Hey y’all!
I’ve been using Authy for some time now (switched from Google Authenticator) but an increasing amount of people is suggesting Aegis over Authy in some posts here at Lemmy and that got me curious.
Was wondering what would be the main selling points for one to use Aegis instead of Authy, can somebody help out?
Thanks in advance!
This is an easy one.
The entire privacy policy of Aegis:
Aegis Authenticator does not collect any data from your device.
- Camera access is only used for scanning QR codes.
If you believe this policy has been violated, please let us know.
Relevant parts of Authy’s privacy policy:
We use that phone number to identify you, to provide you 2FA services, and to maintain logs for security and anti-fraud purposes.
We may also send notices about Twilio products or events to you, but you may click on the unsubscribe link that will appear at the bottom of any of our marketing emails or you can contact customer support to opt out.
Device Information. When you download and open the Authy desktop or mobile app, we automatically collect information about the type of device you have downloaded the app on and your device identifier.
Login History and Authy Account History. When you use an Authy token to log into an account, whether the token was generated on the app or one sent to you via your phone number, we collect and keep information associated with your login activity including information like your IP address, what application you logged in to, that you logged in, and when. If you change your phone number or email associated with your Authy account, we will also keep a log of that.
Geolocation information. If you have location services turned on, we collect your location based on your IP address.
How we share personal data. In general, Authy shares personal data in the same way Twilio does (see How Twilio shares personal data for more).
From “How Twilio shares personal data”: However, we do need to share it in some circumstances. These may be to provide you services (e.g., to route a call or send an email), or when necessary for our suppliers to provide services to us, or for another reason listed here, or share personal data for cross-context behavioral advertising.
However, Authy users should be aware that an application that integrates with the Authy 2-Factor API can access your phone number, email address, and user name. It will also be able to access your primary device type and information associated with your login activity to that application. It may also retain this information on its own servers. We may also share other information related to your account with that application to help them and us detect suspicious or fraudulent activity on your account.
This might be the strongest argument I have seen. Thank you!
Thanks, that ToS from Authy regarding personal data is scary
The main point is that Authy is a company that hosts your data on their cloud and you can’t know what they do with it. Aegis is local, but has the ability to create scheduled backups, which then you can sync to your own server or just copy it in different locations for safety.
2FA not being 100% local and offline kinda defeats the point for me. I want potential attackers to need physical access to my device if they intend to get into my accounts.
Authy locks you in and intentionally makes it very hard to export keys. I made the mistake of using it once years ago and it was annoying to get out of it.
If you haven’t already you can delete your Authy account. You have to contact support and it takes a few days to complete but at least then you know you’re not leaving anything behind.
Aegis works the best for me, it is specifically for power users because it allows sharing of the seed phrase quite easily. So may not be for users who don’t understand that part. But for me has been a godsend. I am trying to get my parents on a better 2fa standards. And it works because I scan and setup 2fa first on aegis and then share it to their authy. They find authy useful and I’m not worried about them accidently sharing seed phrase.
For backups, aegis does automatic backups to local storage and next cloud syncs it to my cloud. It is encrypted so you can use something like foldersync to sync it your gdrive or mega or something like that.
Aegis is not multi platform, but I honestly don’t care, in my opinion it’s better to have aegis on my phone and when I need to login from a desktop, looking up the code in phone is a separate device factor which adds on to the security. Meaning if somebody knew my passwords and stole my laptop, they’ll still have to steal my phone to access 2fa. Different story if they steal my phone though.
There are desktop apps that can import the Aegis backup file to display the 2FA codes on Debian I’m using Authenticator
Aegis may import and export seed with easy. I switch from Authy to Aegis just for this. It also have automatic backups. Authy only selling point was the sync function and maybe the bad desktop app. Now I had a double backup, the native function, and a synced keepassxc file with all the Aegis OTP exported for desktop use. KeepassXC support OTP export with QR so I can create there and export to Aegis if I want. Best solution ever.
how did you get your keys out of authy?
I didn’t, slowly change every service from authy to aegis. 😅🤷♂️
Aegis gives you full control over your 2FA codes.
I remember thinking Authy was safe since it saves your 2FA codes to their cloud but learnt the hard way that if you lose your Authy-attached device/app, you’ll have to wait a day or 2 (I think it was 48 hours IIRC) to get back your codes. Would be even worse if Authy decided that I was no longer the owner of my keys. As soon as I got my codes back I switched up to Aegis and never looked back.
Can someone give me a reason why I might want to move to Aegis from andOTP?
I had no idea! It’s still works, but yeah, that’s a very good reason to switch!
I too was still using andOTP until some days ago, unaware that it had been abandoned, until I started reading about OTP apps here and then switched to Aegis: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/comment/2137482
FFS, thanks I had no idea.
