Authy authenticator apps for desktop are being discontinued in August 2024

Discussion in 'privacy technology' started by stapp, Jan 8, 2024.

  1. stapp

    stapp Global Moderator

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  2. warrior99

    warrior99 Registered Member

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    :mad::mad::mad: ho no I like Authy for desktop, sad news,,
     
  3. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    Authy for desktop sucked anyway, because it didn't allow me to scan QR codes and I couldn't sync it with my mobile app. However, I do think it's silly for such a huge company not to offer a desktop 2FA app.
     
  4. chileverde

    chileverde Registered Member

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    Just got an email from Twilio today that they have moved up the date they are ending support for Authy Desktop to March 19, 2024.

    I really like having the authenticator on my laptop, and I consider it a security risk to have it on the cell phone I carry with me all the time.

    Any ideas about an authenticator which has a Windows version that I might switch to? Hopefully one that works with websites that use Google Authenticator and one which can be accessed from more than one device. Also one to which it would be easy to migrate from Authy.

    So far, one candidate I've found is ente Authenticator. Has anyone used it? There are instructions about how to migrate from Authy at https://github.com/ua741/authy-export/releases/tag/v0.0.4, but I can't figure out how to follow them.
     
    Last edited: Feb 13, 2024
  5. korben

    korben Registered Member

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    I share similar viewpoint and am too in despair over the news.

    Authy is on my cell, on my W 10 and on my linux as well - hence it worked perfectly. Now need to switch, but to what address?
     
  6. pegas

    pegas Registered Member

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    I'm pretty satisfied with MS Authenticator across all my devices regardless of OS.
     
  7. chileverde

    chileverde Registered Member

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    Was able to follow instructions at https://github.com/ua741/authy-export/releases/tag/v0.0.4 to export Authy data, once I figured out that "./" referred to current working directory. I actually like ente Authenticator better than Authy—on my computer (viewing codes on website) all code appear on one page, and it's easy to click on the code, which copies it, then paste it into the field on the page where I am signing in; unlike Authy, ente is open-source and keeps user data end-to-end-encrypted.
     
  8. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    Isn't ente Authenticator mobile only? So how is this a replacement for Authy Desktop? You could try to switch to WinAuth or Protecc if you're looking for a desktop 2FA app. They should work on most sites that support Google Authenticator, see second and third link.

    https://github.com/ente-io/auth
    https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9PJX91M06TZS?hl=en-US&gl=US
    https://winauth.github.io/winauth/index.html
     
  9. chileverde

    chileverde Registered Member

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    Yes and no. You can only manage it in a mobile phone. That is, to add a new website for which to display authentication codes or to change any settings, you have to be using a mobile phone. But you can get the codes for services you have already added by going to this website (https://auth.ente.io/auth) and logging in.

    So it is not a complete replacement for Authy Desktop, but it meets my needs for now. And it sounds like they are in the process of developing a full-functioning desktop version.

    I do appreciate hearing about the authenticators your cited. It sounds like they work only in Windows. Can they be used for the same account from more than one Windows computer?
     
  10. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    OK I see, and I forgot that you needed the sync function so that your 2FA codes can be synced across all your devices. I don't believe that WinAuth and Protecc can do this since they are desktop only.

    But I totally forgot to mention that just about all password managers offer 2FA syncing on all devices, it's probably not going to be free though. You could use Roboform or 1Password, for example. You could also use ProtonPass, but it only works as an extension, so it has no desktop app.

    https://help.roboform.com/hc/en-us/...-a-2FA-authenticator-for-other-sites-and-apps
    https://support.1password.com/one-time-passwords/
    https://proton.me/pass
     
  11. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    BTW, I also found this free 2FA authenticator, but it's not really known, so probably not a good idea to use it. And it's also detected as malware on VirusTotal (probably a false positive). And I now see that I can't launch the desktop app on Win 10, I get some error about a missing DLL file. But the website does look quite professional though.

    https://www.free-authenticator.com
    https://www.verifyr.com
     
  12. chileverde

    chileverde Registered Member

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    Thanks, Rasheed.

    ente is working fine for now. If I did switch, would probably go to Bitwarden. For access to authenticator, one must buy premium service, only $10/year for one person. Bitwarden is well-established company, trusted and not likely to disappear or drop a service (as Twilio did with Authy Desktop).
     
  13. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    Yes, I forgot about Bitwarden. Although some people do warn about using your password manager as 2FA authenticator, because they store both your passwords and 2FA secret keys. So if your account somehow does get breached, you're toast. Now that I think of it, I wonder if your password manager account can be secured with a hardware security key (YubiKey, Google Titan, FEITIAN ePass), since this is virtually unhackable.
     
  14. chileverde

    chileverde Registered Member

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    I don't use Bitwarden as my p/w manager. I prefer keeping everything on my computer and backups. If I used Bitwarden, it would just be as an authenticator. I didn't make that clear.
     
  15. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    OK I see, I forgot that you could use password managers strictly as a 2FA authenticator. I would like to use a tool like Proton Pass, it looks very cool and handy, problem is you first need to sign up for an account, while I rather store everything locally, not in the cloud. Of course if you need to sync to other devices, you have no choice but to use the cloud.
     
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