How to Enable Secure Offline Access for Android apps

Last updated November 23, 2023 by Appdome

This Knowledge Base article describes how to use Appdome’s AI/ML in your CI/CD pipeline to continuously deliver plugins that Add offline access in Android apps.

What is offline access?

Mobile TOTALData Encryption is used for protecting data stored within a mobile app. Smart Offline Handling is an extension to Appdome TOTALData Encryption, which allows developers of apps that require authentication to enable access to some of the files that the app generates.
With Appdome TOTALDataTM Encryption, all data stored inside the mobile app (including media files) is encrypted at run-time by using industry-standard AES-256 cryptographic protocols. When the Appdome Smart Offline Handoff option is enabled, Appdome decrypts the app’s data only after the user successfully authenticates.
Additionally, the developer can specify a folder for offline file access, along with the required conditions that must be met in order to permit offline access to the data (for example the required conditions may include a time expiration, or require additional authentication, such as a pincode or biometric authentication). To enable this feature you need to toggle on the Require Local Authentication feature.
Another way to enhance the security in this feature, is to enable Store in Protected Memory toggle. This enables storing the encryption key used for the offline folder in an encrypted memory segment, thereby preventing attackers from seeing the key when dumping the application’s memory.

Why Use Smart Offline Handoff?

Security-conscious developers may sometimes want to restrict access to offline data or to introduce additional security requirements on users in order to grant offline access.; for example, to only allow offline access after successful authentication with a remote server. They may also want to limit offline access to the data to a certain time-frame or require additional authentication. With Appdome’s Smart Offline Handoff the developers may achieve those goals and harden the security on certain files generated by the application, such as sensitive user information, while allowing them safe access at the same time.

Prerequisites for Using Appdome's Smart Offline Handoff Plugins:

To use Appdome’s mobile app security build system to Add offline access , you’ll need:

How to Implement Add offline access in Android Apps Using Appdome

On Appdome, follow these 3 simple steps to create self-defending Android Apps that Add offline access without an SDK or gateway:

  1. Designate the Mobile App to be protected.

    1. Upload an app via the Appdome Mobile Defense platform GUI or via Appdome’s DEV-API or CI/CD Plugins.

    2. Android Formats: .apk or .aab
    3. Smart Offline Handoff is compatible with: Java, JS, C++, C#, Kotlin, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Xamarin, Cordova and other Android apps.
  2. Select the defense: Smart Offline Handoff.

      1. Create and name the Fusion Set (security template) that will contain the Smart Offline Handoff feature as shown below:
        fusion set that contains Smart Offline Handoff

        Figure 1: Fusion Set that will contain the Smart Offline Handoff feature

      2. Follow the steps in Sections 2.2-2.2.2 of this article to add the Smart Offline Handoff feature to your Fusion Set via the Appdome Console.

      3. When you select the Smart Offline Handoff you'll notice that the Fusion Set you created in step 2.1 now bears the icon of the protection category that contains Smart Offline Handoff.

        Fusion Set applied Smart Offline Handoff

        Figure 2: Fusion Set that displays the newly added Smart Offline Handoff protection
        Note: Annotating the Fusion Set to identify the protection(s) selected is optional only (not mandatory).

      4. Open the Fusion Set Detail Summary by clicking the “...” symbol on the far-right corner of the Fusion Set. Copy the Fusion Set ID from the Fusion Set Detail Summary (as shown below): fusion Set Detail Summary image

        Figure 3: Fusion Set Detail Summary

      5. Follow the instructions below to use the Fusion Set ID inside any standard mobile DevOps or CI/CD toolkit like Bitrise, Jenkins, Travis, Team City, Circle CI or other system:
        1. Refer to the Appdome API Reference Guide for API building instructions.
        2. Look for sample APIs in Appdome’s GitHub Repository.
    1. Add the Smart Offline Handoff feature to your security template.

