I use Aegis on my phone.
this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2025
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Aegis seems like a pretty good 2FA app on Android from what I’ve heard. Personally, I use Ente Auth as sync is very helpful when I don’t have my phone nearby (you can either use the desktop app or use your browser, both work). Don’t think you can self-host sync, though I might be wrong. Ente Auth also works without sync, so there’s that.
I would not suggest using a password manager’s 2FA integration (e.g. Bitwarden, I think Proton Pass has one if you use that?) as it kind of defeats the point of 2FA, since if someone got access to your password manager, they would also get the 2FA codes.
Aegis ♥️
Aegis
Authenticator and Authenticator.
Damn thoe innovative tech companies, what will they think of next.
Stratum
Vaultwarden, bitwarden does 2fa tokens as well.
I use it now.
I used to use aegis before.
I like Aegis.
Proton Authenticator. Has both Desktop and Mobile apps. Free. Don't have to sync to Proton.
Do they have a Linux client for the desktop?
deb, rpm and aur-bin
Yubikeys. I have 2 of them and both have the same entries in case one breaks.
I use bitwaarden and stratum since it has a wearos app as well and it's nice to use that for 2fa codes
Enteauth
Bitwarden. I don't self host it, though. $10 a year for password management and 2FA is fine by me.
Same. Self hosting it sounds nice, and I self host a handful of services, but I don't want to be stuck without passwords in another country with a dead server at home because a power cut happened at some point.
Bitwarden caches your vault to your device, so you don't actually need a live connection to the server.
Oh, that's actually good to know. I guess it makes sense for when you don't have a good connection as well.
Yubikey for 2Fa codes also works well for sudo and su (2Fa) or if you still use Windows I think it supports single sign on there. Absolutely worth the purchase have had my keys for years.
Can you explain a little more how you handle them in your daily life? I always liked the idea if Yubikeys, but I am a bit worried that I just would switch back to my phone (Aegis) for convenience. Things like:
Are there accounts that you didn't get to work? Do you have separate keys for personal and work accounts? Do you just have it on your keychain an plug it in whenever you need it? Because always plugged in keys in your phone or laptop doesn't really make sense. As far as I know you can't just clone a key. How easy is it to setup a backup key? Does this work for all accounts? I try to not use my phone for critical stuff, but there are times I have to just check an account. Do you use your phone with Yubikeys? How is your experience? USB or NFC?
Can you explain a little more how you handle them in your daily life? I always liked the idea if Yubikeys, but I am a bit worried that I just would switch back to my phone (Aegis) for convenience.
I have two Yubikey 5 NFC’s, one I keep majority of my 2Fa auth codes on and keep on my keychain the other I leave at home mainly for backup 2Fa setups or desktop/WebAUTH/Single Sign-On logins, most websites won’t let you setup 2 2Fa keys so the second one mostly handles the plug-in and touch key portion of my setup.
Are they inconvenient? Yes, the amount of times where I got annoyed because I’ve had to grab my keychain to sign in has gotten annoying but not enough to switch back to online providers. I prioritized security over convenience in this circumstance. The Yubikey that I keep on my keychain also handles my work 2Fa codes, doesn’t feel necessary to have a dedicated key for that unless my company is willing to pay for it.
Do you just have it on your keychain a plug it in whenever you need it? Because always plugged in keys in your phone or laptop doesn't really make sense.
It actually works out quite nice having it plugged in all the time, especially if you’re doing multiple 2Fa authentications, the keys won’t authenticate until you enter the password of the key (if you set one up) and touch the key, so even if your computer is compromised they still need to physically touch the key to generate the authentication codes.
As far as I know you can't just clone a key.
So no you cannot clone a Yubikey to another Yubikey, which I think is dumb, but they have their security reasoning behind it I believe. Like I mentioned earlier all my 2Fa codes/keys are on my keychain so if I break that key I am in a horrible position as I lose access to a lot of accounts that I couldn’t setup multiple 2Fa’s for.
How easy is it to setup a backup key?
While Yubico does recommend having two keys as I mentioned certain services only let you setup 2Fa once and not multiple times. However, Linux (and I want to assume Windows as well) let you setup as many 2Fa keys as you want, so both the Yubikey on my keychain and the one I leave at home both grant Root access to my desktop and server.
I try to not use my phone for critical stuff, but there are times I have to just check an account. Do you use your phone with Yubikeys?
So I don’t have a USB C Yubikey ironically both my iPhone and iPad are USB C so I have the option to use a dongle or NFC, both have worked great, I have had a couple scares where the app will error and say “No response from key” but it seems that error is due to bad contact/connection. I’ve attached a few images of the iOS app to help get an idea of the layout.
We use yubikeys at work, far better then an OTP. Also I have 2 for home use, the only issue is I need to put 1 on some keys I carry as I sometimes need 1 and don't have it.
I use Aegis, it works well
Yubikey. I dont want to trust my phone, so I use some separate hardware instead
I've been using KeePassXC. I use Syncthing to keep the database synchronized between computers.
Same here. If it's TOTP based 2fa, you can keep them in entries and use them from there.
Tbh, if you're using the same DB for PWs, you've successfully downgraded to 1FA now. Except maybe if you use a seperate KeyStick/Yubikey as secret bearer or smth
More like 1.5FA, at least. It still protects against passwords being compromised in any way that doesn't compromise full access to your password database, which is still a lot better than using just passwords without a second factor.
I use freeotp+, but it looks like it could be dead now. But I does have an export to file.
2FAS Authentication
Been using it for a while. It's pretty awesome.
Bitwarden Authenticator because Bitwarden seems to have a good reputation. I don't use their password manager, though.
It does seem faintly insecure that it displays all of the codes at once on one page, but I'm having trouble imagining a scenario where it's actually a problem.
1password
Definitely this, especially if you'll be sharing with a non techie. My wife was able to pick 1password up and use it immediately and she normally turns her nose up at any of my recommendations.
For the 1password accounts 2FA, use a yubikey or aegis. Everything else to 1 password.
I used aegis for a long time, switched to protons after they introduced it. Ideally I'd be using something physical though like a yubikey
What you mean syncing with Gnome app?
I'm currently using FreeOTP from F-droid. Aegis seemed to have way too much extra crap. You don't want to sync multiple 2fa applications together since the idea of the 2nd factor is it's only in one place. Even being able to back it up is sort of contra, but if you have to, make sure the backup is well safeguarded.
The basic TOTP algorithm is quite easy to implement fwiw. A dozen or so lines of Python.
FreeOTP/FreeOTP+
depending on your goal for this (real 2fa vs just simulated) you shouldn't have sync in the first place.
you could also look into security keys (hardware solution, webauthn/FIDO2) as an alternative that has strong security with good user experience (no typing anymore), but they're not as widely accepted.