Authy alternative for Mac
Twilio discontinued the Authy desktop apps in 2024. Quick Authenticator brings your two-factor codes back to the Mac – right in the menu bar.
What you get on the Mac
- Codes in the menu bar: press ⌥⌘A from anywhere, type a few letters, press Return – the code is copied.
- Locked with Touch ID: your codes stay hidden until you unlock.
- Secrets in the Keychain: stored on your Mac, never on a server of ours.
- Sync between your Macs: through your own private iCloud, with secrets end-to-end encrypted. There is no iPhone app yet.
- No account, no phone number: Quick Authenticator doesn’t ask for either.
Why there is no one-click import
Authy doesn’t let you export your accounts – neither as a file nor as QR codes. That’s why no other authenticator app can take them over directly. Unofficial tools that pull the secrets out of Authy exist, but we don’t recommend them: they rely on undocumented interfaces and handle your most sensitive data.
The reliable way is to set up each service again. It takes about a minute per account, and you can do it gradually while Authy keeps working.
Step by step
- Install Quick Authenticator and keep Authy for now.
- Sign in to a service on its website and open its security or two-factor settings.
- Choose to set up a new authenticator app – often called “change authenticator app”, or turn two-factor authentication off and on again. The service shows a QR code.
- In Quick Authenticator, click + and hold the QR code up to your Mac’s camera, drop a screenshot of it onto the window, or paste the setup key.
- Enter the code from Quick Authenticator to confirm. From now on, the service only accepts the new code.
- Save the new backup codes the service gives you.
Repeat this for every account – start with the important ones such as email and cloud storage. When Authy no longer shows anything you use, you can remove it.