How to detect when the user confirms their email in Supabase on a different device?

Question

When creating a user account in Supabase with credentials (email/password), Supabase sends a email with a confirmation link to the user to confirm their email address.

Now, let's say the user confirms their email address on a different device. How can I safely notify the original device of the confirmation event (and refresh the session)?

Answer 1

So after extensive reasearch I've concluded that you can't notify your user if their email was confirmed on a different device, since Supabase doesn't give them a session yet.

I adopted the OTP approach, where you email your new user a code, and they have to enter it. In the database - let's say in your profile table - you keep a column called something like email_verified_at.

Immediately after signing up, call this function below, and take them to your verify-email page:

await supabase.auth.signInWithOtp({ email: '[email protected]' });

This will not alter the user's account, it will just send them an OTP.

To verify it, simply call this code with the OTP:

const { error } = await supabase.auth.verifyOtp({ 
  email: '[email protected]',
  type: 'email',
  token: '123456'
});
if(error){
  // error handling logic
} else {
  // update your user's profile.email_verified_at record
  await supabase
    .from('profile')
    .update({ email_verified_at: new Date().toISOString() })
    .eq('user_id', '<user_id>')
    .throwOnError();
}