Anonymous authentication & linking#

The principle of using anonymous authentication with external linking later is only recomended if frictionless platform-specific providers are not viable for your app. It may also be relevant if you need to link additional providers at a later date. Please refer to the best practices decision diagram if you are unsure of your overall approach.

This page provides some recommendations and tips to help you with your implementation of anonymous authentication and linking.

Anonymous authentication introduces players to your game and provides a frictionless First Time User Experience. A First Time User Experience is the initial interaction with the application. A player can go through the first few levels using an anonymous account, so game servers can still track the progress while the player gets a chance to try out and explore your game.

Once a player becomes invested in your game, prompt the player to upgrade their anonymous account to sign in with a platform account. A benefit of signing in with a platform account makes a player’s game progress recoverable if they want to switch devices and continue playing, or access items gained or purchased in the game.

To implement this:

• Use a player’s anonymous sign-in to create a new account and let the player get started with the game. Meanwhile, existing players can sign in with their platform accounts.
• When it's a good time to prompt the player to upgrade their anonymous account (for example, when the player reaches a certain level, or if they’re trying to make their first purchase) prompt them to upgrade their anonymous account by linking with platform accounts. This provides a way to recover their game progress and purchases on another device, or if they need to reinstall the game in the future.

In other cases a frictionless First Time User Experience may not be necessary and platform-specific providers may not fulfil your requirements. In that case you can request the player to link a platform agnostic accounts with a game from the start.