Apps in Salesforce API don't match UI and both endpoints

Question

I'm attempting to get a detailed list of all apps connected to my instance.

I'm looking at my UI:

1. Lightning Experience App Manager (App Manager)
2. Connected Apps OAuth Usage
3. Manage Connected Apps

And API endpoints:

1. ConnectedApp (REST API)
2. ConnectedApplication (SOAP API)

There is no consistency. I'm at a loss to understand. Some apps appear in one and not in another. None of the sources seems to include all of them.

Can someone please explain why I see different results in each UI/endpoint? And where would you look for a definitive list of apps installed?

Answer 1

Short Answer - Most accurate information to find what apps are connected to your Salesforce org will be to visit the section Connected Apps OAuth Usage. And which endpoints they are connected is not possible to find for all types of the Connected apps.

There are various types of Connected Apps

1. The Connected Apps you create in your Salesforce instance to allow third party to reach into Salesforce using APIs. This is what you see in Manage Connected Apps and also Lightning Experience App Manager (App Manager) You created it so you can edit and find the call back url you allow for authorization.

2. The Connected Apps that a third party application (Like Postman, Workbench, Force.com migration toolkit) have them in their Salesforce environment and you authorized your Salesforce environment through those. This you see only in the Connected Apps OAuth Usage. No information here about from which endpoint reaching into Salesforce. You can only manage policies and revoke access.

3. Connected App that comes Pre Installed or from a Managed package app. This you see in the Lightning Experience App Manager (App Manager). It will say Connected App (Managed Package). No information here about from which endpoint reaching into Salesforce. You can only manage policies and revoke access.

Use Event Monitoring if you want to get list of all systems reaching into Salesforce and want to track down what APIs are being uses

Answer 2

While the accepted answer provides info on the UI options, it does not address the API subquestion. Want to add two cents on that topic + ask if anyone can contribute further clarity. Hope my answer (and any followups) can help shed additional light on this topics, as this seems to be not clearly documented in the Salesforce developer documentation.

In my experience, programatically you get access to the full list of apps by doing a SOQL query (SELECT Name FROM ConnectedApplication), but the result will lack a lot of details about each app, no info on permissions granted, app author, etc.

You can also lookup ConnectedApp elements via the Metadata SOAP API, but there the result will only include the apps you have created (third party apps and Salesforce internal apps are not listed). This API gives all the details about your created Connected Apps, but will not at all return all other kinds of Connected Apps. If anyone can point to where/if the other types of Connected Apps can be listed, using the Metadata API, I would appreciate to learn that bit.

The OP also mentioned the use of the REST API, but I am not aware of what call can be used there, would appreciate if the OP could elaborate with details there.

EDIT: To be precise, the Metadata SOAP API request for listing the ConnectedApps did in previous occasions return third party apps as well, but currently it does not (I have a dev account on Salesforce cloud). No clue why this changed recently (couple of days ago). Also no clue if this is just a problem on my instance or globally, nor which behaviour is the expected one for this API.