Windows based authenticator apps - alternative to Authy?

pokeefe0001 · Dec 22, 2023

For most of my accounts using 2FA I use a security key (Yubikey) but have set up Authy as a backup for some. I just discovered that Twilio has decided to stop supporting Authy - EOL in about 3 weeks - so I'm looking for PC-based alternatives. (Yes I know I can use smartphone-based authenticators but a PC-based authenticator is sometimes more handy.)

I've seen conflicting authoritative information about MS Authernticator. It is / is not only available for mobile devices. It is / is not only for MS accounts. Is there a desktop version that works like a mobile authenticator app?

I've read that Google Authenticator is only for mobile devices (Android, I assume) but I don't know if that is still true.

I've seen there are browser extensions (Chrome, Firefox, Edge) but the security seems a bit dicey there, and I've found very little detailed information.

Does anybody have familiarity with PC-based authenticators and could provide some guidance here?

neemobeer · Dec 22, 2023

Honestly if they give you your OTP key you can manually add it to any authenticator app. Hell you can save the keys and write a tiny python app to generate your OTPs with the PyOTP library.

Graulges · Dec 23, 2023

The Microsoft authenticator only seems to be for Android and IOS: There are some authenticator apps on the Microsoft Store but they have very few ratings so their reliability/security isn't certain.

zebal · Dec 23, 2023

There is one I can find but it hasn't been updated since 2017:

Windows Authenticator for Google, Blizzard, Guild Wars, Rift

Open-source Windows Authenticator supporting Google Authenticator, Microsoft and games Battle.net for World of Warcraft, Diablo III, Guild Wars 2, Rift.

winauth.github.io

Releases · winauth/winauth

Authenticator on Windows for Battle.net / Steam / Guild Wars 2 / Glyph / Runescape / SWTOR / Bitcoin and digital currency exchanges - winauth/winauth

github.com

edit:
Since there don't seem to exist authenticator for Windows what you can do is install BlueStacks,
BlueStacks let's you install and run android apps on Windows.

BlueStacks – Best Mobile Gaming Platform for PC & Mac | 100% Safe and FREE

Get the fastest and smoothest gaming performance with BlueStacks - the world's most popular, safest and FREE Mobile Gaming Platform for Windows and Mac.

www.bluestacks.com

Then (hopefully) you can use bluestacks to install any android authenticator you want such as MS authenticator or google authenticator

kelper · Dec 23, 2023

It's only the Chrome App and extension that are affected due to a Google policy.
Their desktop and mobile apps will continue to work, install and update.

Authy for Chrome App & Extension End of Life - Authy

Authy & Chrome Back in 2014, Authy used the Chrome Apps framework to build and launch a multi-platform app that was not only easy to install, but also looked, felt and worked just as great as the Authy mobile app for smartphones and other digital devices. However, in January 2020, Google...

authy.com

pokeefe0001 · Dec 23, 2023

Honestly if they give you your OTP key you can manually add it to any authenticator app. Hell you can save the keys and write a tiny python app to generate your OTPs with the PyOTP library.
Still, since I want a desktop solution, the desktop app has to exist, and that's what I'm asking about. Regarding writing my own, ... if I I knew the logic behind OTP generation I could write the program in Python if I knew Python. Nope. Not going to happen.

Graulges said:
The Microsoft authenticator only seems to be for Android and IOS: There are some authenticator apps on the Microsoft Store but they have very few ratings so their reliability/security isn't certain.

Yup. I saw that, too. If anybody has experience with those I would like to hear about it.

zebal said:
There is one I can find but it hasn't been updated since 2017:

Windows Authenticator for Google, Blizzard, Guild Wars, Rift

Open-source Windows Authenticator supporting Google Authenticator, Microsoft and games Battle.net for World of Warcraft, Diablo III, Guild Wars 2, Rift.

winauth.github.io

Releases · winauth/winauth

Authenticator on Windows for Battle.net / Steam / Guild Wars 2 / Glyph / Runescape / SWTOR / Bitcoin and digital currency exchanges - winauth/winauth

github.com

I'll look at it even if it seems a bit old.

Graulges said:
Since there don't seem to exist authenticator for Windows what you can do is install BlueStacks,
BlueStacks let's you install and run android apps on Windows.

BlueStacks – Best Mobile Gaming Platform for PC & Mac | 100% Safe and FREE

Get the fastest and smoothest gaming performance with BlueStacks - the world's most popular, safest and FREE Mobile Gaming Platform for Windows and Mac.

www.bluestacks.com

Then (hopefully) you can use bluestacks to install any android authenticator you want such as MS authenticator or google authenticator

I have tried Bluestacks (and a couple other android emulators). It would probably work, but I'd have to remember to bring it up way before I needed the authenticator. It's not very speedy.

kelper said:
It's only the Chrome App and extension that are affected due to a Google policy.
Their desktop and mobile apps will continue to work, install and update.

Authy for Chrome App & Extension End of Life - Authy

Authy & Chrome Back in 2014, Authy used the Chrome Apps framework to build and launch a multi-platform app that was not only easy to install, but also looked, felt and worked just as great as the Authy mobile app for smartphones and other digital devices. However, in January 2020, Google...

authy.com

No, it's the desktop version, too.

https://support.authy.com/hc/en-us/articles/17592416719003-Authy-for-Desktop-End-of-Life-EOL-

The Authy Desktop apps for Windows and MacOS that are available or were previously downloaded from authy.com/download as well as those for Linux will reach their End-of-Life in August 2024.

