App Manager
App Manager is the Salesforce Setup page where administrators create, edit, assign, and inspect both Lightning Apps and Connected Apps for an org.
Definition
App Manager is the Salesforce Setup page where administrators create, edit, assign, and inspect both Lightning Apps and Connected Apps for an org. The page lives at Setup, Apps, App Manager. Every Lightning App listed there is a user-facing surface with its own navigation bar, utility bar, branding, and assignment. Every Connected App is an OAuth client registration for an external system that talks to Salesforce. The two concepts share the page because both are called Apps in Salesforce vocabulary, but they solve very different problems: one shapes the user experience, the other governs external authentication.
For day-to-day admin work, App Manager is one of the higher-traffic Setup pages. Building a new Lightning App for a new team, adjusting the navigation of an existing one, or wiring an OAuth integration with a partner system all start here. The page also shows columns for App Type (Lightning, Connected, Classic), Visibility, Description, and last modified date, which makes auditing the App surface across the org a reasonable five-minute exercise rather than a research project.
What App Manager actually contains
Lightning Apps in App Manager
Each Lightning App row in App Manager links to the App's configuration: navigation items, utility bar, branding, and the profiles or permission sets assigned to it. Edit View lets admins drag tabs into the navigation in the order users will encounter them, attach utility components, and upload a brand logo. Save and the changes apply on the next App Launcher refresh for affected users.
Connected Apps in App Manager
The same page lists every Connected App registered for OAuth flows. Each row exposes the Client ID, Client Secret, OAuth scopes, IP relaxation policy, and refresh token policy. Connected Apps power Salesforce mobile clients, Outlook integration, Marketing Cloud, partner systems, and any external service that authenticates as a Salesforce user. Editing a Connected App is the path to rotating secrets, expanding scopes, or restricting IPs.
App types and the legacy entries
The App Type column shows Lightning, Connected, or Classic (a holdover from Salesforce Classic Apps). New orgs rarely have Classic Apps. Older orgs still carry them through migration; the page treats them as read-only legacy entries. Classic Apps cannot be edited from App Manager but they still consume tabs and surfaces until retired.
Assigning Lightning Apps
Lightning App assignment happens at the bottom of the App Edit page through a User Profiles and Permission Sets picker. Visible flags determine whether the App appears in App Launcher. Default flags determine which App opens when an assigned user logs in. Most production orgs assign visibility via permission set rather than profile to keep the assignment manageable.
The OAuth lifecycle for a Connected App
Connected Apps go through a setup that includes specifying Selected OAuth Scopes, callback URL, refresh token policy, and IP relaxation. After save, Salesforce generates the Client ID and Client Secret. The external system uses these to initiate OAuth. Production teams rotate secrets every 90 to 180 days; expiring secrets without rotation produces silent integration failures.
App Policies and security
Connected App Policies (separate Setup page) layer on top of App Manager configuration. They control IP restrictions, session timeouts, refresh token policies, and user pre-authorisation. Most production deployments configure policies after creating the Connected App, since the App Manager defaults are permissive enough to work without policies but rarely secure enough for production traffic.
Common admin patterns
Three patterns recur in App Manager. The first is per-team Lightning App with a curated navigation, branded logo, and permission-set-based assignment. The second is per-integration Connected App with explicit scopes and IP allow-listing. The third is annual audit of unused Apps, since most orgs accumulate Lightning and Connected Apps that no longer reflect the current org reality.
Metadata and source control
Both Lightning Apps and Connected Apps are captured as CustomApplication metadata. Salesforce DX projects can pull them into source control, diff them, and deploy them between sandboxes. This is critical because the App Manager UI does not track history; without source-controlled metadata, an accidental change is invisible to the next admin who opens the App.
How to create a new App in App Manager
Creating an App takes minutes through the wizard. The longer-term work is curating navigation, configuring OAuth policies, and capturing the metadata in source control.
- Open App Manager
Setup, Apps, App Manager. The list view shows every Lightning, Connected, and Classic App in the org.
- Click New Lightning App or New Connected App
Choose the right type for the use case. New Lightning App for a user-facing surface; New Connected App for an OAuth integration.
- Configure the App
Lightning App: Name, branding, navigation style (Standard or Console), navigation items, utility items, user assignment. Connected App: Name, OAuth scopes, callback URL, refresh token policy, IP relaxation.
- Assign visibility
Lightning Apps: profiles or permission sets with Visible and Default flags. Connected Apps: per-app policies and pre-authorisation rules.
- Capture metadata in source control
Retrieve the CustomApplication metadata via Salesforce DX. Commit it. Future audits and rollbacks depend on the metadata being version-controlled.
Human-readable label.
API-safe identifier.
Lightning or Connected.
Standard or Console (Lightning Apps only).
Profiles or permission sets that see the App.
- Navigation Style cannot be changed after a Lightning App is created. Pick correctly the first time.
- Classic Apps cannot be edited from App Manager. Retire them in Setup, App Menu instead.
- Connected App Client Secrets are visible only at creation. Capture them then; the regenerate flow forces all clients to re-authenticate.
- App changes do not version themselves. Without source-controlled metadata, an admin error is invisible after the fact.
Trust & references
Cross-checked against the following references.
- App ManagerSalesforce Help
- Connected AppsSalesforce Help
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on App Manager.
- Create a Lightning AppSalesforce Help
About the Author
Dipojjal Chakrabarti is a B2C Solution Architect with 29 Salesforce certifications and over 13 years in the Salesforce ecosystem. He runs salesforcedictionary.com to help admins, developers, architects, and cert/interview candidates sharpen their fundamentals. More about Dipojjal.
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