How to Implement mTLS Session Check in MobileBOT™ Defense

Last updated July 9, 2026 by Appdome

This Knowledge Base article describes how to use Appdome’s AI in your CI/CD pipeline to continuously deliver plugins that Protect mTLS Session Check in Mobile apps.

What is mTLS Session Check?

mTLS Session Check is a MobileBOT™ Defense capability that establishes a cryptographic identity between the protected mobile application and the Web Application Firewall (WAF) using mutual TLS (mTLS). During the TLS handshake, both the mobile application and the Web Application Firewall (WAF) authenticate each other using client and server certificates before protected communication is established.

By requiring the mobile application to present a trusted client certificate, mTLS Session Check enables backend services to verify that requests originate from an authenticated Appdome-protected application while preventing unauthorized clients, impersonation attempts, and Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attacks.

How Appdome Protects Mobile Apps with mTLS Session Check?

Appdome’s mTLS Session Check embeds the client certificate into the protected mobile application and enables mutual TLS authentication with the WAF. During the TLS handshake, the WAF validates the client certificate before the Mobile Anti-Bot payload is sent, helping ensure that only authenticated and trusted mobile applications can establish secure communication. The embedded client certificate is securely stored and protected in the application’s protected memory at runtime, helping prevent attackers from extracting or reusing certificate credentials.

Before enabling mTLS Session Check, ensure that a valid client certificate (for example, .p12 or .pem) and its corresponding passphrase, if required, are available for embedding into the protected application.

mTLS Session Check supports both certificates issued by public Certificate Authorities (CAs) and self-signed Root Certificate Authorities, provided the backend infrastructure is configured to trust the corresponding Root CA.

Prerequisites for Using Appdome's mTLS Session Check Plugins:

To use Appdome’s mobile app security build system to Protect mTLS Session Check , you’ll need:

How to Implement Protect mTLS Session Check in Mobile Apps Using Appdome

On Appdome, follow these 3 simple steps to create self-defending Mobile Apps that Protect mTLS Session Check 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. Mobile App Formats: .ipa for iOS, or .apk or .aab for Android
    3. mTLS Session Check is compatible with: Obj-C, Java, JS, C#, C++, Swift, Kotlin, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Xamarin, and more.
  2. Select the defense: mTLS Session Check.

      1. Create and name the Fusion Set (security template) that will contain the mTLS Session Check feature as shown below:
        fusion set that contains mTLS Session Check

        Figure 1: Fusion Set that will contain the mTLS Session Check feature

      2. Follow the steps in Sections 2.2-2.2.2 of this article to add the mTLS Session Check feature to your Fusion Set via the Appdome Console.

      3. When you select the mTLS Session Check you'll notice that the Fusion Set you created in step 2.1 now bears the icon of the protection category that contains mTLS Session Check.

        Fusion Set applied mTLS Session Check

        Figure 2: Fusion Set that displays the newly added mTLS Session Check 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 mTLS Session Check feature to your security template.

      1. Navigate to Build > API & Bot Protection tab > Trusted Application Identity section in the Appdome Console.
      2. Toggle On > mTLS Session Check.
        mTLS Session Check option

        Figure 4: Selecting Protect mTLS Session Check

        Note: The Appdome Platform displays the Mobile Operation Systems supported by each defense in real-time. For more details, see our OS Support Policy KB.

      3. Configure the User Experience Options for mTLS Session Check:
        With Threat-Events™ OFF, Appdome provides several user experience options for mobile brands and developers.
        1. App Compromise Notification: Customize the pop-up or toast Appdome uses to notify the user when a threat is present while using the protected mobile app.
        2. Short message Option. This is available for mobile devices that allow a banner notification for security events.
        3. Localized Message Option. Allows Appdome users to support global languages in security notifications.

          Localized Message

          Figure 5: Default User Experience Options for Appdome’s mTLS Session Check

        4. mTLS Session Check Threat Code™. Appdome uses AI to generate a unique code each time mTLS Session Check is triggered by an active threat on the mobile device. Use the code in Appdome Threat Resolution Center™ to help end users identify, find and resolve active threats on the personal mobile devices.
    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 mTLS Session Check protection is now added to the mobile app
  3. Certify the mTLS Session Check feature in Mobile Apps

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

    Figure 6: 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 mTLS Session Check has been added to each Mobile app. Certified Secure provides instant and in-line DevSecOps compliance certification that mTLS Session Check and other mobile app security features are in each build of the mobile app.

Using Threat-Events™ for mTLS Session Check Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps

Appdome Threat-Events™ provides consumable in-app mobile app attack intelligence and defense control when mTLS Session Check is detected. To consume and use Threat-Events™ for mTLS Session Check in Mobile Apps, use AddObserverForName in Notification Center, and the code samples for Threat-Events™ for mTLS Session Check shown below.

The specifications and options for Threat-Events™ for mTLS Session Check are:

Threat-Event™ Elements Protect mTLS Session Check Method Detail
Appdome Feature Name mTLS Session Check
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 Protecting mTLS Session Check Threat-Event™
Threat-Event NAME
Threat-Event DATA reasonData
Threat-Event CODE reasonCode
Threat-Event SCORE
currentThreatEventScore Current Threat-Event score
threatEventsScore Total Threat-events score
Threat-Event Context Keys
Timestamp The exact time the threat event was triggered, recorded in milliseconds since epoch
message Message displayed for the user on event
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
deviceBrand Brand of the device
deviceBoard Board of the device
buildUser Build user
buildHost Build host
sdkVersion Sdk version
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), Mobile developers can get detailed attack intelligence and granular defense control in Mobile applications and create amazing user experiences for all mobile end users when mTLS Session Check is detected.


The following is a code sample for native Mobile apps, which uses all values in the specification above for mTLS Session Check:


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 Mobile Apps by using mTLS Session Check. 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 mTLS Session Check

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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