Best 2FA app?...

Diggsy · 3 Oct 2020 at 07:48

As title, what is the recommendation for the best 2FA app? I currently just have most of my accounts setup to either send a text or email, but the more I read, the more I see apps being recommended. What isn’t clear though is which one is best! Anyone have any recommendations? Thanks

robj20 · 3 Oct 2020 at 07:59

Google works.

Zefan · 3 Oct 2020 at 08:09

I use both Google and Microsoft on a regular basis, no real reason why I use two, it just means I have a mental separation between work and personal. I've heard good things about Authy but no personal experience.

:edit: just noticed this is in the apple section, my experience may be less relevant then, I've only used MS authenticator on iPhone.

Diggsy · 3 Oct 2020 at 08:39

Thank you both.

Looking at the reviews on the App Store, seems Authy has the edge over Google. It’s 4.7 stars over 1.2k reviews, whereas Google is 2.5 over 523. Google hasn’t been updated for 2yrs, whilst Authy was last updated a week ago.

Looks like that sways me towards Authy, unless of course I’m looking at the wrong Google app, but I don’t think so.

robj20 · 3 Oct 2020 at 09:03

Diggsy said:
Thank you both.

Looking at the reviews on the App Store, seems Authy has the edge over Google. It’s 4.7 stars over 1.2k reviews, whereas Google is 2.5 over 523. Google hasn’t been updated for 2yrs, whilst Authy was last updated a week ago.

Looks like that sways me towards Authy, unless of course I’m looking at the wrong Google app, but I don’t think so.

Your looking at the wrong app. Google has 4.0 over 261k.

Not sure why when it was updated had to do with anything it works simple as that. Easy to transfer to a new phone when you need to.

Feek · 3 Oct 2020 at 09:03

I use 1Password which does both passwords and 2FA within the same app.

Diggsy · 3 Oct 2020 at 09:37

robj20 said:
Your looking at the wrong app. Google has 4.0 over 261k.

Not sure why when it was updated had to do with anything it works simple as that. Easy to transfer to a new phone when you need to.

Ahh, thank you! Wondered what was going on with the app not being updated! Will have another look.

Edit - do you happen to know the name of the other app? I cannot find it on the Apple App Store. Thanks.

Oh and thanks Feek, will look into that as well.

beachBOYken · 5 Oct 2020 at 10:56

Feek said:
I use 1Password which does both passwords and 2FA within the same app.

Same, just wondering do you also store your 1password main account credentials within the app as well, as you can setup 2fa on 1p account also, personally I store this elsewhere and the 2fa code on another separate app.

Semple · 5 Oct 2020 at 11:07

I've started transitioning over to Authy from Google Authenticator.

In terms of app usage they're both pretty much identical now. Although i've moved over to Authy for the desktop app as well - sometimes you just can't be bothered getting the pesky phone out.

Diggsy · 5 Oct 2020 at 15:29

Thanks for all the comments, very helpful. Think I’ll give Authy a try and see how it goes.

Throrik · 5 Oct 2020 at 19:35

I use Microsoft Authenticator because it's what my workplace use, but having used Duo in the past I would like to use that again, but can never be bothered getting round to it.

Diggsy · 5 Oct 2020 at 20:28

Throrik said:
I use Microsoft Authenticator because it's what my workplace use, but having used Duo in the past I would like to use that again, but can never be bothered getting round to it.

Does it work with all products, or just Microsoft?

uvarvu · 5 Oct 2020 at 20:42

beachBOYken said:
Same, just wondering do you also store your 1password main account credentials within the app as well, as you can setup 2fa on 1p account also, personally I store this elsewhere and the 2fa code on another separate app.

Me too. I don’t store my credentials anywhere though and the 2FA code for the account lives in Microsoft Authenticator.

Throrik · 5 Oct 2020 at 21:45

Diggsy said:
Does it work with all products, or just Microsoft?

I only use it with one Microsoft Product and that's O365, generally we just have to scan a QR Code from within the app to set it up as the MFA device for that software.

the-evaluator · 6 Oct 2020 at 10:22

I switched from Google Authenticator to Authy a few years ago for the multi device support. Being able to have my MFA tokens on multiple devices made things so much easier. I now have it on my iPhone, iPad, laptop, work iPad, work iPhone, work laptop and a couple of VM's.

Also, at the time (it may have changed since) there was no way of migrating your Google Authenticator setup from one device to another so when I got a new phone I had to disable and re-enable MFA on all my accounts which was a nightmare.

the-evaluator · 6 Oct 2020 at 10:23

Diggsy said:
Does it work with all products, or just Microsoft?

It'll work with anything, it doesn't need to be a Microsoft product.

When setting up MFA you'll generally be walked through the process and usually the service will specifically mention Google Authenticator, but you can use any MFA tool. Whilst the setup process might differ it'll work.

Semple · 6 Oct 2020 at 10:26

the-evaluator said:
Also, at the time (it may have changed since) there was no way of migrating your Google Authenticator setup from one device to another so when I got a new phone I had to disable and re-enable MFA on all my accounts which was a nightmare.

They must have cottoned onto this big issue, as the current versions do allow you to migrate, albeit from memory if you have quite a number of accounts on there you've still gotta do them in small batches.

the-evaluator · 6 Oct 2020 at 10:35

I assumed they'd eventually sort that but I'd got bored and gone elsewhere by then.

Diggsy · 6 Oct 2020 at 13:45

the-evaluator said:
It'll work with anything, it doesn't need to be a Microsoft product.

When setting up MFA you'll generally be walked through the process and usually the service will specifically mention Google Authenticator, but you can use any MFA tool. Whilst the setup process might differ it'll work.

Thanks for that info. I literally know nothing about these apps, but about time I started to learn!!

Semple · 6 Oct 2020 at 13:53

Diggsy said:
Thanks for that info. I literally know nothing about these apps, but about time I started to learn!!

Once you've done once, they're all pretty much the same.

Basically scan a QR code in, wait for your device to generate a number, enter that number into the site so that it's synced, and voila you're done.