react-native-app-attest

A React Native TurboModule that provides a bridge to Apple’s App Attest API (DeviceCheck framework), allowing iOS apps and App Clips to generate hardware-backed cryptographic keys,
perform device attestation, and generate assertions to securely verify app integrity on your backend.

[!NOTE]

• This library was originally built for my work app, which uses the Bare React Native CLI (non-Expo).
• I’ve open-sourced it so the wider React Native community can easily integrate App Attest APIs
• Pull requests are welcome — especially for Expo support (via custom config plugins) or additional native enhancements.

📦 Installation

npm install react-native-app-attest

Then install pods:

cd ios && pod install

[!IMPORTANT]

• Requires iOS 14+ (App Attest API availability).
• Works on real devices only (Secure Enclave required).
• App Attest helps detect cloned apps, replay attacks, and tampering of iOS apps or App Clips.

✅ Required native setup (must-do)

Enable App Attest in Apple Developer (App ID)

Go to Apple Developer → Certificates, IDs & Profiles → Identifiers.

Select your App ID (and the App Clip App ID if using App Clip).

Under Capabilities, enable App Attest / DeviceCheck (if shown). If “App Attest” is not toggled there, enable the DeviceCheck/App Attest related capability.

Add App Attest entitlement (optional for sandbox testing) Add to your app’s entitlements file (YourApp.entitlements and App Clip entitlements if applicable):

<key>com.apple.developer.devicecheck.appattest-environment</key>
<string>development</string>

Use "development" for debug/TestFlight testing (sandbox).

Remove or change to production per Apple docs when releasing to App Store as instructed.

Use a real device App Attest requires Secure Enclave — simulator will not work.

No AppDelegate changes required App Attest calls are in-process and handled by the native module. (You still need the usual bridging/native module compile steps.)

Provisioning profile Ensure the provisioning profile for the App ID contains the App Attest/DeviceCheck capability.

🔗 Reference Links

• 📘 Apple Docs: Validating Apps That Connect to Your Server
• 🧾 Apple Framework: DeviceCheck → DCAppAttestService
• 🔐 Security Overview: Protecting Apps with App Attest

 Why This Library Exists

App Attest provides Apple-signed, Secure Enclave–generated keys to help backends verify that a request truly comes from your legitimate app binary.

🧠 What It Does

This module wraps Apple’s DCAppAttestService and exposes three async methods:

{
  generateAppAttestKey(): Promise<string>;
  attestAppKey(keyID: string, challenge: string): Promise<string>;
  generateAppAssertion(keyID: string, payload: string): Promise<string>;
}

⚙️ Usage

import {
  generateAppAttestKey,
  attestAppKey,
  generateAppAssertion,
} from 'react-native-app-attest';
import axios from 'axios';
import { Alert } from 'react-native';

export default async function secureHandshake() {
  const challenge = 'example-server-challenge';

  try {
    const keyID = await generateAppAttestKey();
    const attestation = await attestAppKey(keyID, challenge);

    const payload = JSON.stringify({
      subject: 'Hello',
      message: 'World',
    });

    const assertion = await generateAppAssertion(keyID, payload);

    const { data } = await axios.post(
      'https://your-backend.com/api/verify-app-attest',
      {
        keyID,
        attestation,
        assertion,
        challenge,
      }
    );

    if (data.verified) Alert.alert('✅ Verified', 'App Attest succeeded');
    else Alert.alert('❌ Verification failed', data.reason);
  } catch (err: any) {
    Alert.alert('Error', err.message);
  }
}

🧩 Supported Platforms

| Platform | Status | | ------------- | ------------------------------------ | | iOS (14+) | ✅ Fully supported | | App Clip | ✅ Supported | | Android | 🚫 Not applicable | | Simulator | ⚠️ Not supported (no Secure Enclave) |

🧰 Backend Verification

You can use this library to verify your app attestation in the backend to secure your API:

https://www.npmjs.com/package/node-app-attest

🤝 Contributing

Pull requests and discussions are welcome!

• Development workflow
• Sending a pull request
• Code of conduct

🪪 License

MIT © Gautham Vijayan

Made with create-react-native-library