Establishing a connection to an application refers to the process of establishing a communication link between a client device or user and a specific software application or service. It involves the initiation and establishment of a network connection or session that allows the client to interact with the application and exchange data. 

This connection can be established through various protocols and technologies, such as HTTP, HTTPS, TCP/IP, or WebSocket. During the connection establishment phase, the client device typically sends a request to the application's server, and upon successful validation and authentication, a connection is established, enabling the client to send requests, receive responses, and interact with the application's functionalities. 

This connection is the foundation for the subsequent communication and data exchange between the client and the application.

Maintaining connections to applications refers to the ongoing management and persistence of established communication links between client devices or users and specific software applications or services. Once a connection has been established, it requires continuous monitoring and management to ensure its stability, reliability, and availability throughout the interaction with the application. 

This involves tasks such as tracking the state of the connection, handling network interruptions or failures, managing session timeouts, and implementing mechanisms to recover from potential connection disruptions. Maintaining connections is crucial for seamless communication and uninterrupted data exchange between the client and the application, ensuring a consistent user experience and reliable access to the application's functionalities.

Authentication is the process of verifying the identity of a user or entity, ensuring that the claimed identity is valid and trustworthy before granting access to a system, network, or resource. It involves validating credentials such as passwords, digital certificates, biometric characteristics, or tokens. By confirming authenticity, authentication enhances security, protects sensitive information, prevents unauthorized access, and ensures compliance with security standards and regulations.  Overall, authentication is a crucial component in maintaining secure systems, safeguarding data, protecting user privacy, and mitigating risks associated with unauthorized access.

Authentication mechanisms are methods or processes used to verify the identity of a user or entity attempting to access a system, network, or resource. The authentication mechanism ensures that the user is who they claim to be and provides a level of confidence in their identity. 

Some popular authentication mechanisms of AppiWorks are

• OAuth

• Credentials

• Key Authentication

Key authentication is used to solve the problem of authenticating the keys of the person (say "person B") to whom some other person ("person A") is talking to or trying to talk to. In other words, it is the process of assuring that the key of "person A" held by "person B" does in fact belong to "person A" and vice versa.

This is usually done after the keys have been shared among the two sides over some secure channel, although some of the algorithms share the keys at the time of authentication also.

Applications are categorized into one of the following based on the nature of the applications. Connectivity to different category applications differs in implementation, integration, and actions.

• File Storage

• Database

• Customer Relationship Management

• Productivity

• Communication

• Collaboration

• Accounting

• Payment

• Social Media