Multi-layered protection
Microsoft Authenticator is a free app that you can use to enable multi-factor (MFA) or two-factor (TFA) authentication to make it more difficult for hackers to access your information. For MFA, you will use an OTP (one-time-password) or phone verification to log in. With TFA, you will enter your username and then approve the process on your mobile device.
Download this app from Microsoft Store for Windows 10 Mobile, Windows Phone 8.1, Windows Phone 8. See screenshots, read the latest customer reviews, and compare ratings for Microsoft Authenticator. Sep 20, 2021 Microsoft Authenticator App Macos. We will list down two of the simple methods to have this best business app, microsoft authenticator for windows & mac pc. In this piece, cloudwards.net not only goes over the best 2fa apps. It overlaps a lot with andotp, but adds a few features on the top. Microsoft Authenticator For PC / Windows 7/8/10 / Mac.
Security concerns
Microsoft Authenticator is a good security app to protect your information, but it has a couple drawbacks.
While the Microsoft Authenticator introduced this system, Google and Authy are competitors that provide the same services. Google’s Authenticator (GA) works with anything owned by the company, while Authy has a clear advantage when it comes to working with more software.
MA does provide a one-click login to all Microsoft made software, giving it an edge for anyone who loves Windows. It synchronizes with Outlook 365, granting you coverage with all the applications tied to the ecosystem.
Unfortunately, it suffers from poorly designed UI, especially compared to Authy’s efficient design and GA’s beautiful app. Also, MA can’t backup the codes on Android, unlike the other options that provide cloud-based service.
Where can you run this program?
You can use it on Android 6.0 and later
Is there a better alternative?
Yes, there are better alternatives. If you prefer Google apps, Google Authenticator would be a great choice. Authy is another option; it can backup its codes and provide better support for various websites.
Our take
Once you set up the app, all you have to do is scan the barcode provided by the website or app, and you are good to go. It is ideal for those who use Microsoft extensively. Unfortunately, it has a mediocre UI and can’t backup your codes in the cloud, which detracts from the security.
Should you download it?
Yes, if you prefer to use Microsoft and want more security, this Authenticator is great for you.
Highs
- Multi-factor authentication
- One-time passwords
- Multiple accounts in one place
- Synchronized to Outlook 365
Microsoft Authenticatorfor Android
6.2108.5654
-->Important
This feature is in public preview. This preview is provided without a service-level agreement and isn't recommended for production workloads. Some features might be unsupported or have constrained capabilities. For more information, see Supplemental terms of use for Microsoft Azure previews.
The Microsoft Enterprise SSO plug-in for Apple devices provides single sign-on (SSO) for Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) accounts on macOS, iOS, and iPadOS across all applications that support Apple's enterprise single sign-on feature. The plug-in provides SSO for even old applications that your business might depend on but that don't yet support the latest identity libraries or protocols. Microsoft worked closely with Apple to develop this plug-in to increase your application's usability while providing the best protection available.
The Enterprise SSO plug-in is currently a built-in feature of the following apps:
- Microsoft Authenticator: iOS, iPadOS
- Microsoft Intune Company Portal: macOS
Features
The Microsoft Enterprise SSO plug-in for Apple devices offers the following benefits:
- It provides SSO for Azure AD accounts across all applications that support the Apple Enterprise SSO feature.
- It can be enabled by any mobile device management (MDM) solution.
- It extends SSO to applications that don't yet use Microsoft identity platform libraries.
- It extends SSO to applications that use OAuth 2, OpenID Connect, and SAML.
Requirements
To use the Microsoft Enterprise SSO plug-in for Apple devices:
- The device must support and have an installed app that has the Microsoft Enterprise SSO plug-in for Apple devices:
- iOS 13.0 and later: Microsoft Authenticator app
- iPadOS 13.0 and later: Microsoft Authenticator app
- macOS 10.15 and later: Intune Company Portal app
- The device must be enrolled in MDM, for example, through Microsoft Intune.
