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Mobile SDK overview

The Octopus SDK adds a complete community — feed, groups, posts, comments, profiles and notifications — inside your app. You keep your own login, your own brand and your own navigation; the SDK brings the social screens and talks to the Octopus backend for you.

How it fits together​

Your app embeds the SDK and initializes it with your community API key. The SDK displays the community screens and exchanges data with the Octopus backend. When your users are logged in to your app, your backend signs a token for them, and the SDK hands it to Octopus: the same person is recognized in the community without a second login.

┌──────────────────────────────┐            ┌──────────────────┐
│ Your app                     │            │ Octopus backend  │
│                              │            │                  │
│  ┌────────────────────────┐  │  API key,  │  community,      │
│  │ Octopus SDK            │◄─┼──user token┼─►posts, profiles,│
│  │ (community screens)    │  │            │  moderation      │
│  └──────────▲─────────────┘  │            └──────────────────┘
│             │ connect user   │
│  your login │ with its token │
└─────────────┼────────────────┘
              │ signed user token
┌─────────────┴────────────────┐
│ Your backend                 │
│ (signs the token with the    │
│  secret Octopus gives you)   │
└──────────────────────────────┘

The token secret stays on your backend: never ship it in your app.

Supported platforms​

The SDK is available for Android, iOS, Flutter, React Native and Unity. Every guide shows the five platforms side by side; pick yours once in any code tab and the choice follows you across the pages. Minimum versions and feature availability per platform are in Requirements and releases.

Core concepts​

  • Community API key: identifies your community. Octopus gives it to you, and your app passes it when it initializes the SDK.
  • Connection mode: chosen once, at initialization. In SSO mode, your app's login is the only login: your app connects its user to the SDK with a token signed by your backend, and can manage some profile fields itself (app-managed fields). In Octopus authentication mode, for apps without accounts of their own, members sign in inside the community with an email magic link. See Connect your users.
  • Guest session: until your app connects a user, people browse the community as guests. When a guest tries to post, comment or react, the SDK asks your app to log the user in.
  • Community settings: some behaviors, such as pictures in posts, the profile field lock or explicit terms acceptance, are set per community in the Octopus back office, with no code in your app. See Community settings.

Next steps​