description AWS Cognito Overview
Cognito provides user sign-up, sign-in, and access control for web and mobile apps without needing to build custom identity management systems. It handles social logins (Google, Facebook) and MFA robustly. Its strength is speed of implementation for secure user bases. However, while it handles *authentication*, it does not manage *authorization* logic (what the user can *do* with the data), which must be handled separately by the application code.
help AWS Cognito FAQ
What is the difference between an Amazon Cognito user pool and identity pool?
A user pool is the sign-up and sign-in directory for an app, while an identity pool exchanges trusted identities for temporary AWS credentials. In practice, user pools handle authentication and identity pools handle access to services such as Amazon S3 through IAM roles.
Can AWS Cognito add Google or Facebook login?
Yes. Cognito user pools support social providers including Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple through OAuth 2.0, so the app does not need to build each social login from scratch.
What MFA methods does Amazon Cognito support?
AWS documents email one-time passwords, SMS one-time passwords, and TOTP authenticator codes as MFA options. The exact enrollment flow depends on the user-pool configuration.
Can Cognito protect an API as well as a mobile app?
Yes, a user pool can authenticate users for web or mobile apps and pass tokens to an API, while an identity pool can issue temporary AWS credentials. Amazon API Gateway is a named AWS integration, but the catalog description does not specify the API authorization mode.
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