Google Authenticator – 2-Step Verification provides stronger security

[App] Google Authenticator

Google AuthenticatorGoogle Authenticator generates 2-Step Verification codes on your phone.

2-Step Verification provides stronger security for your Google Account by requiring a second step of verification when you sign in. In addition to your password, you’ll also need a code generated by the Google Authenticator app on your phone.

Learn more about 2-Step Verification:  g.co/2step

Features:

Generate verification codes without a data connection
Google Authenticator works with many providers & accounts
Dark theme available
Automatic setup via QR code
Transfer accounts between devices via QR code

Permission notice:
Camera: Needed to add accounts using QR codes

Google Authenticator user reviews :

Of all Google apps, this one exclusively doesn’t save anything. I changed my phone a while ago and since then I lost all my accounts added in the authenticator app. And least, but not last, every time I tried entering the username / email and the password of that corresponding account, the app every single time gave me an error, that the account doesn’t exist. Google, fix your app, for crying out loud.

Recent updates (within the past 6 months or so) have caused performance issues. It has improved somewhat, but it still struggles to launch and retrieve new codes. The app now freezes for ~5 seconds whenever it retrieves new codes. I have added a bunch of new items since and it has not changed in the slightest, so I would say it’s an underlying issue. It’s also rather basic and could probably do with some more organisation options as it gets a bit cluttered when you have 10+ codes.

It would seem that I lost all keys I had during an OS update. Didn’t think to make a backup, going to have to see if I have a historical one that I can use to restore system to previous state. Luckily I mostly migrated to Microsoft authenticator and a separate password manager so I didn’t lose everything, but very inconvenient to reset the ones I did lose.

The app is great and the export/import feature works great. It would be a lot better if every service had its logo (for example Twitch, Facebook etc.) or if you had a feature where you can set your icon for each service connected because of an easier finding of a service you need. Now it is hard to find the code you need among other codes. Please add that feature.

The knock against this app seems to be the lack of a backup option, and no master password for locking the app. Both are easy to overcome. Put the app in the secure folder, which requires a password. For backup, you can export the codes to an old phone or tablet. You can sync manually with the export/import option should any changes arise. Tap and hold copies a code to the clipboard, and you can also rearrange entries by holding and moving, up or down. This is a perfectly good app!

This app is great… if you never want to change devices ever again. When trying to export to a new phone, it can’t process special characters(possibly including spaces). The editing inside the app also doesn’t allow you to remove parenthesis from certain keys like nintendo or facebook. I honestly can’t believe that a security app developed by the biggest name in tech has such a horrible oversight. As it is now I’m stuck burning a backup code. You only get a few of them, so that’s bad.

The basic use case of just looking at the numbers and entering them into some authentication system is fine. However, the numeric sequence goes out of sync when the device sleeps. For some reason the synchronization command is buried two levels deep in Settings (even though it’s not even a setting change!) When that command is done, you must dismiss a dialog telling you it was done. Then you must back out of two levels of settings. Can we have a one click sync button on the main screen?

Never had any issues with the app, thanks to developers. The only thing which I really miss is ability to add custom text labels to accounts in the list, which will display instead of automatically generated. It will help me since I have 3+ accounts on same service, and it just displays service name. In this case I need to memorize position of row in the list and to which account it corresponds( Also having just the name of the service is not convenient, it might be better to give it my own name

It’s a great authenticator, I’ve found it surprisingly easy to port my accounts from device to device using the QR feature. I do wish it’s Icon could fit better on Android 12+ with the Themed Icons enabled. And on slower devices, the app likes to stay on a white screen occasionally before actually starting up. A bit frustrating if you’re trying to sign in and have to wait a few seconds to just read a code.

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Download Google Authenticator from Play Store

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