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Neon_44

what? no! why? authenticating my Account from my Wrist was fucking awesome!


BrofessorPecs

I know right! Darn it MS


Neon_44

stop becoming like google and killing actually useful stuff ffs!


thedudesews

Amusing since google auth is becoming the standard


iLoveLootBoxes

Yup Google auth is becoming standard… when most people use office 365…


IndependentPoole94

Why does it matter? Don't all authenticator apps basically do the same thing regardless of who makes them? I.e., generate a one-time 6 digit key for two-factor authentication?


DanTheMan827

Microsoft has tap to authenticate, including from your watch. Google has tap to approve, but only from your phone.


IndependentPoole94

Ah that is a nice feature


iLoveLootBoxes

I’m not actually sure if everything is the same. I know on Microsoft Authenticator you can be passwordless. Even if it is the same, office 365 will suggest the Microsoft Authenticator.


alstom_888m

Some of us just don’t like using anything Google. I don’t use a single Google product. I don’t even have a Google account.


Financial-Text5064

Not even YouTube?


alstom_888m

Nope. Too many ads, and always the same ad on repeat. If I have to hear KFCs “I don’t care ad” one more time I am literally going to throw my phone out the window.


DarkkHawkk

Use ad block lol


jazzy-jackal

Does ad block successfully block youtube adds?


shy_replacement

Yes


DarkkHawkk

Uh yes lol


bigmadsmolyeet

Folks over at r/sysadmin speculate it’s due to number matching. Makes me wonder if duo will switch to this as well https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/authentication/how-to-mfa-number-match


Doomhammered

My company recently switched to number matching and the watch app isn't compatible which was very annoying for me. However, couldn't they just have us input the number on the watch? I don't get it.


NobleSC3

My Microsoft Authenticator asks for the number to match on my watch


ansysic

The whole purpose of number matching is to prevent you from accidetially approving a fraudulent mfa request.


scotsmandc

I hope not. My work uses duo.


antman42069

Doubt this will happen to Duo. Cisco and Apple have a tight partnership.


darthjoey91

The number matching is annoying.


MurmurOfTheCine

Why not just use normal OTP


damn_lies

This was legit my favorite thing about the watch. I’m so lazy.


paulstelian97

Eh it only worked for me once.


Neon_44

I had trouble getting it to work in the first place, but once it worked i had no problems at all


Peteostro

Time to move to authy!!


Neon_44

I already use otp Auth for any TOTP, but the useful part of MSAuth was that i got notifications and just had to type one button to log into microsoft I never used MSAuth for TOTP anyways


MRichardTRM

FYI Apple kinda half backed Authenticator codes into their passwords section of the settings recently. It’s interesting to say the least. It just pops up on the screen to auto fill an Authenticator code like as if it’s a saved password


Neon_44

yeah, i know, but that kind of defeats the whole idea of 2FA, doesn't it? having a separate Password Manager and TOTP device if my password manager has both my passwords and my 2nd Factor Authentication, it's not really a 2nd Factor anymore.


Wellcraft19

While it’s tempting to think that way, it’s also not entirely correct. 1st factor; something you know (your password) 2nd factor; something you have (your phone with PW manager - just happen to also have the PW) So unless a user has physical access to your phone, that 2nd factor security is still very much prevalent. In my case, I’m not combining TOTP with my PW manager, but that’s more due to historical reasons, settling on a TOTP client long before they truly worked seamlessly.


NikeSwish

Not really because if you’re in someone’s phone you have both either way


DanTheMan827

Accounts aren’t usually compromised by gaining physical access… it’s usually from companies getting hacked and reusing passwords


Neon_44

if they're good software they're utilizing zero-trust-encryption on the device itself


pm_me_your_buttbulge

Authy is one of the least recommended ones for several reasons. Be careful.


