You can use the Session component in controllers and the 
session helper in views to detect the login status. 

in controllers: 

$this->Session->check(‘Auth.User.id’) will return true if the user is 
logged, you can also use $this->Auth->user(‘id’). 

in views 

$session->check(‘Auth.User.id’) will tell you if a user is logged, and 
you can user $session->read(‘Auth.User’) to retrieve the user’s 
information.