Hello! I’m in the process of slowly de-googling my life and taking my privacy more seriously.

I currently use Google Authenticator for 2fa at the moment.

I am currently dreading swapping those to Aegis, which requires a password every time I want to use it (that’s very inconvenient, to be honest) while with Google’s I can just open the app and get the necessary code right away; no password required.

Should I just stop being lazy, suck it up, and make the switch? I know I’m being a bit of a baby.

Edit: Okay, apparently I can use my fingerprint scanner instead, which is a LOT better, so I’ll stop being a lazy shit and do the swap tomorrow. Cheers!

Final Edit: I made the switch to Aegis. Already made a backup, and I have Biometrics setup. Ty everyone!

22 points

If your phone has biometrics, you can set that up, much quicker than typing password each time.

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3 points

Ohhhh snap you’re right! Thankfully my phone has a fingerprint reader. Never used it but it looks like I finally have an excuse to!

Guess I just need to stop being lazy now. 😅

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5 points
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Apparently you can use biometrics instead of a password each time you require access. Not sure if that still seems like a bother or not, I personally do not mind.

𝐄𝐝𝐢𝐭: Some one else already beat me to this answer, haha.

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1 point

Ah yea just noticed that; my phone has a fingerprint reader. Didn’t even occur to me to use it because I never have. 😂

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2 points

But I don’t reccomend it. I may be too paranoid, but recover a fingerprint (physically, non from the OS) from a lost/stolen phone is pretty easy and this is why I never suggest to use fingerprints to login to banks app and authenticate transactions. At least use a 6 digit pin for Aegis.

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1 point

I use a yubi key to do my static passwords for otp apps like this.

I think it’s 38 characters long.

I wish ageis uses keys or webauth but that requires online functionality.

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12 points

You can disable encryption and use Aegis without a password, just like Google authenticator.

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1 point

I didn’t realize that. I should do a better job at reading all the settings. Ty!

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3 points

You can also check out 2FAS, which recently got open-sourced. It comes with browser plugins to autofill 2FA pushed from the phone on request. Makes it a lot more convenient if you need another reason to switch.

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3 points
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You can also check out 2FAS, which recently got open-sourced.

I happened to be comparing this and Aegis so I’ll add the biggest differences I noticed. Maybe it helps someone:

  • Aegis is Android only, 2FAS is iOS and Android and they have a browser plugin.
  • The browser plugin still needs you to approve via your phone/device.
  • 2FAS has automated Google Drive backups. You can manually export if you backup via, e.g., Syncthing.
  • Aegis has automated “external storage” (e.g., a folder on your phone) and “Android Device” backups—the latter are stored on Google Drive too, but, as far as I understand are used via a device restore (may not be as easy to drop these in as the other backup methods).
  • 2FAS lets you secure with a 4-digit PIN and biometrics. Aegis let’s you use a full-blown password and biometrics.
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8 points

Everyone has already mentioned the biometrics, but I think even without that you still should have to suck it up if you want to improve your security.

Also, I think it’s worth the hassle of changing to Aegis since you can make backups of your vault pretty easily, something which Google authenticator doesn’t provide.
The only option in that app is cloud sync which IIRC isn’t encrypted in any way, so your keys are being sent to you-don’t-no-where via you-don’t-know-how in plain text.
Aegis gives you the option to sync your vault with an encrypted file which you can then import into other Aegis install (I don’t know if it has the option to sync an unencrypted version).

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