Duo Single Sign-On for Apple Business
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About Duo Single Sign-On
Duo Single Sign-On is our cloud-hosted SSO product which layers Duo's strong authentication and flexible policy engine on top of Apple Business logins using the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) 2.0 or OpenID Connect (OIDC) authentication standards. Duo Single Sign-On acts as an OpenID provider (OP), authenticating your users using existing on-premises Active Directory (AD) or any SAML 2.0 IdP and prompting for two-factor authentication before permitting access to Apple Business.
Duo Single Sign-On is available in Duo Premier, Duo Advantage, and Duo Essentials plans, which also include the ability to define policies that enforce unique controls for each individual SSO application. For example, you can require that Salesforce users complete two-factor authentication at every login, but only once every seven days when accessing Apple Business. Duo checks the user, device, and network against an application's policy before allowing access to the application.
Configure Single Sign-On
Before configuring Apple Business with Duo SSO using OpenID Connect (OIDC) authentication you'll first need to configure a working authentication source.
Once you have your SSO authentication source working, continue to the next step of creating the Apple Business application in Duo.
When configuring an application to be protected with Duo Single Sign-On you'll need to send attributes from Duo Single Sign-On to the application. Active Directory will work with no additional setup, but if you used a SAML identity provider as your authentication source please verify that you configured it to send the correct SAML attributes.
These default attributes automatically map certain attributes from your authentication source.
| Default Attribute | Active Directory | SAML IdP |
|---|---|---|
<Username> |
sAMAccountName | Username |
<Email Address> |
||
<Display Name> |
displayName | DisplayName |
<First Name> |
givenName | FirstName |
<Last Name> |
sn | LastName |
<AMR> |
Not Applicable | Not Applicable |
AMR will be reported as [`pwd`, `auth-factor-dependent`].
Create the Apple Business Application in Duo
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Log in to the Duo Admin Panel and navigate to Applications → Application Catalog.
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Locate the entry for Apple Business with the "SSO" label in the catalog. Click the + Add button to start configuring Apple Business. See Protecting Applications for more information about protecting applications with Duo and additional application options. You'll need the information on the Apple Business page under Metadata later.
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No active Duo users can log in to new applications until you grant access. Update the User access setting to grant access to this application to users in selected Duo groups, or to all users. Learn more about user access to applications. If you do not change this setting now, be sure to update it so that your test user has access before you test your setup.
This setting only applies to users who exist in Duo with "Active" status. This does not affect application access for existing users with "Bypass" status, existing users for whom the effective Authentication Policy for the application specifies "Bypass 2FA" or "Skip MFA", or users who do not exist in Duo when the effective New User Policy for the application allows access to users unknown to Duo without MFA. -
The Metadata section contains OpenID provider information about Duo Single Sign-On that you will provide to Apple Business at a later configuration step.
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Apple Business uses scopes during authentication to authorize access to a user's details. Each scope returns a set of user attributes (claims) that must map to IdP attributes. When an application sends an OIDC request to Duo SSO, the response sends only the claims from the requested scopes.
We've automatically enabled the following scopes and mapped the listed attributes. You can change the attribute sent from your authentication source by modifying the IdP Attribute name related to each claim:
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Profile Scope:
IdP Attribute Claim <First Name> given_name <Last Name> family_name -
Email Scope:
IdP Attribute Claim <Email> email
Duo automatically selects the Authorize access to Shared Signals Framework (SSF) checkbox, along with the following scopes:
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ssf.read
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ssf.manage
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You can adjust additional settings for your new SSO application at this time — like changing the application's name from the default value, enabling self-service, or assigning a group policy.
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Keep the Duo Admin Panel tab open. You will come back to it later.
Duo Universal Prompt
The Duo Universal Prompt provides a simplified and accessible Duo login experience for web-based applications, offering a redesigned visual interface with security and usability enhancements.
| Universal Prompt | Traditional Prompt |
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The Duo Apple Business application supports the Universal Prompt by default, so there's no additional action required on your part to start using the newest authentication experience.
Activate Universal Prompt
Activation of the Universal Prompt is a per-application change. Activating it for one application does not change the login experience for your other Duo applications. Universal Prompt is already activated for new Apple Business applications at creation.
The "Universal Prompt" area of the application details page shows that this application's status is "Activation complete", with these activation control options:
- Show traditional prompt: Your users experience Duo's traditional prompt via redirect when logging in to this application.
- Show new Universal Prompt: (Default) Your users experience the Universal Prompt via redirect when logging in to this application.
The application's Universal Prompt status shows "Activation complete" both here and on the Universal Prompt Update Progress report.

For the time being, you may change this setting to Show traditional prompt to use the legacy experience. Keep in mind that support for the traditional Duo prompt ended for the majority of applications in March 2024. This option will be removed in the future.
Universal Update Progress
Click the See Update Progress link to view the Universal Prompt Update Progress report. This report shows the update availability and migration progress for all your Duo applications. You can also activate the new prompt experience for multiple supported applications from the report page instead of visiting the individual details pages for each application.
Add Your Domain
You need to add and verify your domain before you can configure Apple Business. To add and verify your domain, do the following:
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Log into your Apple Business account as an administrator.
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At the bottom of the sidebar menu, click your account name.
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In the sidebar menu, click Preferences.
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Click the Managed Apple Accounts tab.
