I Waved Goodbye to Google Authenticator

It has been years that I have been securing my online accounts with Google Authenticator. Well, not anymore. Here’s why.

The last update was in 2017

Did you know that Google Authenticator for Android got its last update in September 2017? There could be two possible reasons for this: the app is already good and there is no bug to fix (ahem 🥱); or Google has already forgotten they had this child. For whatever reason it happens to be, this indicates that Google has no sign of adding improvements to the app to make it better.

No search functionality

When you have like 15 services or more in the app, it is cumbersome to scroll past all the non-alphabetically ordered tokens that you aren’t looking for just to find that Facebook is actually 7th in the list and Amazon is the 20th, whatsoever. I have wished every time I open Google Authenticator that Google adds search functionality.

No export or backup

So you have a new phone. Now, what to do with those 30 tokens in your previous phone? Yes, definitely, you disable 2FA on each service and re-enable it on each website. Thirty. F*king. Times.

Enter Aegis

I was in search for a 2FA application that had search functionality, export or backup functionality and pleasing design. Then I came across Aegis.

Aegis is an open-source 2FA application for Android that meets all my criteria. These are the main features of the app.

• Vault encryption with biometric support
• Search
• Order by account name, issuer name or custom
• Filter by category
• Light and dark themes
• Tap to reveal the token (optional)
• Import and export

One feature Aegis lacks is synchronisation across devices. It is understandable because Aegis is free and has no server to store users’ credentials. Still, I do hope that there is sync functionality built into the app soon. As long as the vault is encrypted, I think it is fine to use cloud storage like Google Drive or Dropbox as an endpoint.

Another downside is that Aegis is only available for Android as of the time of writing.

However, if you are looking for a 2FA app that can sync your tokens across your phones and computers, Authy can be your answer as it offers a wide range of platform support and token sync.

Despite the downsides, Aegis still fits my needs and also offers a friendlier, less confusing user interface (to me) than Authy.

Share your suggestions below which 2FA app you are using!