Proton announces Proton Authenticator app for mobile devices and desktop

Proton, a Geneva-based tech company focused on privacy-friendly online services, has introduced Proton Authenticator, a free app for storing 2FA codes.

Account takeover attacks cost people and businesses tens of billions of dollars every year. According to cybersecurity firm Gartner, users will spend $213 billion on information security this year. Security researchers estimate that this amount will increase by 12.5 percent to $240 billion next year.

A simple way to protect your accounts is by enabling two-factor authentication, also known as 2FA. To log into your account, you’ll not only need a username and password, but also a temporary access code, which is delivered by an authenticator app.

While there are many 2FA apps available, the majority are closed source, rely on ads and trackers, and don’t offer end-to-end encrypted 2FA backups. Some don’t provide an option to transfer login credentials to alternative authenticator apps.

That’s why Proton decided to develop its own authenticator app: Proton Authenticator. You can use it to access your 2FA codes on both mobile and desktop apps (even offline), synchronize your 2FA codes to all your devices with end-to-end encryption, and enable automatic backups.

In addition, Proton Authenticator lets you easily import login credentials from other 2FA apps and helps you protect your account with biometrics or a PIN code.

“Proton Authenticator will make it easier for everyone to log in to their online accounts securely, a vital step in making the internet a safer place,” Proton says on its website. The app is set to be open-sourced, but at the time of writing, Proton hasn’t made the source code publicly available yet.

Proton Authenticator is available for free on iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, and Linux. You don’t need a Proton account to use Proton Authenticator.