      1. Navigate to Build > Security tab > TOTALData™ Encryption section in the Appdome Console.
      2. Toggle On > Smart Offline Handoff.
        Smart Offline Handoff option

        Figure 4: Selecting Add offline access

    2. Initiate the build command either by clicking Build My App at the bottom of the Build Workflow (shown in Figure 4) or via your CI/CD as described in Section 2.1.4.
    Congratulations!  The Smart Offline Handoff protection is now added to the mobile app
  3. Certify the Smart Offline Handoff feature in Android Apps

    After building Smart Offline Handoff, Appdome generates a Certified Secure™ certificate to guarantee that the Smart Offline Handoff protection has been added and is protecting the app. To verify that the Smart Offline Handoff protection has been added to the mobile app, locate the protection in the Certified Secure™ certificate as shown below: Smart Offline Handoff shown in Certificate secure

    Figure 5: Certified Secure™ certificate

    Each Certified Secure™ certificate provides DevOps and DevSecOps organizations the entire workflow summary, audit trail of each build, and proof of protection that Smart Offline Handoff has been added to each Android app. Certified Secure provides instant and in-line DevSecOps compliance certification that Smart Offline Handoff and other mobile app security features are in each build of the mobile app.

Using Threat-Events™ for offline access Intelligence and Control in Android Apps

Appdome Threat-Events™ provides consumable in-app mobile app attack intelligence and defense control when offline access is detected. To consume and use Threat-Events™ for offline access in Android Apps, use registerReceiver in the Application OnCreate, and the code samples for Threat-Events™ for offline access shown below.

The specifications and options for Threat-Events™ for offline access are:

Threat-Event™ Elements Add offline access Method Detail
Appdome Feature Name Smart Offline Handoff
Threat-Event Mode
OFF, IN-APP DEFENSE Appdome detects, defends and notifies user (standard OS dialog) using customizable messaging.
ON, IN-APP DETECTION Appdome detects the attack or threat and passes the event in a standard format to the app for processing (app chooses how and when to enforce).
ON, IN-APP DEFENSE Uses Appdome Enforce mode for any attack or threat and passes the event in a standard format to the app for processing (gather intel on attacks and threats without losing any protection).
Certified Secure™ Threat Event Check x
Visible in ThreatScope™ x
Developer Parameters for Adding offline access Threat-Event™
Threat-Event NAME
Threat-Event DATA reasonData
Threat-Event CODE reasonCode
Threat-Event REF
Threat-Event SCORE
currentThreatEventScore Current Threat-Event score
threatEventsScore Total Threat-events score
Threat-Event Context Keys
message Message displayed for the user on event
failSafeEnforce Timed enforcement against the identified threat
externalID The external ID of the event which can be listened via Threat Events
osVersion OS version of the current device
deviceModel Current device model
deviceManufacturer The manufacturer of the current device
fusedAppToken The task ID of the Appdome fusion of the currently running app
kernelInfo Info about the kernel: system name, node name, release, version and machine.
carrierPlmn PLMN of the device. Only available for Android devices.
deviceID Current device ID
reasonCode Reason code of the occurred event
buildDate Appdome fusion date of the current application
devicePlatform OS name of the current device
carrierName Carrier name of the current device. Only available for Android.
updatedOSVersion Is the OS version up to date
deviceBrand Brand of the device
deviceBoard Board of the device
buildUser Build user
buildHost Build host
sdkVersion Sdk version
timeZone Time zone
deviceFaceDown Is the device face down
locationLong Location longitude conditioned by location permission
locationLat Location latitude conditioned by location permission
locationState Location state conditioned by location permission
wifiSsid Wifi SSID
wifiSsidPermissionStatus Wifi SSID permission status
threatCode The last six characters of the threat code specify the OS, allowing the Threat Resolution Center to address the attack on the affected device.

With Threat-Events™ enabled (turned ON), Android developers can get detailed attack intelligence and granular defense control in Android applications and create amazing user experiences for all mobile end users when offline access is detected.


The following is a code sample for native Android apps, which uses all values in the specification above for Smart Offline Handoff:


Important! Replace all placeholder instances of <Context Key> with the specific name of your threat event context key across all language examples. This is crucial to ensure your code functions correctly with the intended event data. For example, The <Context Key> could be the message, externalID, OS Version, reason code, etc.



Using Appdome, there are no development or coding prerequisites to build secured Android Apps by using Smart Offline Handoff. There is no SDK and no library to code or implement in the app and no gateway to deploy in your network. All protections are built into each app and the resulting app is self-defending and self-protecting.

Releasing and Publishing Mobile Apps with Smart Offline Handoff

After successfully securing your app by using Appdome, there are several available options to complete your project, depending on your app lifecycle or workflow. These include:

Related Articles:

How Do I Learn More?

If you have any questions, please send them our way at support.appdome.com or via the chat window on the Appdome platform.

Thank you!

Thanks for visiting Appdome! Our mission is to secure every app on the planet by making mobile app security easy. We hope we’re living up to the mission with your project.

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