2y ago

Favorite 2-factor authenticator?

I just switched to Authenticator Pro from Authy and I've been very pleased. It took some time to get my codes transferred over, but now I have android wear support, night mode, and my codes aren't held hostage by Twilio!

88 comments

Aegis ftw

I like Aegis being FOSS and for it's backup.
- Keepass for passwords AND 2FA codes. It is really awesome to have them in one place.
  
  I agree, but not very secure if Keepass is compromised. For security I think it's better to separate passwords and MFA.
  
  Not very secure, though. I use a second db for TOTP.
- +1 for Aegis, that's what I use.

I use bitwarden for 99% of my 2FA. The rest goes into both Google Auth and Authy.
- I use bitwarden for all but it's protected by a yubikey.
  
  Ironically Bitwarden is why I want a Yubikey
- This is the way to go! Bitwarden's authenticator is just so smoothly integrated into the login process - Ctrl-Shift-L to login, them Ctrl-V to paste the code.
  I use yubikeys wherever they're available and I use Aegis for the rare TOTP I don't store in Bitwarden.
  
  Been looking into getting a yubikey recently and just can't bring myself to bite the bullet.
- Oh, didn't know bitwarden also managed 2FA, could've saved the space from using authy. Is that a (somewhat) new feature or is it just me being blind and missing it?
  
  It's not as obvious as the other apps for sure and requires the premium subscription which is like 10 bucks a year. Was an instant buy for me when I switched over. When you auto fill a login it will automatically copy your 2FA key to quick paste into the box. I love it.
  
  It's super hard to find. I just now learned about this too. https://bitwarden.com/help/authenticator-keys/
- So you store the TOTP for Bitwarden in one of the other apps?
  
  I use Bitwarden for 2FA and the Bitwarden TOTP is in Aegis (I switched there from Authy after seeing a mention of it yesterday - never liked that it's near impossible to get the tokens back out of Authy, but Bitwarden is the only thing I use it for). Actually the Bitwarden code is in Bitwarden too 😉.
  I don't particularly like that the passwords and TOTP are stored together, but it makes things much more convenient.
  
  Both actually because Bitwarden is to important to me to trust one service lol

Aegis is FOSS and supports easy backup and restore. TOTP 2FA isn't a very changing or proprietary technology so using open source options are easy.

Aegis, simple, Foss, and has all the features I'd want (ex: biometrics).
- Biometrics got me. One day it stopped working and I had forgotten the password since I wasn't using it frequently.
  
  Yeah I personally like having biometrics because it is very quick.

Used andOTP but got discontinued, Aegis is the king now :)
- Is there a way to automatically transfer secrets from andotp to aegis?
  
  andOTP backups are supported on Aegis after you create a vault

Aegis user here ✌️ I've never had any issues since I started using it. Switched to it and Bitwarden after using LastPass for quite a bit. I know Bitwarden has 2FA but I haven't decided if I want premium yet or not.
- I actually have Bitwarden premium, which I subscribe to because it costs very little and I like the service a lot. Would be super convenient to have codes pop up automatically, but I am wondering if it's a good idea to store everything in one place. May eventually move over, but it is quite convenient to have the codes on Android Wear for now :)
  
  Yup, that's why I use Aegis with Bitwarden. I'd rather not put all my eggs in one basket.

Aegis all the way, but I'm curious about Bitwarden's offering. May check it out one of these days.

Using Authy. Pretty happy with it. It's key feature for me has been the ability to easily restore if you lose, reset or upgrade your device, without having to mess around with your own backup and syncing.
Would suck to reset your phone and discover the sync had failed and the backup was not up to date.
I would like to have it on Wear OS though....
- Authy is alright but I found myself increasingly uneasy. No major updates for a very long time and being owned by a giant security corporation, combined with the inability to export my codes, left me feeling like it was enshittification waiting to happen. I wanted dark mode and more control over the icons and organization too
  
  Yeah. If it gets enshittified or sold to a dodgy company, I'd not hesitate to migrate.
  Might bookmark this thread for if (when?) that time comes.
  
