diff --git a/docs/en/authentication-component.rst b/docs/en/authentication-component.rst
index 07d9a659..34da6ccf 100644
--- a/docs/en/authentication-component.rst
+++ b/docs/en/authentication-component.rst
@@ -103,4 +103,6 @@ applied during the ``Controller.initialize`` event instead::
     ]);
 
 You can also disable identity checks entirely with the ``requireIdentity``
-option.
+option or by calling ``disableIdentityCheck`` from the controller's ``beforeFilter()`` method itself::
+
+    $this->Authentication->disableIdentityCheck();
diff --git a/src/Controller/Component/AuthenticationComponent.php b/src/Controller/Component/AuthenticationComponent.php
index d1a0b8b6..0bfe0ddd 100644
--- a/src/Controller/Component/AuthenticationComponent.php
+++ b/src/Controller/Component/AuthenticationComponent.php
@@ -190,6 +190,17 @@ protected function doIdentityCheck(): void
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Disables the identity check for this controller and as all its actions.
+     * They then don't require an authentication identity to be present.
+     *
+     * @return void
+     */
+    public function disableIdentityCheck(): void
+    {
+        $this->setConfig('requireIdentity', false);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Set the list of actions that don't require an authentication identity to be present.
      *
diff --git a/tests/TestCase/Controller/Component/AuthenticationComponentTest.php b/tests/TestCase/Controller/Component/AuthenticationComponentTest.php
index 51cf7573..43ffdbff 100644
--- a/tests/TestCase/Controller/Component/AuthenticationComponentTest.php
+++ b/tests/TestCase/Controller/Component/AuthenticationComponentTest.php
@@ -55,11 +55,6 @@ class AuthenticationComponentTest extends TestCase
      */
     protected $request;
 
-    /**
-     * @var \Cake\Http\Response
-     */
-    protected $response;
-
     /**
      * @var \Authentication\AuthenticationService
      */
@@ -495,7 +490,7 @@ public function testUnauthenticatedActionsNoActionsFails()
     }
 
     /**
-     * test disabling requireidentity via settings
+     * test disabling requireIdentity via settings
      *
      * @return void
      */
@@ -516,6 +511,27 @@ public function testUnauthenticatedActionsDisabledOptions()
         $this->assertTrue(true, 'No exception should be raised as require identity is off.');
     }
 
+    /**
+     * test disabling requireIdentity via convenience method
+     *
+     * @return void
+     */
+    public function testUnauthenticatedActionsDisabledOptionsCall()
+    {
+        $request = $this->request
+            ->withParam('action', 'view')
+            ->withAttribute('authentication', $this->service);
+
+        $controller = new Controller($request);
+        $controller->loadComponent('Authentication.Authentication');
+        $controller->Authentication->disableIdentityCheck();
+
+        // Mismatched actions would normally cause an error.
+        $controller->Authentication->allowUnauthenticated(['index', 'add']);
+        $controller->startupProcess();
+        $this->assertTrue(true, 'No exception should be raised as require identity is off.');
+    }
+
     /**
      * Test that the identity check can be run from callback for Controller.initialize
      *
@@ -574,7 +590,7 @@ public function testImpersonate()
         $request = $this->request
             ->withAttribute('identity', $identity)
             ->withAttribute('authentication', $this->service);
-        $controller = new Controller($request, $this->response);
+        $controller = new Controller($request);
         $registry = new ComponentRegistry($controller);
         $component = new AuthenticationComponent($registry);
 
@@ -605,7 +621,7 @@ public function testImpersonateDecoratorIgnored()
         $request = $this->request
             ->withAttribute('identity', $identity)
             ->withAttribute('authentication', $this->service);
-        $controller = new Controller($request, $this->response);
+        $controller = new Controller($request);
         $registry = new ComponentRegistry($controller);
         $component = new AuthenticationComponent($registry);
 
@@ -630,7 +646,7 @@ public function testImpersonateNoIdentity()
         $impersonated = new ArrayObject(['username' => 'larry']);
         $request = $this->request
             ->withAttribute('authentication', $this->service);
-        $controller = new Controller($request, $this->response);
+        $controller = new Controller($request);
         $registry = new ComponentRegistry($controller);
         $component = new AuthenticationComponent($registry);
         $this->expectException(UnauthenticatedException::class);
@@ -659,7 +675,7 @@ public function testImpersonateFailure()
         $request = $this->request
             ->withAttribute('identity', $identity)
             ->withAttribute('authentication', $service);
-        $controller = new Controller($request, $this->response);
+        $controller = new Controller($request);
         $registry = new ComponentRegistry($controller);
         $component = new AuthenticationComponent($registry);
         $this->expectException(UnexpectedValueException::class);
@@ -680,7 +696,7 @@ public function testStopImpersonating()
         $this->request->getSession()->write('AuthImpersonate', $impersonator);
         $this->service->authenticate($this->request);
         $request = $this->request->withAttribute('authentication', $this->service);
-        $controller = new Controller($request, $this->response);
+        $controller = new Controller($request);
         $registry = new ComponentRegistry($controller);
         $component = new AuthenticationComponent($registry);
         $this->assertEquals($impersonator, $controller->getRequest()->getSession()->read('AuthImpersonate'));
@@ -710,7 +726,7 @@ public function testStopImpersonatingFailure()
         $request = $this->request
             ->withAttribute('identity', $identity)
             ->withAttribute('authentication', $service);
-        $controller = new Controller($request, $this->response);
+        $controller = new Controller($request);
         $registry = new ComponentRegistry($controller);
         $component = new AuthenticationComponent($registry);
         $this->expectException(UnexpectedValueException::class);
@@ -733,7 +749,7 @@ public function testIsImpersonating()
         $request = $this->request
             ->withAttribute('authentication', $this->service)
             ->withAttribute('identity', new Identity($impersonated));
-        $controller = new Controller($request, $this->response);
+        $controller = new Controller($request);
         $registry = new ComponentRegistry($controller);
         $component = new AuthenticationComponent($registry);
 
@@ -757,7 +773,7 @@ public function testGetImpersonationAuthenticationServiceFailure()
         $request = $this->request
             ->withAttribute('authentication', $service)
             ->withAttribute('identity', new Identity($user));
-        $controller = new Controller($request, $this->response);
+        $controller = new Controller($request);
         $registry = new ComponentRegistry($controller);
         $component = new AuthenticationComponent($registry);
 
@@ -778,7 +794,7 @@ public function testIsImpersonatingNotImpersonating()
         $this->request->getSession()->write('Auth', $user);
         $this->service->authenticate($this->request);
         $request = $this->request->withAttribute('authentication', $this->service);
-        $controller = new Controller($request, $this->response);
+        $controller = new Controller($request);
         $registry = new ComponentRegistry($controller);
         $component = new AuthenticationComponent($registry);