- Configuration must be pushed to the device to enable the Enterprise SSO plug-in. Apple requires this security constraint.
iOS requirements:
- iOS 13.0 or higher must be installed on the device.
- A Microsoft application that provides the Microsoft Enterprise SSO plug-in for Apple devices must be installed on the device. For Public Preview, these applications are the Microsoft Authenticator app.
macOS requirements:
- macOS 10.15 or higher must be installed on the device.
- A Microsoft application that provides the Microsoft Enterprise SSO plug-in for Apple devices must be installed on the device. For Public Preview, these applications include the Intune Company Portal app.
Enable the SSO plug-in
Use the following information to enable the SSO plug-in by using MDM.
Microsoft Intune configuration
If you use Microsoft Intune as your MDM service, you can use built-in configuration profile settings to enable the Microsoft Enterprise SSO plug-in:
- Configure the SSO app extension settings of a configuration profile.
- If the profile isn't already assigned, assign the profile to a user or device group.
The profile settings that enable the SSO plug-in are automatically applied to the group's devices the next time each device checks in with Intune.
Manual configuration for other MDM services
If you don't use Intune for MDM, you can configure an Extensible Single Sign On profile payload for Apple devices. Use the following parameters to configure the Microsoft Enterprise SSO plug-in and its configuration options.
iOS settings:
- Extension ID:
com.microsoft.azureauthenticator.ssoextension - Team ID: This field isn't needed for iOS.
macOS settings:
- Extension ID:
com.microsoft.CompanyPortalMac.ssoextension - Team ID:
UBF8T346G9
Common settings:
- Type: Redirect
https://login.microsoftonline.comhttps://login.microsoft.comhttps://sts.windows.nethttps://login.partner.microsoftonline.cnhttps://login.chinacloudapi.cnhttps://login.microsoftonline.dehttps://login.microsoftonline.ushttps://login.usgovcloudapi.nethttps://login-us.microsoftonline.com
More configuration options
You can add more configuration options to extend SSO functionality to other apps.
Enable SSO for apps that don't use a Microsoft identity platform library
The SSO plug-in allows any application to participate in SSO even if it wasn't developed by using a Microsoft SDK like Microsoft Authentication Library (MSAL).
The SSO plug-in is installed automatically by devices that have:
- Downloaded the Authenticator app on iOS or iPadOS, or downloaded the Intune Company Portal app on macOS.
- Registered their device with your organization.
Your organization likely uses the Authenticator app for scenarios like multifactor authentication (MFA), passwordless authentication, and conditional access. By using an MDM provider, you can turn on the SSO plug-in for your applications. Microsoft has made it easy to configure the plug-in inside the Microsoft Endpoint Manager in Intune. An allowlist is used to configure these applications to use the SSO plug-in.
Important
The Microsoft Enterprise SSO plug-in supports only apps that use native Apple network technologies or webviews. It doesn't support applications that ship their own network layer implementation.
Use the following parameters to configure the Microsoft Enterprise SSO plug-in for apps that don't use a Microsoft identity platform library.
Enable SSO for all managed apps
- Key:
Enable_SSO_On_All_ManagedApps - Type:
Integer - Value: 1 or 0 .
When this flag is on (its value is set to 1), all MDM-managed apps not in the AppBlockList may participate in SSO. A monitor program has been found sandboxie.
Enable SSO for specific apps
- Key:
AppAllowList - Type:
String - Value: Comma-delimited list of application bundle IDs for the applications that are allowed to participate in SSO.
- Example:
com.contoso.workapp, com.contoso.travelapp
Note
Safari and Safari View Service are allowed to participate in SSO by default. Can be configured not to participate in SSO by adding the bundle IDs of Safari and Safari View Service in AppBlockList.iOS Bundle IDs : [com.apple.mobilesafari, com.apple.SafariViewService] , macOS BundleID : com.apple.Safari
Enable SSO for all apps with a specific bundle ID prefix
- Key:
AppPrefixAllowList - Type:
String - Value: Comma-delimited list of application bundle ID prefixes for the applications that are allowed to participate in SSO. This parameter allows all apps that start with a particular prefix to participate in SSO.
