URL scheme with the WeChat App ID.

Finally open your Info.plist, add weixinULAPI and weixin under LSApplicationQueriesSchemes.

note:

We know these actions are not very reasonable, but this is the minimum workable solution we found. See the magical official guide for more info.

2. Add LogtoSocialPluginWechat to your Xcode project

Add the framework:

And add -ObjC to your Build Settings > Linking > Other Linker Flags:

note:

The plugin includes WeChat Open SDK 1.9.2. You can directly use import WechatOpenSDK once imported the plugin.

3. Add the plugin to your LogtoClient init options

let logtoClient = LogtoClient(
  useConfig: config,
  socialPlugins: [LogtoSocialPluginWechat()]
)

4. Handle onOpenURL properly

note:

The function LogtoClient.handle(url:) will handle all the native connectors you enabled. You only need to call it once.

// SwiftUI
YourRootView()
  .onOpenURL { url in
      LogtoClient.handle(url: url)
  }

// or AppDelegate
func application(_ app: UIApplication, open url: URL, options: /*...*/) -> Bool {
  LogtoClient.handle(url: url)
}

Android

We assume you have integrated Logto Android SDK in your app. In this case, things are pretty simple, and you don't even need to read the WeChat SDK doc:

1. Add Wechat Open SDK to your project

Ensure the mavenCentral() repository is in your Gradle project repositories:

repositories {
  // ...
  mavenCentral()
}

Add the Wechat Open SDK to your dependencies:

dependencies {
  // ...
  api("com.tencent.mm.opensdk:wechat-sdk-android:6.8.0")  // kotlin-script
  // or
  api 'com.tencent.mm.opensdk:wechat-sdk-android:6.8.0'   // groovy-script
}

2. Introduce WXEntryActivity to your project

Create a wxapi package under your package root and add the WXEntryActivity in the wxapi package (Take com.sample.app as an example):

// WXEntryActivity.kt
package com.sample.app.wxapi

import io.logto.sdk.android.auth.social.wechat.WechatSocialResultActivity

class WXEntryActivity: WechatSocialResultActivity()

// WXEntryActivity.java
package com.sample.app.wxapi

import io.logto.sdk.android.auth.social.wechat.WechatSocialResultActivity

public class WXEntryActivity extends WechatSocialResultActivity {}

The final position of the WXEntryActivity under the project should look like this (Take Kotlin as an example):

src/main/kotlin/com/sample/app/wxapi/WXEntryActivity.kt

3. Modify the AndroidManifest.xml

Add the following line to your AndroidManifest.xml:

\<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
\<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
  package="com.sample.app">

  \<application>
    \<!-- line to be added -->
    \<activity android:name=".wxapi.WXEntryActivity" android:exported="true"/>
  \</application>

\</manifest>

Save your configuration

Double check you have filled out necessary values in the Logto connector configuration area. Click "Save and Done" (or "Save changes") and the WeChat (Native) connector should be available now.

Enable WeChat (Native) connector in Sign-in Experience

Once you create a social connector successfully, you can enable it as a "Continue with WeChat (Native)" button in Sign-in Experience.

1. Navigate to Console > Sign-in experience > Sign-up and sign-in.
2. (Optional) Choose "Not applicable" for sign-up identifier if you need social login only.
3. Add configured WeChat (Native) connector to the "Social sign-in" section.

Testing and Validation

Return to your WordPress plugin app. You should now be able to sign in with WeChat (Native). Enjoy!

Further readings

End-user flows: Logto provides a out-of-the-box authentication flows including MFA and enterprise SSO, along with powerful APIs for flexible implementation of account settings, security verification, and multi-tenant experience.

Authorization: Authorization defines the actions a user can do or resources they can access after being authenticated. Explore how to protect your API for native and single-page applications and implement Role-based Access Control (RBAC).

Organizations: Particularly effective in multi-tenant SaaS and B2B apps, the organization feature enable tenant creation, member management, organization-level RBAC, and just-in-time-provisioning.

Customer IAM series Our serial blog posts about Customer (or Consumer) Identity and Access Management, from 101 to advanced topics and beyond.