Introduction

An Amazon Cognito Identity Pool ID identifies a Cognito identity pool, which is the AWS feature used for federated identities and temporary AWS credentials. In practice, you can find it either in the AWS console under the identity-pool details page or through the AWS CLI if you want a scriptable way to inspect the account.

Know What You Are Looking For

Cognito has two different concepts that are often confused:

• user pools for sign-up and sign-in,
• identity pools for federated identities and AWS credential access.

If you are searching for an Identity Pool ID, make sure you are looking at the identity-pool part of Cognito, not only the user-pool configuration.

The Identity Pool ID typically has a format like:

us-east-1:12345678-1234-1234-1234-1234567890ab

That format includes the AWS Region followed by a UUID-like value.

Finding It in the AWS Console

In the AWS Management Console, go to Amazon Cognito and then navigate to the identity pools area. Open the identity pool you care about, and the pool's details page shows the Identity Pool ID.

The exact console wording can shift over time, but the important point is that the value belongs to the identity pool itself, not to a specific app client or user pool.

If you have several environments such as development, staging, and production, make sure you are in the correct AWS Region before copying the value.

Finding It with the AWS CLI

The AWS CLI is useful when you want a repeatable way to inspect identity pools.

List identity pools:

aws cognito-identity list-identity-pools \
  --max-results 10

That returns pool names and IDs for the configured region.

If you already know the pool ID and want to inspect it more closely, use:

aws cognito-identity describe-identity-pool \
  --identity-pool-id us-east-1:12345678-1234-1234-1234-1234567890ab

This is often the fastest way to confirm you are holding the right value in the right AWS account and region.

Region Matters

Identity pools are regional resources. That means the same AWS account can have different identity pools in different regions, and the Region is part of the ID itself.

If the console or CLI seems to show no matching identity pool, check these first:

• the active AWS account,
• the selected region,
• and whether you are looking in Cognito identity pools rather than user pools.

A lot of confusion comes from mixing those three things up.

Where You Usually Use the ID

Once found, the Identity Pool ID is commonly used in application configuration when requesting AWS credentials from Cognito Identity.

For example, a client application may need it to exchange authenticated or guest identity context for temporary AWS credentials. That is why the value often appears in environment configuration or infrastructure settings.

Treat it as configuration, not as a secret. It should still be managed carefully, but it is not the same thing as an access key or password.

Common Pitfalls

• Confusing an Identity Pool ID with a Cognito User Pool ID.
• Looking in the wrong AWS Region and assuming the pool does not exist.
• Searching only for app clients or user-pool settings when the needed value belongs to an identity pool.
• Hardcoding the value in multiple places instead of keeping it in environment-specific configuration.
• Treating the Identity Pool ID like a secret credential instead of a resource identifier.

Summary

• The Identity Pool ID belongs to a Cognito identity pool, not a user pool.
• You can find it in the Cognito identity-pool details page in the AWS console.
• You can also retrieve it with the AWS CLI using list-identity-pools or describe-identity-pool.
• The ID includes the AWS Region, so region selection matters.
• Keep the value in configuration and make sure you are using the correct pool for the correct environment.