Skip to main content

Usage

Basic Usage

To use react-native-keychain, follow the example below to securely store and retrieve credentials.

import * as Keychain from 'react-native-keychain';

async () => {
const username = 'zuck';
const password = 'poniesRgr8';

// Store the credentials
await Keychain.setGenericPassword(username, password);

try {
// Retrieve the credentials
const credentials = await Keychain.getGenericPassword();
if (credentials) {
console.log(
'Credentials successfully loaded for user ' + credentials.username
);
} else {
console.log('No credentials stored');
}
} catch (error) {
console.error("Failed to access Keychain", error);
}

// Reset the stored credentials
await Keychain.resetGenericPassword();
};

See the KeychainExample for a fully working project example.

Note: Both setGenericPassword and setInternetCredentials only support strings. If you need to store objects, use JSON.stringify when storing and JSON.parse when retrieving.

Advanced Usage

Android

The module automatically selects the appropriate CipherStorage implementation based on the device's API level:

  • API levels 16-22: Uses Facebook Conceal for encryption/decryption.
  • API level 23+: Uses Android Keystore for encryption/decryption.

Encrypted data is stored in SharedPreferences.

Multiple Credentials

When using setInternetCredentials(server, username, password), the server argument is treated as a key to distinguish between multiple entries. Internally, this is equivalent to calling setGenericPassword(username, password, server).

Configuring Android-Specific Behavior

Due to inconsistencies in Android implementations across different manufacturers, some devices (e.g., Samsung) may experience slow startup times for the cryptographic system. To address this, the Android implementation includes a "warm-up" strategy by default.

Default Warm-Up Behavior

By default, the warm-up strategy is enabled, as shown below:

private List<ReactPackage> createPackageList() {
return Arrays.asList(
...
new KeychainPackage(), // warming up is ON by default
...
);
}

Disabling Warm-Up

If you need more control over the behavior, you can disable warm-up by using the builder pattern:

private List<ReactPackage> createPackageList() {
return Arrays.asList(
...
new KeychainPackage(
new KeychainModuleBuilder()
.withoutWarmUp() // warming up is OFF
),
...
);
}

iOS

To share the Keychain between your main app and a Share Extension in iOS, ensure the following:

  1. Use the same App Group and Keychain Sharing group names in both your Main App and Share Extension.
  2. Utilize the accessGroup and service options when calling setGenericPassword and getGenericPassword:
Keychain.getGenericPassword({
accessGroup: 'group.appname',
service: 'com.example.appname'
});

References