Looks like I was wrong about the date, though. I've got 8 months to find a solution.

kelper · Dec 23, 2023

You are correct, but I got my info directly from the Authy website today. It seems the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing!

TairikuOkami · Dec 23, 2023

pokeefe0001 said:
Does anybody have familiarity with PC-based authenticators and could provide some guidance here?

I am using MS Authenticator on a phone and 2fast on PC as an offline backup. I like it, because it uses it's own password to encrypt data, but you can use Windows Hello to open. It also prevents taking screenshots and as a store app it is better protected.

2fast – Two Factor Authenticator - Official app in the Microsoft Store

2fast (acronym for "two factor authenticator supporting TOTP") is a free, open source two factor authenticator (currently for Windows), with the ability to store sensitive two factor authentication accounts encrypted in a location of your choice, rather than in a third party cloud. Features...

apps.microsoft.com

pokeefe0001 · Dec 23, 2023

Well, so far things aren't proceeding very well. WinAuth installed easily, but, as near as I can tell, allows just a preset list of connections: Google, Microsoft, and some game web sites. If that's true it's of no use to me. The 2FAST download hung at 29.52 MB of 4.00 GB. Maybe that's because I'm not signed onto MS, but it didn't tell me I had to and I'm not going to unless absolutely necessary.

Maybe I'll try some browser extensions (although that sounds like a security risk - no telling what connections they might make when running).

TairikuOkami · Dec 23, 2023

pokeefe0001 said:
The 2FAST download hung at 29.52 MB of 4.00 GB.

You can download the installer from github.

Releases · 2fast-team/2fast

Two-Factor Authenticator Supporting TOTP (Windows 10 & Android, iOS, Linux and macOS App) - 2fast-team/2fast

github.com

pokeefe0001 · Dec 23, 2023

TairikuOkami said:
You can download the installer from github.

Releases · 2fast-team/2fast

Two-Factor Authenticator Supporting TOTP (Windows 10 & Android, iOS, Linux and macOS App) - 2fast-team/2fast

github.com

I decided to try this on a laptop rather than my "production" PC. I could find no doc so I just guessed I was supposed to run install.ps1. It ran very briefly and, as far as I could tell, did nothing. No new application showed in the Start menu.

I did get WinAuth to work. It just had very strange terminology leading me to think arbitrary web sites could not be added to it.

Sgt Oddball · Mar 13, 2024

With the new Authy Desktop EOL date days away, I've finally found a desktop/cross-platform authenticator app replacement that can fill the Authy void.

Zoho OneAuth | Multi-factor Authentication App

Zoho OneAuth is a multi-factor authentication app that adds an extra layer of security to all your 2FA supported online accounts. Set up OneAuth and keep the criminals away from your accounts.

www.zoho.com

Authenticator App - OneAuth - Official app in the Microsoft Store

OneAuth is an industry standard authenticator app developed by Zoho. You can now enable TFA and secure all your online accounts like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and more. Over 1 million users trust OneAuth to enable 2FA and secure their online accounts. Take charge of your online security...

apps.microsoft.com

pokeefe0001 · Mar 13, 2024

Hmm. I just tried it and am not impressed. I fired it up. It said it was logging me on to some unmentioned site on the web. It then said my internet connection was blocked. Bitdefender says Zoh

neAuth.exe successfully connected to Zoho address 204.141.42.84 so maybe I'm supposed to set up a Zoho account of some sort. (I use Zoho email nothing else from Zoho.)

At the moment I'm satisfied with WinAuth. It has no cloud backup and no way to automatically clone data onto new devices, but that felt like a vulnerability of Authy to me.

z3r010 · Mar 13, 2024

pokeefe0001 said:
Hmm. I just tried it and am not impressed. I fired it up. It said it was logging me on to some unmentioned site on the web. It then said my internet connection was blocked. Bitdefender says ZohneAuth.exe successfully connected to Zoho address 204.141.42.84 so maybe I'm supposed to set up a Zoho account of some sort. (I use Zoho email nothing else from Zoho.)

At the moment I'm satisfied with WinAuth. It has no cloud backup and no way to automatically clone data onto new devices, but that felt like a vulnerability of Authy to me.

Yeah, you need a zoho account so it can sync across all your devices.

pokeefe0001 · Mar 13, 2024

It looks like I would need Zoho Vault, and I looks like a free Zoho Vault account supports OneAuth.

I just found some more OneAuth blurb that states "You can also use the OTP authenticator as a guest user without signing in or creating a Zoho account", but that didn't seem to be the case in my brief trial. It tried logging me onto something as soon as I started the program. There was probably a setup step I missed, but the program didn't lead me to that step.

I've uninstalled the program.

antspants · Mar 13, 2024

TairikuOkami said:
I am using MS Authenticator on a phone and 2fast on PC as an offline backup. I like it, because it uses it's own password to encrypt data, but you can use Windows Hello to open. It also prevents taking screenshots and as a store app it is better protected.

2fast – Two Factor Authenticator - Official app in the Microsoft Store

2fast (acronym for "two factor authenticator supporting TOTP") is a free, open source two factor authenticator (currently for Windows), with the ability to store sensitive two factor authentication accounts encrypted in a location of your choice, rather than in a third party cloud. Features...

apps.microsoft.com

I love it.