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Clerk adds mobile biometrics, Knock refines permissions, and WorkOS reaches Android
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- Authors
- Name
- Hashim Warren
- @hashim_warren
Coverage: August 17–23, 2026.
Launch of the Week
Clerk, an authentication and user management platform, added biometric sign-in to its mobile SDKs, allowing enrolled users to return with Face ID, Touch ID or Android biometrics while private keys remain on-device. This could reduce repeat-login friction for teams comparing Auth0, provided they also design recovery and device-revocation flows.
Company Launch
Shotium, a screenshot and Open Graph image API, entered public beta with browser-rendered screenshots, five social-image templates and signed URLs that can be embedded directly in page metadata. Combining both workflows gives developers comparing ScreenshotOne and Bannerbear a small, single-API option for generating images without operating their own rendering service.
Enterprise Watch
Knock, a notification API, introduced custom roles and permissions for Enterprise customers, with separate controls for account resources and individual environments. More precise access could let marketing and support teams work alongside engineers without broad privileges, strengthening its case against Courier, though administrators still need to maintain the permission model.
GTM Trends
WorkOS, an enterprise authentication platform, released a native Kotlin SDK for Android, with coroutine-based APIs and authentication helpers that support a public client without embedded secrets. Extending its native mobile coverage gives it another route to developers considering Clerk, while the app team retains responsibility for its login and session experience.
More Devtool News
- ✨ WorkOS, an enterprise authentication platform, added email-domain deliverability checks to AuthKit signup and invitations, rejecting domains that cannot receive mail while preserving designated test addresses. Catching domain typos earlier could reduce dead-end signups against Auth0, but it does not establish that an individual mailbox exists.
- ✨ Clerk, an authentication and user management platform, added custom OAuth scopes so applications can define, assign and advertise more precise permissions to MCP clients. This gives teams comparing Descope more control over requested access, but their APIs must still verify tokens and enforce the granted scopes.
- ✨ Knock, a notification API, added Slack message threading, letting workflows attach follow-ups to earlier messages or existing external threads. Grouping related updates could make incident and approval channels easier to follow for teams considering Novu, though workflow authors still need to choose the right parent conversation.