Eloqua Salesforce Integration App | Salesforce External Client App

The Salesforce Connected App was introduced as a way for third-party and custom applications to integrate securely with Salesforce using OAuth authentication and API access. As the standard method for connecting external apps, it enabled organizations to extend Salesforce functionality to mobile apps, partner systems, and web applications. More recently, Salesforce launched the External Client App (publicly available since June 2023) to provide a more streamlined, secure, and admin-friendly approach for managing external integrations, especially those involving machine-to-machine communication.

While the traditional Connected App supports a wide range of OAuth authentication flows and both user-based and non-user-based access, the External Client App is purpose-built for scenarios where applications outside the Salesforce organization need secure, headless API access—specifically server-to-server connections without user context. Its primary purpose is to simplify and harden how admins register, authorize, and manage external apps that interact with Salesforce APIs.