Authentication in MusicKit for Swift
MusicKit for Swift makes it far easier to authenticate. No hassle of generating a JWT.
The first part of the series is on authenticating yourself as a developer of the Apple Developer Program. Earlier, it used to be a long process and was a pain. Now, with MusicKit, it is as simple as a checkmark.
Old Way
Summarising the older process -
- Register a new key with MusicKit service enabled.
- Use this key to generate a JSON web token.
- Send a header with the JWT for every Apple Music API request.
- For accessing the user’s library, generate a user token as well.
I found the whole process complicated and confusing. I tried my best to simplify the steps in the article Build a Music Chat iOS App Using SwiftUI, but it still felt like a lot of work.
New Way
All you’ve to do is check MusicKit under Services for your bundle identifier.
That’s it.
No private key.
No JWT.
There’s no need to generate a developer or user token. They’re automatically generated. So, with this, MusicKit also eliminates the risk of committing and exposing your token to version control.
I find it a fantastic improvement. We don’t have to worry about tokens anymore and instead focus on using the new APIs instead.
