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

Backup experience could be improved by prompting to restore from a backup when logging into the app for the first time (as in, if you didn't see the tiny text at the bottom to restore from backup and just logged in normally). Also, it would be nice to know that you are overwriting a previous backup by just turning the feature on. Overall, not intuitive when setting back up on a new phone.

Compared to some other Auth apps, this one offers some of the best, free account functional features! I think the most annoying part of it is the clunky UI. Instead of having to delete the back up and manually re-backup, it should auto sync. You should be able to categorize/group accounts together. I have *A LOT* of accounts (as a strong infosec proponent) so trying to find a specific one is a hassle. Need to add the ability to rename accounts. But otherwise, it works for basic Auth needs.

Worked fine when it was set up for my work, but I switched phones, had to login to everything again, and...it keeps wanting me to login to Authenticator...when I need Authenticator to login! It's crazy. Someone NEEDS to fix this! I have to use it for my work, I don't have an alternative. This is unacceptable and unprofessional, to say the least, not even addressing the issue with MULTIPLE complaints.

What's new

We're always working on new features, bug fixes, and performance improvements. Make sure you stay updated with the latest version for the best authentication experience.