What problems does it solve?
Have you ever logged into a site using your Google account? Have you ever posted to Pinterest and Instagram at the same time? Have you ever shared a link to your wall from any application other than Facebook? These are all examples of OAuth 2.0 in use!
At a high level, the OAuth 2.0 protocol allows two parties to exchange information securely and reliably. In more practical terms, you'll find that the most common uses of OAuth 2.0 involve two things:
- Allowing a user to log into an application with another account. For example, Pinterest allowing users to log in with their Twitter accounts. This is known as federated identity.
- Allowing one service to access resources on another service on behalf of the user. For example, ...
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