Microsoft Authenticator

Microsoft Corporation

About this app

Two factor authentication (2FA or TFA) is easy, convenient, and secure when you use Microsoft Authenticator. Use your phone, not your password, to log into your Microsoft account. Just enter your username, then approve the notification sent to your phone. Your fingerprint, face ID, or PIN will provide a second layer of security in this two step verification process. After you’ve signed in with two factor authentication (2FA or TFA), you’ll have access to all your Microsoft products and services, such as Outlook, OneDrive, Office, and more.

Microsoft Authenticator also supports multi factor authentication (MFA) even if you still use a password, by providing a second layer of security after you type your password. When logging in with two factor authentication (2FA or TFA), you’ll enter your password, and then you’ll be asked for an additional way to prove it’s really you. Either approve the notification sent to the Microsoft Authenticator, or enter the one time password (OTP) generated by the app. The one time passwords (OTP codes) have a 30 second timer counting down. This timer is so you never have to use the same time based one time password (TOTP) twice and you don’t have to remember the number. The one time password (OTP) doesn’t require you to be connected to a network, and it won’t drain your battery.

You can add multiple accounts to your app, including non-Microsoft accounts like LinkedIn, Github, Amazon, Dropbox, Google, Facebook, and more. Since the app supports the industry standard for time based one time passwords (TOTP), you can secure all your online accounts. Simply enable two factor authentication (2FA or TFA) on all your accounts. Then, when you sign in, you’ll provide your username and password as usual. Finally, you’ll enter the one time password (OTP) provided by the Microsoft Authenticator app.

Sometimes your work or school might ask you to install the Microsoft Authenticator when accessing certain files, emails, or apps. You will need to register your device to your organization through the app and add your work or school account. Microsoft Authenticator also supports cert-based authentication by issuing a certificate on your device. This will let your organization know that the sign-in request is coming from a trusted device and help you seamlessly and securely access additional Microsoft apps and services without needing to log into each. Because Microsoft Authenticator supports single sign-on, once you have proven your identity once, you will not need to log in again to other Microsoft apps on your device.

Enroll in our beta program! Follow this link for an early preview of our latest updates: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.azure.authenticator

Ratings and reviews

6/27/24. Still complete garbage and pointless. As usual for MS, it's a cluster getting things working. What used to take 30 seconds now takes 45 minutes what with all the back and forth, error messages, quintuple factor authentication at play. Oh, and now that they have my phone number.... I'm getting spam calls and texts from Microsoft on a daily basis. Lovely. This app is evil, unnecessary, and I'd be ashamed and embarrassed if I was on the team that developed this garbage.

Hideous. Trying to get into one-drive is a nightmare. The other day the authenticator app popped up on my phone - when I wasn't trying to get in. I thought, "Oh well, maybe it is working after all" so I tried today several times. Someone else's phone has probably been bombarded with my logon attempts. An utterly frustrating waste of everyone's time. BTW. I have been working in IT for over 40 years. Do not install this utterly vile app.

Took a minute to get used to. Feels safe. Microsoft is much better for work usage whereas Google is better for school systems. I ran into issues when using at work and home and switching devices. Microsoft helped me access everything eventually. Make a plan before changing and adding devices. There must be a back up system in place as a way to get into accounts, especially when traveling. I'm just getting into the password protector as I have always used Google in the past.