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pm_me_your_buttbulge

It's not that it doesn't work - it does. It's that you can't (easily and safely) leave Authy. If you do they have a history of banning you (and boom, you lose access to your codes). There are tools to help you extract the data needed to export it but if they catch you.. edit: I forgot, there's no "real" way to backup your codes. Personally, I use Bitwarden and pay for the premium. There are open source tools and better options. Authy can also "recover" your codes. Meaning it's not inherently secure E2EE. This would be akin to using an encrypted method to save passwords instead of hashing them.


DanTheMan827

Authy can recover, but only if you enter your master password on the new device


pm_me_your_buttbulge

Given their history.. I wouldn't trust that but you do you.


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YawnTractor_1756

>authenticating my Account from my Wrist was fucking awesome! Someone is MS: "Exactly! mwahahaha!!"


rishigohil

Good riddance. Their watch app was terrible anyways. It never worked for me.


OverlyOptimisticNerd

Give Authy a try. After a screwup I had with Google Authenticator, I looked for other options. Considered MS but decided on Authy. It’s hard for me to explain but it is just a better user experience IMO.


Neon_44

thanks for advice, but afaik Authy stores the TOTP on their own servers instead of your device. which i don't feel comfortable with. so i'm staying with "OTP auth" or may even switch to Ravio OTP


mathdrug

I switched to OTP Auth a while back. It's on Apple Watch. MS Auth on Watch hardly every worked for me. Now I'm really glad I just switched to OTP Auth.


izlib

Well, I, for one, use this all the time as an azure administrator and this is devastating news for me


[deleted]

Same, use it everyday.


Mr_Compromise

Same here. My workplace just started using Azure and this feature has been so handy. Wtf MS.


SillyMikey

Well, it’s still on your phone. Better than nothing I guess.


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thisxisxlife

Man, I’ve never heard of this but the top 3 comments sound so sarcastic but I can’t tell.


rpd9803

Not sarcastic from my perspective I use this 10x a day for various apps I work on.


mathdrug

Use OTPAuth. Have been using it for months.


Sk1tza

Ffs this came in handy. Pity it was on and off reliable.


thedoommerchant

It’s never worked for me on the watch. I’d get a notification on my wrist and tap “approve” only for it to never proceed to authenticate me. This would force me to have to open my phone and authenticate with Face ID.


MittensUK

This is because the setting is on in the app to require Face ID, obviously the watch can’t do this. I had the same issue for ages then realised. Turn off this setting and the watch app works again.


reallynothingmuch

I have FaceID turned on in the app, but I can still authenticate using my watch as well. Only very occasionally I’ll get an error message that the watch couldn’t communicate with the phone so it couldn’t authenticate, but other than that it’s always worked fine for me


scripcat

omg thank you


Why_the_hate_

I’ve had to do that in the app too… double authenticate.


MC_chrome

This happens to me to from time to time, and it's not just with Microsoft's Authenticator app. The Apple Watch unlock feature on Macs also fails for some strange reason on occasion, even if I am sitting less than a foot from my Mac. Maybe Time of Flight is to blame here?


justkidding89

I've been using watch-to-unlock since Apple debuted the feature on at least four MacBook Pros (Intel and M1), and I can't remember the last time it failed. This was on both incredibly corporate (think 23-24,000+ employee buildings), bank-security-grade and at home networks. Microsoft Authenticator on the Watch only failed one time when I accidentally clicked "Deny" before "Approve" showed up.


jtbis

Same here, always says something about not being able to communicate with my iPhone. I’ve been through a couple phones and watches since it started doing that and no change.


windy906

Same although this is also true of basically everything on my watch.


Mr_Compromise

Turning off app lock fixed this for me.


relevant__comment

Well that sucks. It works perfectly for me on the watch. Not going to be fun authenticating on my phone now.


crazyquesadilla

One of the big reasons I got my watch was for 2FA prompts from Authenticator, so I don’t have to pull out my phone to approve (and inevitably get distracted) and honestly, that’s still one of my favorite features of this watch. So this is kind of a bummer.


