Activating two factor authentication is one of the best ways of securing an online account. Although there are several 2FA applications on the Play Store, iTunes, etc, not all of them are perfect. Let’s consider the example of Google Authenticator. If you’re using this app and your phone gets lost, you will have to set up 2FA for every website on which you have activated 2FA. Most importantly, you’ll have to regain access to the website’s dashboard by using the backup code. Why is this so? The Google 2FA app doesn’t support backups.
Twilio Authy and Microsoft Authenticator overcome this limitation by providing an optional “backup” feature which automatically syncs your accounts to a cloud drive. Although their core feature is to generate and display the two factor authentication tokens, there are some differences between the two. This article covers the same and the similarities so that you can choose an app that has the features you’re looking for.
Getting started and interface
Some 2FA applications don’t require registration but to use Authy or MS Authenticator, you must register an account. Authy prompts users to enter their phone number. Its counterpart doesn’t.
Once your account is active, you can set up accounts by scanning QR codes. When it comes to appearance, Authy’s interface is colorful. It lets you assign colors to accounts. The Microsoft application’s UI looks good. It uses the MS hallmark blue + white color scheme. Both services show the list of accounts on the main interface.
When you click on an account, the applications will display the token. Authy will regenerate the token after 16 seconds. Its counterpart will create a new 2FA code after 30 seconds. To copy the code, click on it.
Authy can generate 6, 7 or 8 digit tokens. You are allowed to rename the accounts on both apps.
Integration with Microsoft services
If you’re using the Windows operating system and have signed in to the computer using a non-local account, you don’t have to remember the outlook password. MS Windows will prompt you to do some activity instead of entering the password when you try to sign in to the services after signing into the computer. For example, the OS will ask you to enter a box containing a certain number in the application. It may also send a notification to your phone to approve or reject the sign in. This feature isn’t supported by Authy yet.
Cross platform
Unfortunately, Microsoft Authenticator is not available for Windows operating system. You will have to use the mobile app to see 2FA code. Authy is a cross-platform service. You can download and install its application on Android, Windows, and iOS operating system.
Backup
As mentioned earlier, the two apps can automatically back up your 2FA accounts to an encrypted cloud drive. This feature is not enabled by default. You must activate it manually from the settings section. “Cloud backup” is the reason why you may want to switch from the other two factor authentication applications to Microsoft Authenticator or Authy.
Bulk viewing authentication codes
If you’ve opened many websites in the browser and each site is prompting you to enter the 2FA token, you will have to click on accounts one after another and to see their token. Microsoft Authenticator has the “show codes” option which will display the authentication digits for each account. Its counterpart doesn’t have this feature.
Which app is more popular?
Microsoft Authenticator is a clear winner when it comes to the user base size, popularity, and rating. It has 50+ million users and a rating of 4.7. Its counterpart’s rating is 4.6 and the number of people who are using it or have used it is 10 million.
Which application do I prefer? I was using Authy for 8 months. When I found out the capabilities of Microsoft’s application, I started using it.
