2-Factor Authentication: The great switch to Authy from Google Authenticator

After 2 years my Pixel 2 XL took a bit of a spill the other day. Its still fine, but the glass is cracked. I’m hoping to find someone who can change just the glass… but… I bought a Pixel 4 XL. The saddest part about this is I was literally just thinking I would skip this gen, I love the Pixel 2 XL. Its such a great phone, such great battery life etc. O well.

New phone arrived last week but I was out and about, so I got the time to migrate over on Monday. And, of course, the migration was trivial… took about 5 minutes, all was good, shortcuts, etc. BUT… you have to manually migrate all the 2-Factor authentications. 63 sites. And each is different… you log in to the site (using the Pixel 2), find the settings, disable/change/remove/update the 2FA, and then re-enable it on the Pixel 4. That took *ages*.

Since this was obviously going to take a while, I thought… there must be a better way. I mean, TOTP is a standard, implemented in more than one app. I settled on Authy (also on iOS). It has the ability to operate on multiple devices and to sync/store. So this means it should be the last time.

And, of the multiple devices, Chrome is one. So you can install it for ChromeOS. Great!

So the theory is… I can now switch phones again if needed.

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7 Responses to “2-Factor Authentication: The great switch to Authy from Google Authenticator”

  1. Stocker

    Don even better is to is integrated into keepassxc. Stores all your passwords, totp and notes in one secure location shared with all your devices. It has apps for all o/s even iOS, and uses Dropbox or Google drive for cloud storage. Best part is even totp could be shared with keyshare with your spouse if needed.

    Reply
  2. db

    don’t seem to be a chrome or android client tho?

    Reply
    1. Chris

      Keepass2android works with it and based on the code base

      https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/keepassxc-browser/oboonakemofpalcgghocfoadofidjkkk?hl=en

      For chrome

      Reply
  3. Prateek Srivastava

    Unfortunately there are no good solutions in market.

    Authy is near perfect in terms of features, but…
    * no password when switching devices
    * not possible to sync to personal cloud ( locked inside Authy’s cloud)

    There is an open source alternative from Red Hat: https://freeotp.github.io/ but it lacks many features.

    Reply
  4. Brian

    I’ve been using Lastpass authenticator because it backs up the OTP configs within lastpass; but I haven’t (had to) put it to the test yet

    Reply
  5. phil chivers

    If you are looking for a step up from TOTP have you considered using a fido key ?

    You could either use a commercial Fido key ( example: http://www.deepnetsecurity.com/authenticators/fido-u2f/ ), or in many cases you could even use your android phone as a Fido device.

    Reply
    1. db

      i have 2 yubikey (type-A and type-C)
      i also use webauthn (which is the standard to use the phone).
      all are good. the totp has the most adoption.
      the webauthn has the simplest use.

      Reply

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