# Connect Application
source: https://developer.mastercard.com/open-finance-au/documentation/connect/index.md

The Connect application is the foundation that allows your customers to grant us authorization and use of their account credentials to access their financial data.

#### How It Works {#how-it-works}

![Connect screens](https://static.developer.mastercard.com/content/open-finance-au/uploads/connect-test-flow-v3.png)

1. Your server registers a Customer with Open Finance and receives an ID for this customer.
2. Using this customer ID, your server can generate a URL for loading the Connect experience.
3. Your frontend application redirects the customer to Connect using the generated URL.
4. The customer consents to share the data with you.
5. The customer logs into their Financial Institution through the Connect experience.
6. The customer grants permission for their financial data to be accessed.

#### Example Connect Flow {#example-connect-flow}

![An example flow of the connect application where a user registers](https://static.developer.mastercard.com/content/open-finance-au/uploads/connect-generic-v2.png)

1. The customer opens the Connect flow.
2. The customer searches and selects their Financial Institution.
3. The customer consents to data sharing and agrees to the terms and conditions of the data disclosure.
4. The customer then signs into their Financial Institution account.
5. The customer selects accounts they want to provide access to.
6. Finally, the customer can submit these accounts to your application or continue to add accounts from other Financial Institutions.


Note: You can change the Connect default flow and configure one or more experiences, changing the brand color, logo, icon, and other options. See [Configure the Connect Experience](https://developer.mastercard.com/open-finance-au/documentation/connect/configure-connect-experience/index.md). If you want to create your own Financial Institution search and account selection screens, you can use Connect Lite, instead of Connect Full. Connect Lite allows you to own more of the experience for a seamless UX.

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## Next Steps {#next-steps}

* Generate a [Connect URL](https://developer.mastercard.com/open-finance-au/documentation/connect/generate-2-connect-url-apis/index.md) to load the Connect experience for a customer.
* Integrate using one of our Connect SDKs (for mobile and web). See [Integrating with Connect](https://developer.mastercard.com/open-finance-au/documentation/connect/integrating-with-connect/index.md).
* Find out how you can configure the Connect experience, see [Configuring the Connect Experience](https://developer.mastercard.com/open-finance-au/documentation/connect/configure-connect-experience/index.md).