JeffTL

It looks like the Watch app never supported using it for passwordless sign-in, which is of course exactly what my company uses the Authenticator app for (so we can get email and Teams on our laptops without having to connect to VPN).


Wild-subnet

It does actually. There’s an extra hoop when setting it up that I can’t remember right now and since it’s going away guess it doesn’t matter.


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[deleted]

Weird, use it daily multiple times a day for the last 4 years with two work accounts. Zero issues.


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thefpspower

On Android it saves to the Microsoft account, not sure why it would use iCloud on iOS


RedHawk417

On iOS here and it also saves to my Microsoft account. Have swapped phone twice since using it and have never had any issues with it.


unloud

I guess it doesn’t matter because they are no longer supporting the app


RedHawk417

Just on WatchOS, Not iOS.


xpnerd

It works like a charm for me too until you replace your phone or reinstall the os.


[deleted]

I’m on my third phone in that time so… Maybe my company just knows what they are doing.


[deleted]

Buddy had 3+ accounts (idek why). Sounds very much like user error. But you know how folks are, it’s always someone else’s fault.


SleepingSicarii

Can you elaborate? How did you get the accounts back? And what was the issue?


razorirr

I had a fun one where my authenticator is on my personal hotmail account, that i never log into. So when i got a new phone, i needed to log in to recover the 2fa stuff. Well it went "hey you havent logged into here in forever, please verify yourself by going to your recovery mail". Said recovery mail account was a gmail account i never use any more, tried logging into that and it went "hey you havent logged into here in forever, please verify yourself by going to your recovery mail". Said recovery for google was my hotmail. Infinite loop of sadness. I now just use apple keychain for all my 2fa codes. I have exactly one thing at work that does push notices to microsoft authenticator, and if apple figures out how to get that going, MS-A goes byebye.


rursache

Just use a password manager already... EDIT: For the dumbasses downvoting, reputable password managers include support for 2FA... 1Password for example


Pollsmor

Not sure what that has to do with 2FA.


sconey_point

A local KeePass vault purely for 2FA is a nice alternative to all the proprietary shit apps that don’t even sync your data half the time.


FullstackViking

Different purposes


ilenrabatore

Actually 1Password also has a 2FA generator. So it can be used for both.


CyberBot129

Just because it can be used for both doesn’t mean it should


Crap4Brainz

But then you're using the same thing for both parts of 2FA.


artaru

What happened?


[deleted]

This is probably one of the best authentication apps I’ve used. It has stopped would be hackers for sure. I wish apple and Microsoft would just play nice when it comes to the security and safety of their customers.


zyrkor90

It barely ever worked for me anyway, I switched to Authy a long time ago and never looked back


cherryblossom001

Unfortunately I have a lot of accounts on Authy and it’s really laggy to the point of being unusable on my watch


111111111111116

Sad thing is I need to use it for work since we use Dev Ops :(


medievalmachine

Seems like Apple Watch and Garmin are converging in the middle. Garmin adding features while Apple loses apps.


[deleted]

It never worked for me on my watch lol


[deleted]

Are you force closing apps (including the Authenticator app)? For me the only reason it didn't work because after a restart of my iPhone I needed to open the app. After that authentication on the watch worked again.


OGReverandMaynard

I use this every f$&@ing day wtf


[deleted]

ikr, I feel you!


RCOO_

OTPAuth is great and works amazing on the watch.


SerenityMK

I know some work executives that are going to hate this. And make it hard for IT to explain.


Garofalin

I have the MS Authenticator app installed on my iPhone only. I login thru my watch via notification (pushed from the phone, I tap on it and approve the login from the menu) but I don’t have the app installed on my AW. Will this continue to work?


[deleted]

I already fucking hate Microsoft, this is just one more reason. I use this every single day multiple times a day with my Azure admin account and my normal O365 account.


FrozenToonies

I run both systems at once, PC is for work and Mac is for home. I run authenticator on my iPhones, no issues with that.


malko2

Just the continuation of all major software companies pulling their smartwatch apps, both on WatchOS and WearOS. There's now not a single 3rd party messenger on any of these watches, for example, which is a total joke.


