diff --git a/configs/config.yaml b/configs/config.yaml
index 4414400..893001c 100644
--- a/configs/config.yaml
+++ b/configs/config.yaml
@@ -178,8 +178,10 @@ iris_plan_integration:
 # Configures whether Slack settings will appear in the frontend
 slack_instance: foobar
 
-# setting to toggle login splash screen. This will require users to log in to  be able to use the app. Set to True to enable and False to disable.
-force_login_splash: False
+# Setting to determine whether the Oncall API/frontend is available unauthenticated.
+# Set to True to force login splash page and authentication on API calls and False to allow read
+# APIs without authentication
+require_auth: False
 
 ##########################
 ### Oncall user management
diff --git a/src/oncall/app.py b/src/oncall/app.py
index ed5124d..7d83f60 100644
--- a/src/oncall/app.py
+++ b/src/oncall/app.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ import re
 from beaker.middleware import SessionMiddleware
 from falcon_cors import CORS
 
-from . import db, constants, iris
+from . import db, constants, iris, auth
 
 import logging
 logger = logging.getLogger('oncall.app')
@@ -47,17 +47,35 @@ class ReqBodyMiddleware(object):
         req.context['body'] = req.stream.read()
 
 
+class AuthMiddleware(object):
+    def process_resource(self, req, resp, resource, params):
+        try:
+            if resource.allow_no_auth:
+                return
+        except AttributeError:
+            pass
+
+        auth_token = req.get_header('AUTHORIZATION')
+        if auth_token:
+            auth.authenticate_application(auth_token, req)
+        else:
+            auth.authenticate_user(req)
+
+
 application = None
 
 
 def init_falcon_api(config):
     global application
     cors = CORS(allow_origins_list=config.get('allow_origins_list', []))
-    application = falcon.API(middleware=[
+    middlewares = [
         SecurityHeaderMiddleware(),
         ReqBodyMiddleware(),
         cors.middleware
-    ])
+    ]
+    if config.get('require_auth'):
+        middlewares.append(AuthMiddleware())
+    application = falcon.API(middleware=middlewares)
     application.req_options.auto_parse_form_urlencoded = False
     application.set_error_serializer(json_error_serializer)
     from .auth import init as init_auth
diff --git a/src/oncall/auth/__init__.py b/src/oncall/auth/__init__.py
index f8fbdd4..11bcbbe 100644
--- a/src/oncall/auth/__init__.py
+++ b/src/oncall/auth/__init__.py
@@ -241,8 +241,9 @@ def init(application, config):
         check_calendar_auth_by_id = lambda x, y: True
         debug_only = lambda function: function
 
-    if config.get('docs'):
+    if config.get('docs') or config.get('require_auth'):
         # Replace login_required decorator with identity function for autodoc generation
+        # Also replace if require_auth is True, since AuthMiddleware already handles login for us
         global login_required
         login_required = lambda x: x
     else:
diff --git a/src/oncall/auth/login.py b/src/oncall/auth/login.py
index b78d94c..804ecb5 100644
--- a/src/oncall/auth/login.py
+++ b/src/oncall/auth/login.py
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ from oncall import db
 from random import SystemRandom
 from . import auth_manager
 
+allow_no_auth = True
+
 
 def on_post(req, resp):
     login_info = uri.parse_query_string(req.context['body'])
diff --git a/src/oncall/ui/__init__.py b/src/oncall/ui/__init__.py
index a72e4c9..f511853 100644
--- a/src/oncall/ui/__init__.py
+++ b/src/oncall/ui/__init__.py
@@ -73,12 +73,12 @@ SLACK_INSTANCE = None
 HEADER_COLOR = None
 IRIS_PLAN_SETTINGS = None
 USERCONTACT_UI_READONLY = None
-LOGIN_SPLASH = None
+LOGIN_REQUIRED = None
 
 
 def index(req, resp):
     user = req.env.get('beaker.session', {}).get('user')
-    if str(user) == 'None' and LOGIN_SPLASH:
+    if user is None and LOGIN_REQUIRED:
         resp.content_type = 'text/html'
         resp.body = jinja2_env.get_template('loginsplash.html').render()
     else:
@@ -110,6 +110,8 @@ def secure_filename(filename):
 
 
 class StaticResource(object):
+    allow_no_auth = True
+
     def __init__(self, path):
         self.path = path.lstrip('/')
 
@@ -135,12 +137,12 @@ def init(application, config):
     global HEADER_COLOR
     global IRIS_PLAN_SETTINGS
     global USERCONTACT_UI_READONLY
-    global LOGIN_SPLASH
+    global LOGIN_REQUIRED
     SLACK_INSTANCE = config.get('slack_instance')
     HEADER_COLOR = config.get('header_color', '#3a3a3a')
     IRIS_PLAN_SETTINGS = config.get('iris_plan_integration')
     USERCONTACT_UI_READONLY = config.get('usercontact_ui_readonly', True)
-    LOGIN_SPLASH = config.get('force_login_splash')
+    LOGIN_REQUIRED = config.get('require_auth', True)
 
     application.add_sink(index, '/')
     application.add_route('/static/bundles/{filename}',