It’s a necessity to be safe regarding your online presence, which is why I always enable two-factor authentication for every online account I have. For those who don’t have this already enabled on their logins, two-factor authentication will ask you for a numerical pin after logging in using your password. This makes your account much more secure. You can get the pin by receiving an SMS message or using some apps that populate it for you. Here’s a look at some of the best two-factor authentication apps out there.
1Password
1Password is not just the de facto standard in password managers, it can also provide you with 6 digit one time passwords when you’re logging into a website. Every item in 1Password can be synced via Dropbox, iCloud or local wifi. If you’re using multiple devices, 1Password is available in Android, iOS and every modern browser as an extension. On iOS, you can use the helpful share extension to open 1Password then copy the code. It even has a built in web browser if you want to browse right from the app!
LastPass Authenticator
LastPass Authenticator is a standalone app on iOS. It allows you to generate a 6 digit pin code every 30 seconds. The nice thing about LastPass Authenticator is that you don’t need to have a LastPass account to use this app. Every service or website that uses Google Authenticator should work fine and all you need to do is scan the QR barcode to start using it. If you’re already LastPass user, this app is no brainer choice.
- Free – Download
Authy
Authy is the two-factor app of choice of many of the App Factor staff. It’s simple to use and provides a Today Widget so I can quickly copy the code and paste it into the right field. Authy provides their own sync service and also backs up all your configured accounts. Authy seems to really care about their users privacy and delve deep into how they keep users’ data secure on their website.
- Free – Download
What 2-factor authentication apps do you use?
These are some of the best two-factor authetication apps you can find to manage your online security. If you use something else, don’t hesitate to let me know what and why in the comments bellow.
I’m a Lastpass user and tried their authenticator but it didn’t work with one of the services I needed, so I kept using Authy. They’ve probably fixed it by now, so I’ll give it a shot. Didn’t know about the Authy widget, though, so that may sway me to keep using it 🙂
All of your links to Authy (image, first word of description, and Download link) are actually links to LastPass Authenticator. Copypasta, I assume, but I thought you’d want to know.
Thanks a bunch for pointing this out Zev, I’ve updated the links for Authy.
Authy is a perfect 2fa app. More than a year ago it replaced Google Authenticator in my smartphone. The main reason is a backup feature which Authy has and it is too important for 2fa application because your smartphone can break, the app could be deleted accidentally, etc. But later I understood that it’s better to choose hardware tokens for my financial accounts. The last one I bought is Protectimus Slim mini which is really nice. It doesn’t have a built-in secret key (it seems like all other tokens have), so you can program it by yourself with the app which can be easily found on the Play Market and it can be used with all authentication systems that support Google Authenticator in-app tokens. Now I use it with my cryptocurrency exchange account instead of Authy or GA or any other app.