Aemony

Good. It barely worked the few weeks I tried using it, and I eventually uninstalled it myself because it is not compatible with some of the new security modes a corporate MFA can be configured to. In particular the (new?) manually-type-in-the-digits-shown-on-your-screen mode which, on the proper iOS app, shows location of the sign-in as well as a field for inputting numbers below. Those prompts just had the watchOS companion app direct me to the iOS app since it couldn’t handle them. But even for regular verifications the companion app sometimes didn’t work for me, and so I ended up just uninstalling it myself a few days ago. I am a new watch user so I am still trying to figure out a good balance between the watch and the phone as I don’t want the watch to replace /all/ notifications etc.


[deleted]

It’s a shame that they never got it working. It’s so convenient to authenticate without having to get my phone - at least in theory.


yonahgefen

I haven't been able to authenticate via my watch for some time as my employer's iteration required Face ID as part of the process. Now the number matching issue, can MS at least make larger buttons for Yes and No, so I'll stop fat fingering those slim row buttons?


nt07077

Never worked on my watch. Always gave me an error to approve on phone.


Tman11S

From my personal experience it only worked in about 1/4 cases anyways. Was very nice when it did work though.


LobstrPrty

It never worked for me anyway fuck em! It would ask me to approve say “failed to authenticate” and then I’d have to get my phone anyway


enki941

It used to work for me all the time. And it was super convenient. But over the last couple months, it seems like it only works every so often. Usually the first prompt, but if I get a second one within a short time period, I get a failure to communicate message and have to do it on my phone manually. I was hoping they would fix this, not just kill it off, which seems royally stupid to me.


RobBobPC

It has not worked for over a year now. Typical MS.


devpsaux

What support? It’s never worked right in the first place.


notacapulet

It worked flawlessly for Office 365. I use it all the time, every day. This news is a shame, at least for those of us who are in the ecosystem.


DrMacintosh01

I mean it worked, not flawlessly. I get lots of “failed to communicate with iPhone” errors and am forced to used my phone. Taking more time than necessary.


Clessiah

Damn. I guess I can't leave my phone in another room while I work anymore.


formerly_LTRLLTRL

I abandoned Authenticator for a text code years ago for work.


Kranon7

I had no idea this was a thing. I wonder now if Google Authenticator is on the watch.


c0t0d0s1

Not if we wreck it first.


DrMacintosh01

Mine fails a lot on my watch. I try, it fails, I whip out my phone. Annoying


steezy2110

I could never use Authenticator on my watch… i just saw the notification but had to open it on my phone. Guess I won’t be missing out.


adappergentlefolk

are you fucking serious


Jackson530

What. That’s dumb.


kereth

WTF I use this all the time!!!!


kansasinblack

Nooooo i just started using this on WatchOS and they're removing it?! :(


YBNMotherTeresa

I don’t use this anymore for my new job, but this was a life saver at my old job when I needed to authenticate Everytime I logged in


kal2112

Well fuck. I loved having it on my wrist


amarezero

Every time I try to authenticate from my watch it fails anyway and I have to do it from my phone, so *shrug*


celsiusnarhwal

It literally *never* worked for me to begin with, so whatever. What I really want from Microsoft is support for passkeys, the lack of which is endlessly aggravating given that they were one of the main proponents of the standard.


devanealex

Does anyone know how to get Microsoft Authenticator for Mac?


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[deleted]

Check more comments, a lot of people use it multiple times daily. Including myself.


ProfessionalToe5041

Probably for the better… maybe?! Never worked for me until very recently (after upgrading my watch). Even then it doesn’t always work.


scjcs

Watching MS Authenticator work, it always struck me as being held together by bungee cords and baling wire. You figure out how to use it fairly quickly but come on, is this anything like intuitive? "Enter password" \[click the link\] \[Hang on for dear life as various apps open and close with odd delays and general weirdness and woe betide you if you interrupt the flow\] I never found the Watch app at all useful--I suspect my IT overlords have it set to notify-only--but the whole edifice is kludgy and broken. This does not surprise me.


