What are Authentication Flows Supported by Azure AD v2.0 service?

Azure AD v2.0 service supports 3 Authentication Flows:

1. Implicit Flow - The Implicit Flow is simple to implement. But it is less secure. Authentication is done in a single call to Azure AD service, which returns the "id_token" containing user identity.

2. Authorization Code Flow - The Authorization Code Flow is more complex to implement. But it is more secure. Authentication is done in two calls to Azure AD service. The first call returns only an authorization "code". You need to make a second call to exchange "code" for the final "access token".

3. Hybrid Flow, also called OAuth 2.0 Multiple Response Type Encoding Practices - In the Hybrid Flow, you ask for both "id_token" and authorization "code" in the first call. This allows you to mix the Implicit Flow and Authorization Code Flow together.

Here is a diagram showing the Azure AD v2.0 Implicit Authentication Flow:

Detail description of Azure AD v2.0 authentication flows can be found in article: "Application types for v2.0".

 

⇒ Azure AD v2 OpenID Metadata Document

⇐ Azure AD Integration v2.0

⇑ Azure AD Integration v2.0

⇑⇑ OpenID Tutorials