Guest access

The AWS SDK for iOS entered Maintenance Phase as of August 1, 2025.

During this maintenance period:

Critical bug fixes and security patches will continue to be provided
No new features or enhancements will be added
Existing functionality will remain supported

We recommend that you start using AWS Amplify for iOS, our modern feature-rich library designed specifically for building cloud-connected apps powered by AWS. You can refer to the AWS SDK for iOS migration guide to help you transition to AWS Amplify for Swift.

This version is scheduled to reach End of Support on August 1, 2026. After this date, no further updates of any kind will be provided. See maintenance policy for more information about the Amplify Client Library lifecycle.

Many applications have UX with Guest or "Unauthenticated" users. This functionality is supported out of the box with AWSMobileClient through the initialization routine. However, the Amplify CLI does not enable this by default with the amplify add auth flow. You can enable this by

Run amplify update auth
Choose Manual Configuration.
Choose User Sign-Up, Sign-In, connected with AWS IAM controls
Select Allow unauthenticated logins.

When complete run amplify push to update your backend and awsconfiguration.json file. The AWSMobileClient user session will automatically have permissions configured for Guest users upon initialization.

If you login in your app either using the Drop-In Auth or directly via the Auth APIs, the user session will transition automatically to an authenticated role.