I moved because it seems abandoned and because the QR code it generates can’t be used from an iPhone, the ones that creates Aegis works everywhere. And Aegis seems more…nice, IMHO.
what works for others doesn’t have to work for you, they suggest aegis because its open source and authy is not, on the other hand authy is multi-platoform and has builtin synchronization between devices, so there’s the thing: you can rely on third party for backup in authy or back it up manually but where? some third party again? for me personally moving to aegis just because it’s open source is a bit of a PITA, and minus being open-source, aegis is inferior IMO, no multi-platform sync, you don’t have to take out your distraction device to input an OTP, there’s a standalone PC app or browser addons
After having issues moving away from Google Authenticator, portability became one of the requirements I was looking for in an MFA tool; that immediately discarded Authy to me.
I don’t have sync using Aegis, but I know my codes are backed up to at least 3 different locations I control, and I can either set up a new device when I need, or ditch Aegis altogether if they start making stupid choices.
ditch Aegis altogether if they start making stupid choices.
do you mean you can migrate directly from aegis to another app? for me it’s a flaw, that way your OTPs are less secure, Authy distinctly states it has no such feature because of security, many other apps don’t have export feature because of that yet Aegis developers boast about it
that way your OTPs are less secure
Aegis backups are encrypted. One could argue that storing OTP seeds in someone else’s server is even less secure, which is what Authy does.
because of security
Yeah, I read that too when choosing OTP managers and I’m not convinced. These security reasons they give to practice vendor lock-in just sound very convenient to them. They could very well add a secure bidirectional data import/export functionality like Aegis does. If they are really concerned about account takeover, they can confirm user identity, add delays with notifications before exporting, or add any similar bureaucracy. But if password managers allow exporting entire vaults, an MFA app can allow the same for OTPs.
And I insist on this feature because manually resetting over 40+ MFA codes that I have because there is no export feature is a REAL PITA.
I’d guess that it doesn’t make a huge difference in terms of security.
Surely both apps encrypt the seeds they store, and surely you can’t export seeds from Aegis before decrypting them (pin, password or biometric). If someone has your credentials (or encryption keys) to both these apps, and especially if they have physical access to your phone too, there will be ways of accessing the seeds whether there’s an export function in the app or not.
Aegis lets you choose if you want your keys exported/backed up/included in the android backup. You have to setup a password to encrypt the storage and it came with every backup option disabled when I installed it. So should be safe.
Authy also has the option to backup to cloud. So you probably need to use Google Authenticator if you want to be locked out of your accounts in case you lose your phone.
You might want to check out FreeOTP+, open source OTP client, all stored locally so be sure to backup everything from time to time.
I was using Authy for a few years until I started caring more about my online security and privacy.
I never heard of Aegis, but it seems like a good open source OTP client with automatic backups!
There’s also Authenticator Pro , which is also open source and looks better than Aegis.
I moved my TOTP’s from Authy to Bitwarden, where you can have access to your seeds and export if you want. But I believe this requires paying the $10 per year for Bitwarden premium (which I already had).
I hope you’re not also using Bitwarden as your password manager. Having your authenticator and your password manager accessible in the same place, with the same account, completely defeats the point of 2FA.
I am using it as my password manager, and I understand it puts all my eggs in the Bitwarden basket. But I don’t think it defeats the purpose of 2FA. For example, someone getting my Google password doesn’t mean they have my TOTP needed to get into my Google account, or any other account with 2FA.
It’s only as weak as the weakest link. If you’re using a strong and unique password as well as a strong 2FA (FIDO2) to access your Bitwarden account then it’s an acceptable trade-off.
But I have Bitwarden setup to need 2fa.
It’s passwords all the way down!
If you are able to open your password vault from the device you use as a second factor (which you probably do) the whole point is defeated anyways. Multiple apps on the same device won’t save you.
Vaultwarden is the unofficial open source backend that’s compatible with bitwarden clients.
But $10 a year is nothing, and it removes a lot of worriesIt also supports Bitwarden, so it’s a good deal.
For me the choice is really easy: Aegis works, Authy crashes when it opens the camera 😂
I’ve been using Aegis for a while now and it never gave me issues. I set up automatic backups to a folder which is synchronized with my home server with syncthing so there’s no risk of losing access to anything.
One more recommendation would be 2FAS, also open source
thank you
Yeah, I recently moved from Authy to 2FAS, took about an hour moving everything over. It can do cloud backup and export/import files manually as well.
Aegis is not multi-platform so if that matters…does anyone have FreeOTP experience?
There’s 2FAS if you need something open-source and multi-platform.
I read the website, but I couldn’t see how the account syncing occurs between the mobile apps and the browser extensions. I installed the browser extension but didn’t see a way to make an account. Do I have to self-host the data for syncing?
The addon is used to send a request to auto-type a token. You get the prompt on the phone, and when you accept the token is auto-typed and the website+token selected is saved for the next time, so on the next request you just need to approve on the phone.
A third option is KeePassXC. You can set TOTP seeds for entries there.
WHAT I CAN?
Yes
Aegis lets you back up your TOTP seeds.
