oauth
n.n. a system that lets one website or app use your information from another account without seeing your password. It is what allows you to click 'Log in with Google' on a different website.
n. an open-standard authorization protocol that provides applications with secure delegated access to user resources. It allows a third-party service to interact with a user's account via an access token rather than requiring the user's primary credentials.
The app uses OAuth to let you log in with your social media account.
When you use a fitness app to pull data from your smartwatch account, the two services typically communicate using OAuth for security.
By implementing OAuth, the platform ensures that third-party developers can access specific user data without ever compromising the integrity of the central authentication database.
A portmanteau of open and authorization. The term was coined in 2007 by Blaine Cook and a small group of developers to describe a new protocol for delegated authentication.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Often functions as a modifier before nouns like 'protocol', 'token', or 'client'.
The site asked for my OAuthThe site used OAuth for loginOAuth is the protocol or system, not a piece of data like a password that a user 'has' or 'gives'.
Last updated July 22, 2026