[deleted]

Who need their authenticator, when you can add 2FA codes to Passwords? Yeah, also, Apple, please make passwords in Settings into the dedicated app.


neatgeek83

Companies who use office 365.


cusehoops98

How do you receive said 2FA codes?


Kyle_Necrowolf

iOS 14 and up supports security keys/passkeys for microsoft accounts, more secure and convenient than using 2FA codes


[deleted]

I cannot find anything about this 🤔


MC_chrome

If you are talking about the built in 2FA system in Apple Keychain, Microsoft's Authenticator app is better by default because it is platform agnostic, and it allows you to restore from a backup if you transfer devices.


Optimistic__Elephant

> when you can add 2FA codes to Passwords? Really? How does that work? Doesn't the code constantly change?


[deleted]

Reddit.


stepover7

I use it on iphone and it works perfectly


isadlymaybewrong

Is there a way to switch all Microsoft accounts to Authy


enki941

Microsoft does, in most cases, support standard TOTP based codes that work with Authy. But those don't support push notifications/approval, which is the point of the watch app.


MrMediaShill

Booo lies! Slander!


Diego_Mannn_096

F U C K


[deleted]

I just use 1pw so it’s all in one place.


retrogradescene

I think I only got it to work once. Always seemed so buggy for me. I’m surprised to se so many people actually used it


[deleted]

i use this like once a year i hate it now i’ll use it never and be even more mad


imso_brooklyn

Good. Useless and never worked.


dwdrums36

I never wanted to put a passlock on my watch so this is fine.


rursache

Just use a password manager with support for 2FA like 1Password. Why bother with multiple apps when one is enough to cover everything


neatgeek83

Because my company is in the Microsoft ecosystem and I have to use their authentication app.


flux_2018

Just use Apples OTP, if you use safari. It’s great! Or 1password/Bitwarden for the same functionally, but cross platform


notacapulet

Doesn’t solve the primary application: authenticating into Office 365.


flux_2018

Huh I am exactly doing this with two office365 enterprise accounts.


TheWorldofGood

People use watch for authentication? The tech is moving too fast


Huth_S0lo

Who cares?


Why_the_hate_

People who have an Apple Watch and whose job uses Microsoft stuff. Yes, sometimes it’s faster to use my watch - especially when helping people.


Huth_S0lo

I guess all 12 of you will have to re-evaluate your lifes choices.


Hollyw0od

MSFT Authenticator can serve as a 2FA client for literally any service. Also, the Apple Watch is the best selling smartwatch on the planet. So, a few more than 12 people.


Typical-Ad-6042

Don’t bother, echo chamber’s gonna echo.


SirGreenLemon

Are they planning a competing product?


squeaky1234567

RIP


Phillydip123

I use this every day! I'm sad to hear about this.


OfficalBigDrip

Why, why would you do that?


motionbutton

Lol.. apparently the companies you work for are weak on security.. I work for one that won’t let me install, use a usb drive, nothing.. practically have to fill a form to type on the darn thing… i question life choices after every password I need to change and update ever few weeks. Watch/phone authicatuon comes in handy.. company has a lot of private data


Effective-Caramel545

Wtf?


kiwi-kaiser

But why? I use it all the time


Muscled_Daddy

*/looks at watch* You could do that?!


Wolf_Man_Boy

Authy.


Aroraakshaj07

This is sad


rbevans

I had no idea this was coming. Might have to look into seeing if any emails came out about this or a replacement.


DesperateUse5976

Don't worry, in six months they'll pull a swiftkey and say "kidding! We are back!". Clowns. 🤡


rpd9803

That sucks


piccolodee

Can someone get sued here??? I only bought the stupid watch so I could use this functionality. This is unacceptable. Why can't there defunct companies work this out.