diff --git a/packages/auth/src/authFactory.ts b/packages/auth/src/authFactory.ts
index 953c35b90e2c..7c4d76b68000 100644
--- a/packages/auth/src/authFactory.ts
+++ b/packages/auth/src/authFactory.ts
@@ -38,5 +38,6 @@ export function createAuthentication<
   const useAuth = createUseAuth(AuthContext)
   const AuthProvider = createAuthProvider(AuthContext, authImplementation)
 
+  // TODO: Do we really need to return AuthContext here?
   return { AuthContext, AuthProvider, useAuth }
 }
diff --git a/packages/auth/src/authImplementations/netlify.ts b/packages/auth/src/authImplementations/netlify.ts
index 77af4f3fe67e..050977aee6a9 100644
--- a/packages/auth/src/authImplementations/netlify.ts
+++ b/packages/auth/src/authImplementations/netlify.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 import type * as NetlifyIdentityNS from 'netlify-identity-widget'
 
+import { isBrowser } from '@redwoodjs/prerender/browserUtils'
+
 import { createAuthentication } from 'src/authFactory'
 // TODO:
 // In the future, when this is a separate package, we can import the full thing
@@ -10,15 +12,16 @@ import { createAuthentication } from 'src/authFactory'
 import { AuthImplementation } from './AuthImplementation'
 
 type NetlifyIdentity = typeof NetlifyIdentityNS
-type User = NetlifyIdentityNS.User
 
 export function createNetlifyAuth(netlifyIdentity: NetlifyIdentity) {
   const authImplementation = createNetlifyAuthImplementation(netlifyIdentity)
 
+  isBrowser && netlifyIdentity.init()
+
   return createAuthentication<
-    User,
-    User | null,
-    User | null,
+    NetlifyIdentityNS.User,
+    NetlifyIdentityNS.User | null,
+    NetlifyIdentityNS.User | null,
     void,
     null,
     never,
@@ -31,9 +34,9 @@ export function createNetlifyAuth(netlifyIdentity: NetlifyIdentity) {
 function createNetlifyAuthImplementation(
   netlifyIdentity: NetlifyIdentity
 ): AuthImplementation<
-  User,
-  User | null,
-  User | null,
+  NetlifyIdentityNS.User,
+  NetlifyIdentityNS.User | null,
+  NetlifyIdentityNS.User | null,
   void,
   null,
   never,