  Authy does have dark mode as a toggle in the settings, btw. Not sure when that was added.

If you are already using BitWarden as your password manager you should know that it also supports 2FA. Before I figured that out I was using Google authenticator because it saves to the cloud and I was paranoid about losing my 2FA.
- But is it really still a second factor when it is stored in the same app that stores the first factor of authentication?
  
  Well that just raises questions about password managers in general. Why protect all your unique passwords with one that you likely never change?
- Yeah, might eventually switch over but for now, keeping them separate. It does seem very convenient!

I've been using Microsoft authenticator for a long time but authenticator pro looks decent. Just tried to export stuff from Microsoft app and there is one interesting thing: i will have to do all of my accounts manually. Yep, no export. But i will do it, after that i eill have not a single app from Microsoft which means my privacy will be happier

I think some people get to paranoid with 2fa with storing in password manager. Like if you have a high threat model keep it separate. But for most people just having a password manager with 2fa is streets ahead of 99 percent of people.

I use Authenticator Pro like you. We are the same.

I've been using microsoft's authenticator and it works well, but reading these comments i'm thinking it may be time to consider a change..?
- Microsoft Authentication didn't allow me restore my backed up codes when I switched from iPhone to Android.
- Whatever works for you, but I switched from Authy because it didn't have the features I wanted, and I was uncomfortable with them holding my codes in a non-portable format!

Authenticator Pro is quite good and looks beautiful with material theming. I've recently completed shifted to Proton Pass though, which is a complete E2EE password manager having support for 2FA as well. It's synced with Firefox on my desktop and laptop.
- Do you know if it's possible to use Proton Pass just for 2FA or do I need to store my passwords there too?
  
  You can use it just for 2FA if you want.

A lot of people like Aegis. I just keep it all in VaultWarden because I'm lazy and it's easier.

Bitwarden and Microsoft Authenticator. Both are fully featured password managers with 2FA code support.

I just use Bitwarden. I can have my passwords and TOTP all in one place, and if I auto-fill, I can have it automatically copy the TOTP to the clipboard to make it even easier

I use Authy, but these comments are going to make me check out Authenticator Pro, especially since I see its backup story on the main page, and it supports sha256, which Authy does not (and enabling current Lemmy 2fa silently fails).

Authenticator Pro here too
Material You, Wear OS and auto backup is a game changer!

I'm a happy Aegis user but there are other similar FOSS apps that I don't remember their names you might wanna check

Keepassdx for me

I use FREEOTP+. It's on F-Droid and Gstore. It easily exports to JSON and key URI formats. Has a dark mode.
- Supports Steam, too!

2FAS are on both Android and iOS. Also has a browser extension that may make entering the 2FA on the desktop more pleasant. Free. Open-sourced.

I use bitwarden for many services, but have aegis for importants services (eg. work ones, bitwarden because I don't want to have 2fa for it locked away).

Anything that works with 1Password is fine by me.

I always use Aegis. No problems so far and easy backups.

Microsoft. It's one of the most convenient ones, and there's no risk of them selling to a company like Tencent etc. The evil you know and all that
- there's no risk of them selling to a company like Tencent etc. The evil you know and all that
  That's... actually a REALLY compelling point. I hate how that is a compelling point.

Keepass2Android. I store everything in a KeePass database synced with OneDrive. I like KeePass because it serves as the storage for all my passwords, OTP, and even SSH keys because it can act as an SSH KeyAgent.

Since I got Yubikey 5, I ended up using Yubico Authenticator. It’s a bit of a PITA since it requires unlocking with the key at each use (NFC or USB), but I grew to actually appreciate that extra layer of protection. The OTP accounts are actually stored on the key (I believe up to 32 per key), so it is highly portable.
App is decent and available for every OS, including Linux.

1password

Microsoft Authenticator.
- Does the Microsoft authenticator sync the secrets? E.g. if I get a new device will they transfer automatically?
  
  they may have added that recently, cause i wanna say it didn't but on my last phone (2 months ago) it did
  
  Yes. But you need to enable it. It doesn't do anything remote by default.

88 comments