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Click Add Domain and enter your domain.
Example: If your email address is user@example.com, then your domain is example.com.
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Click Verify next to your domain.
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Follow the on-screen instructions to add the DNS TXT record to your DNS settings.
Verify Your Domain
After you have added the DNS TXT record, you need to verify your domain in Apple Business. To verify your domain, do the following:
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Log into your Apple Business account as an administrator.
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At the bottom of the sidebar menu, click your account name.
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In the sidebar menu, click Preferences.
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Click the Managed Apple Accounts tab.
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Locate your domain and click Verify.
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In the pop-up window, toggle the Lock Domain switch to On.
Refer to Apple's Add and verify a domain in Apple Business Manager article for more information.
Configure Apple Business
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Log into your Apple Business account as an administrator.
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At the bottom of the sidebar menu, click your account name.
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In the sidebar menu, click Preferences.
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Click the Managed Apple Accounts tab.
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Under "User sign in and directory sync", click Get Started.
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Click Custom Identity Provider and then click Continue.
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Enter a unique name for your federated authentication connection into the "Set up your Custom Identity Provider" pop-up window's Name field.
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Locate the "Redirect URIs" information and click Copy to copy the redirect URI. Paste it into the Duo Admin Panel Sign-In Redirect URLs field, under "Relying Party".
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In the Duo Admin Panel under "Relying Party", enable Refresh Tokens. Change the Refresh Token Absolute Lifetime and Refresh Token Inactivity Lifetime fields as required.
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Under "Metadata", copy the following fields and paste them into their respective fields in the Apple Business "Set up your Custom Identity Provider" pop-up window:
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Copy the Client ID and paste it into the Apple Business Client ID field.
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Copy the Client Secret and paste it into the Apple Business Client Secret field.
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Copy the Shared Signals Framework Discovery URL and paste it into the Apple Business SSF Config URL field.
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Copy the Discovery URL and paste it into the Apple Business OpenID Config URL field.
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Click Continue in Apple Business to open the login page.
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Return to the Duo Admin Panel. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Save.
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Return to the Apple Business login page. Log in with your username and password to redirect to Duo Single Sign-On to test your configuration.
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Click Done after completing the login test.
Federated Authentication
After you have configured Apple Business, you need to turn on federated authentication. To turn on federated authentication, do the following:
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Log into your Apple Business account as an administrator.
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At the bottom of the sidebar menu, click your account name.
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In the sidebar menu, click Preferences.
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Click the Managed Apple Accounts tab.
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Under "Domains", click Manage next to your domain.
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Click Turn on Sign in with your Identity Provider.
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Enable Sign in with your Identity Provider.
Learn more about Apple Business SSO in the Apple Business User Guide.
Use SSO
You can log in to Apple Business SSO by navigating to your Apple Business SSO page (e.g., https://business.apple.com). Enter your email address and click the arrow to redirect to Duo Single Sign-On to begin authentication.
Active Directory Login
With Active Directory as the Duo SSO authentication source, enter the primary username (email address) on the Duo SSO login page and click or tap Next.
Enter the AD primary password and click or tap Log in to continue.
Enable Duo Passwordless to log in to Duo SSO backed by Active Directory authentication without entering a password in the future.
SAML Login
With another SAML identity provider as the Duo SSO authentication source, Duo SSO immediately redirects the login attempt to that SAML IdP for primary authentication. Users do not see the Duo SSO primary login screen.
Duo Authentication
Successful verification of your primary credentials by Active Directory or a SAML IdP redirects back to Duo. Complete Duo two-factor authentication when prompted and then you'll return to Apple Business to complete the login process.
* Universal Prompt experience shown.
Apple Business supports SP-initiated authentication only, meaning that you must start your SSO login from that application's sign-in page. You won't be able to add as an application tile in Duo Central for IdP-initiated logins.
Congratulations! Your Apple Business users now authenticate using Duo Single Sign-On.
See the full user login experience, including expired password reset (available for Active Directory authentication sources) in the Duo End User Guide for SSO.
Grant Access to Users
If you did not already grant user access to the Duo users you want to use this application be sure to do that before inviting or requiring them to log in with Duo.
Enable Remembered Devices
To minimize additional Duo two-factor prompts when switching between and your other Duo Single Sign-On SAML applications, be sure to apply a shared "Remembered Devices" policy to your SAML applications.
Add Ownership and Risk Information
Go to the "Ownership and Risk" section of the application's page in the Duo Admin Panel to assign application owners and classify the application's risk level. Cisco Identity Intelligence automatically imports this information to populate relevant fields for Duo Advantage and Premier customers. Duo Essentials plans exclude Cisco Identity Intelligence features.
You may set any of the following:
- Technical Owner: Search for and assign Duo users responsible for technical configuration and maintenance of this application.
- Business Owner: Search for and assign Duo users responsible for business decisions and access approvals related to this application.
- Application Sensitivity: Select this application's risk level from the drop-down list. Default: Not Set.
- Compliance Requirements: Select any applicable regulatory frameworks for this application (SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley), HIPAA, PCI-DSS, etc.) from the list.
Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save to apply your changes.
Automated Provisioning
This application does not support automated creation and management of users and groups from Duo using SCIM 2.0 provisioning.
Troubleshooting
Need some help? Try searching our Knowledge Base articles or Community discussions. For further assistance, contact Support.

