Proton Authenticator is a new two-factor authentication app that's free

Proton, which is known for privacy-focused productivity tools, has launched a 2FA app called Proton Authenticator. This two-factor authentication adds a second layer of defence when logging into your accounts. It is an open-source app that is available for every device, including desktop. You can protect your account with a PIN or biometrics.

Proton Authenticator offers end-to-end encryption

Authenticator apps are hard to crack for hackers as they generate codes locally on your device, and each code has a life of just 30 seconds. The advantage of 2FA is that you can secure your account with a six-digit code generated by the authenticator app, in addition to your password. While SMS authentication is an option, they are vulnerable to SIM swapping attacks.

Compared to other 2FA apps, which are close source, rely on ads and trackers, Proton Authenticator is free and offers end-to-end encryption. It is also claimed to be more flexible than other similar apps. The Proton Authenticator app lets you import all your existing 2FA tokens in seconds or export from Proton Authenticator.

You can sync the 2FA codes with all your other tech. The app allows you to keep everything local if you don’t want to back up. It lets you access your 2FA codes even when you’re offline. If you already rely on Proton Pass for 2FA, you won’t have use for this new app. But you can give it a shot if you’d like to keep your codes separate.

Availability

Interestingly, the app works regardless of whether you use a Proton account or not. However, you need to log in to your Proton account if you want to sync across devices. Proton Authenticate is a free app, and you can download it on Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, and Linux platforms. This comes as an alternative to Authenticator apps from Google and Microsoft.