Web app Single Sign-on with social providers using WordPress REST API integration | Web App SSO

With our web application SSO using WordPress solution, you can log into your web applications using credentials from social login apps like Google, Facebook, Apple, and LinkedIn and with WordPress as middleware Or, you can directly use your WordPress account to authenticate and log into the same web applications.

WordPress Rest API Authentication

By miniOrange

WordPress REST API Authentication plugin provides the security from unauthorized access to your WordPress REST APIs.

Know More

What is SSO?

Single Sign-on (SSO) is a technology that allows you to authenticate yourself and log into a variety of online applications and services using the same credentials. It saves you the trouble of entering the ‌details to create a new account, repeatedly.






SSO makes it easy for users to log in by not making them remember many username and password combinations. It reduces the time needed to get work done, ‌improving productivity. It also makes it easier for the administrator to manage user databases, since the probability of duplicate accounts or missing credentials is very low.

Single Sign-on works by sharing the token from a single session with multiple applications or websites. This increases security, since authentication is withdrawn when the token expires from all these services. Furthermore, it gives you the ability to implement Single Logout by the same token.

Single Sign-on (SSO) in web applications

Single Sign-on in web apps is almost a necessity these days. It makes things easier for both you and your users. Plus, it is highly likely that these web applications don’t work independently. Rather, they are associated with some or the other online service or platform that the users primarily make use of.

Our SSO solution works smoothly with web applications made in various frameworks like React, Angular, Node.js, etc.

Sign in using social login accounts

Single Sign-on can be implemented using your social login credentials from Google, Facebook, Apple, and LinkedIn, among others. Here, WordPress acts as middleware between your web application and the identity provider, which is your social media app. You must be logged in to your social media account in an active session for the authentication to occur successfully.




WordPress REST API allows the exchange of information necessary between the web applications and the social identity providers. It is done using a JWT (JSON Web Token) that carries your credentials in an encrypted form, making it secure and trustworthy.

This solution can be ‌useful in corporate environments where LinkedIn is anywhere between a social network to a talent acquisition and business growth tool. It is natural to expect engineers, HR professionals, and other employees to have a LinkedIn account. So why not use the same credentials to log in to your other applications?

In short, SSO using social login works in this manner:

• User logs into their social network account.
• User then attempts to log into your web application.
• A request is sent by this application to WordPress.
• WordPress forwards this request in the appropriate form to the social network.
• A confirmation is received by WordPress, if user is authenticated.
• WordPress forwards a JWT to the web application, containing authentication information.
• User gets logged into the web application.

There are other scenarios where this solution can be used, like Firebase and OAuth/OpenID Connect applications like AWS Cognito, Azure AD, Okta, Keycloak, ADFS, etc. Or, you can allow users to wield their social login credentials to log into Discord and automatically join the relevant servers and channels.

Sign in using WordPress

You also have the option of directly using your WordPress account as the Identity Provider (IdP) and log into the designated web applications. Instead of acting as an intermediator, the WordPress account itself becomes the means of implementing Single Sign-on.

Users and clients that have access to your webpages, blogs, or online web content can use their WordPress accounts to gain access to your web applications as well. This is useful when visitors to your online blog, store, or other types of membership sites can avail of certain services or features on your mobile or web application.

This has the dual benefits of having to manage accounts associated with the same users who are using both your website and web application, while also taking the account management workload off of you. All a user has to do is sign into their WordPress account, open the web or mobile application, and then use Single Sign-on to gain access with a single click.

To summarize, SSO using WordPress works in this way:

1. Using OAuth server:



• User attempts to log into your web application.
• A request is sent to OAuth server.
• OAuth checks for the user account on WordPress and authenticates the user.
• Once confirmed, the user credentials are forwarded in a JWT to the web app.
• User gets logged into the web application.

2. Using WordPress REST API:



• User attempts to log into your application.
• A request is sent to WordPress over the REST API.
• User credentials are checked to authenticate the user.
• Once confirmed, the API forwards the credentials in a JWT to the web app.
• User gets logged into the mobile application.

Maximize productivity and streamline security with these robust features!

• Mobile App integration: Our REST APIs enable integration and single sign-on for mobile applications across a range of platforms.
• Single Logout: Much the same way that you can log into multiple applications using a single social media account, you can also log out of the applications in the same session with one click.
• JWT Support: This authentication solution supports the JSON Web Token (JWT). After logging in, this JWT accompanies every request sent by the user and allows them to access the web application’s resources.
• OAuth/OpenID Connect Single Sign-on: This solution provides SSO login over standards like OAuth and OpenID Connect for identity providers like AWS Cognito, Azure AD, Keycloak, ADFS, and more.

  Recommended Plugins

 Download the below miniOrange SSO plugin for Web app Single Sign-on with social providers .

Additional Resources

• WordPress Rest API Authentication
• What is REST API?
• WordPress Single Sign-On (SSO) - OAuth

Mail us on oauthsupport@xecurify.com for quick guidance(via email/meeting) on your requirement and our team will help you to select the best suitable solution/plan as per your requirement.