Microsoft Authenticator : Official Wiki

Microsoft Authenticator

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Microsoft Authenticator is an iPhone and Android Productivity App, made by Microsoft Corporation. Today, it has gone through many interations by the developers - Microsoft Corporation, with the latest current version being 6.4.7 which was officially released on 2020-05-06. As a testament to the app's popularity or lack thereof, it has gathered a total of 40,909 Reviews on the Apple App Store alone, with an average user rating of 4.76164 out of a possible 5 stars.

How does it Work?

Sign in is easy, convenient, and secure when you use Microsoft Authenticator. Use your phone, not your password, to log into your Microsoft account. You simply have to 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'll have access to all your Microsoft products and services, such as Outlook, OneDrive, Office, and more. Microsoft Authenticator also supports multi factor authentication for work, school, and non-Microsoft accounts. The app provides a second layer of security after your password. When logging in, 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 verification code generated by the 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.

Top Reviews

6.4.1+ Interface Bloat

By Whoopmeister

This app was great until 6.4.1 at which time they decided to hide the main feature (the login keys) behind each respective account. So now instead of quickly opening the app ti grab your key you need to drill into each account. For those people that access multiple keys each time this becomes needlessly cumbersome. This feels like change for the sake of change without any forethought into how this will impact user workflow. In other words, it feels like a team of developers trying to justify their existence by running out of things to do. Come on Microsoft, seriously? When something just works why can’t you just leave well enough alone? I get that you wanted to add all the other functionality and it is useful in certain scenarios, but at least give users the option of what screen the app opens up to so we can have the old view where we see all account keys in one view.
Great on iPhone Watch app is a bust

By EdLewis2

Authenticator works very well on iPhone. It has been solid and reliable where i use it on a number of accounts. 5 stars. I was excited to hear a Apple Watch version came out. That is a complete bust, not working at all. Zero stars. The Watch app does nothing but declare that an account can be set up. Fiddling with it for a half hour gave the proclamation ‘setup successful’. Still not producing codes like it should I discovered to my dismay that the iPhone version crashed and had to be removed and reinstalled. Suggestion: take the Watch app off the store until it is properly documented and can be made to work. 5 stars for iPhone app, 0 for watch gives an average of 2.5 or 3.
This app is great

By MyExDumpedMeForATrashCan

So a few months ago I got my Xbox account hacked and I was really sad about it because I had lost a lot. Including my games ect. But then I found out the hacker stole my email and put it in this app because at the time I didn’t have this app. So that was a good lesson for me to use this app always and it’s absolutely fantastic because I have a lot of emails like work, school, and gaming of course but I feel like all my emails are super secure also I like the fact that when trying to log into another site with your email you have to get permission from the Authenticator app before you can do anything so if someone gets ahold of your email then they can’t log in at all.
NEED DEVELOPER RESPONSE - Locked of all accounts

By JHesidenz

After upgrading to a new iPhone today, I restored everything from a backup earlier in the day. After installing everything I begin to login to several different accounts like discord, Twitter etc. I didn’t get very far until I got the request to confirm my identity via my Authenticator app. I opened my app to find NOTHING. All of my accounts were gone. I click “begin backup” and get the message that I don’t have a backup on my iCloud account, the same one I had been using for years. I’m completely at a loss. I’ve been frantically trying to contact support from Azure to Microsoft and haven’t found anyone who can or would be willing to help me. I have no idea what to do - this is an atrocious, horrific flaw with this app and I would never have downloaded it if I knew this could possibly happen. I desperately need someone to reach out to me to help correct this issue.
Good app. Using it for years

By Mjababababab

My company requires us to use 2FA. I liked this one because the Tap to authenticate is very easy to use (It’s integrated with O365 too). No codes to type in. The Watch app makes life really easy - it pops up and I Tap my wrist and I’m in. 4 stars because 2FA can be a pita. ESP on password change day. Every MS product makes me authenticate individually. Office, OneDrive, Teams, Windows. Ugh. At least it just a tap. I use it for home too. Except on my personal laptop. Why? Because 2FA is a pita at night. Having to go downstairs to find my phone just to login. I just want to look something up real quick but the 30day trust has expired and needs to be renewed. I grow tired of it in my house. Usually my iPad is nearer :-)
Watch app is not up to park with Phone app

By ItsTheArsonist

I don't believe I've ever been able to get the Authenticator app to work properly with push notifications on the Apple Watch. I get the notification on the Watch just fine. I approve it, select the correct number shown on the screen, then it thinks for a second and says "Something went wrong." I pull out my phone and perform the same steps and it works great, Face ID and all that goodness on the phone. This issue has persisted two different phones, multiple app updates, and different IOS builds. Not sure if MS will ever fix it but I'll hold out hope for them to fix the otherwise great service.
Great But

By Dookie 2x

Love it for how it works as a remote Authenticator for OneDrive & Outlook, and especially for work to authenticate with TouchID when logging in to work resources. BUT - really frustrated by how you lose 2 factor or step linkage to services when you have to restore your iPhone (either from having to erase or moving to a new iPhone) and now I’ve lost login access to some services I used it with for 2 factor. One in particular doesn’t even offer email temporary recovery so I have to completely wipe my settings and information to re-establish access.
Wanted it to work but...

By SherRoberts

I set it up on my iPhone, and wanted to be able to also use on my iPad. I could find no instructions on how to pull my info that I entered on the iPhone into the app on the iPad. There is no recovery option on my iPad app, only the iPhone app. There should be a way and I am sure there is, it is just not answered in any FAQ I saw. Most apps when you set them up on multiple devices you use and sign in, all your stored info is there. Not here and once something gets this complicated I lose interest. So I will try other apps to see if any work across all my devices. I should not have to have separate accounts or re set up all my accounts each time I go to another device.
Works ok until you need to recover from a backup

By soxcanes

Microsoft’s authenticator apps claims to be able to back up your accounts/data to icloud, and that would be a nice feature to have. I made sure my icloud backup was enabled in the authenticator app and then reset my iPhone and restored from a backup. When it came time to open the authenticator app, it had no accounts in there, so I clicked the Restore accounts from backup option, and it claims I have no icloud backup :). So then I get to have the lovely experience of trying to get into all my accounts that have 2 factor authentication enabled without the authenticator app. Super fun, thanks Microsoft! Great app here, if you care about not getting locked out of your accounts, don't use this app! ICLOUD BACKUP DOES NOT WORK.
Could we get codes on the watch?

By Jacob~-

Microsoft Authenticator is an amazing app, works perfectly for me and I love how I can use passwordless sign-in for my Microsoft account. Super convenient with an Apple Watch. One thing I wish was added though is the ability to generate 2FA codes with the Apple Watch app. I know some other 2FA apps can do this so I’d love it if it would be added to MS Auth. That would make this app a 5/5. Also, to the person who is upset that codes are now hidden by default: you can change that. Tap the three lines in the top left and then just tap “Show codes”. Voila. Codes are back.

External Links

Microsoft Corporation Official Website
Download for Free on On iTunes
Download for Android

Disclaimers:
This page was last edited on 2020-05-06.
Content is available under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 unless otherwise noted.
Microsoft Authenticator content and materials are trademarks and copyrights of Microsoft Corporation or its licensors. All rights reserved.
This site, Mycryptowiki, is not affiliated with Microsoft Corporation.

Microsoft Authenticator Wiki