When Microsoft announced that it was shutting down its Authenticator app, which many businesses use to secure work accounts with two-factor authentication, people panicked a bit. People like me.
The whole point is that you need the constantly churning, changing code within an authenticator app to access each account linked to it. When you enter a password on an app or website that’s linked to your authenticator app, you need to enter the app’s code on the website.
It’s kind of like password Pong. It ensures that the person trying to log into the account is you, because the only way to complete the log-in process is to possess your phone with your authenticator app installed on it. So, without Microsoft Authenticator, how would we access these linked accounts? Would we be locked out of them for all eternity?
Relax. The answer is no. After a bit of digging, I found that the app and its two-factor authentication feature were still in place. As of August 1, only Microsoft Authenticator’s saved password management function will be disappearing.
a little too late
If you’re reading this on August 2, 2025, or after, you’re too late to save the passwords you’d kept within Microsoft Authenticator’s password management function. Microsoft began deleting them after August 1, so you can’t export them. Major drag.
However, you can start using a different password manager, such as Dashlane or ProtonPass, two of my favorites that I’ve personally tested. Microsoft didn’t provide an apparent reason for discontinuing the feature, but it appears to be generally unenthusiastic about passwords.
“(In 2024), we observed a staggering 7,000 password attacks per second (more than double the rate from 2023),” Microsoft wrote in a May 1 post on its blog. “Although passwords have been around for centuries, we hope their reign over our online world is ending.”
I’m more bothered by annoying CAPTCHA puzzles that I have to complete every few moments, but yeah, sure, passwords are irritating too.
The post Microsoft Authenticator Isn’t Disappearing—but Its Passwords Are appeared first on VICE.