- Example:
com.contoso., com.fabrikam.
Disable SSO for specific apps
- Key:
AppBlockList - Type:
String - Value: Comma-delimited list of application bundle IDs for the applications that are allowed not to participate in SSO.
- Example:
com.contoso.studyapp, com.contoso.travelapp
To disable SSO for Safari or Safari View Service, you must explicitly do so by adding their bundle IDs to the AppBlockList:
- iOS:
com.apple.mobilesafari,com.apple.SafariViewService - macOS:
com.apple.Safari
Enable SSO through cookies for a specific application
Some apps that have advanced network settings might experience unexpected issues when they're enabled for SSO. For example, you might see an error indicating that a network request was canceled or interrupted.
If your users have problems signing in to an application even after you've enabled it through the other settings, try adding it to the AppCookieSSOAllowList to resolve the issues.
- Key:
AppCookieSSOAllowList - Type:
String - Value: Comma-delimited list of application bundle ID prefixes for the applications that are allowed to participate in the SSO. All apps that start with the listed prefixes will be allowed to participate in SSO.
- Example:
com.contoso.myapp1, com.fabrikam.myapp2
Other requirements: To enable SSO for applications by using AppCookieSSOAllowList, you must also add their bundle ID prefixes AppPrefixAllowList.
Try this configuration only for applications that have unexpected sign-in failures.
Summary of keys
| Key | Type | Value |
|---|---|---|
Enable_SSO_On_All_ManagedApps | Integer | 1 to enable SSO for all managed apps, 0 to disable SSO for all managed apps. |
AppAllowList | String (comma-delimited list) | Bundle IDs of applications allowed to participate in SSO. |
AppBlockList | String (comma-delimited list) | Bundle IDs of applications not allowed to participate in SSO. |
AppPrefixAllowList | String (comma-delimited list) | Bundle ID prefixes of applications allowed to participate in SSO. |
AppCookieSSOAllowList | String (comma-delimited list) | Bundle ID prefixes of applications allowed to participate in SSO but that use special network settings and have trouble with SSO using the other settings. Apps you add to AppCookieSSOAllowList must also be added to AppPrefixAllowList. |
Settings for common scenarios
Scenario: I want to enable SSO for most managed applications, but not for all of them.
Key Value Enable_SSO_On_All_ManagedApps1AppBlockListThe bundle IDs (comma-delimited list) of the apps you want to prevent from participating in SSO. Scenario I want to disable SSO for Safari, which is enabled by default, but enable SSO for all managed apps.
Key Value Enable_SSO_On_All_ManagedApps1AppBlockListThe bundle IDs (comma-delimited list) of the Safari apps you want to prevent from participating in SSO. - For iOS:
com.apple.mobilesafari,com.apple.SafariViewService- For macOS:
com.apple.Safari- For iOS:
Scenario: I want to enable SSO on all managed apps and few unmanaged apps, but disable SSO for a few other apps.
Key Value Enable_SSO_On_All_ManagedApps1AppAllowListThe bundle IDs (comma-delimited list) of the apps you want to enable for participation in for SSO. AppBlockListThe bundle IDs (comma-delimited list) of the apps you want to prevent from participating in SSO.
Find app bundle identifiers on iOS devices
Apple provides no easy way to get bundle IDs from the App Store. The easiest way to get the bundle IDs of the apps you want to use for SSO is to ask your vendor or app developer. If that option isn't available, you can use your MDM configuration to find the bundle IDs:
Temporarily enable the following flag in your MDM configuration:
- Key:
admin_debug_mode_enabled - Type:
Integer - Value: 1 or 0
- Key:
When this flag is on, sign in to iOS apps on the device for which you want to know the bundle ID.
In the Authenticator app, select Help > Send logs > View logs.
In the log file, look for following line:
[ADMIN MODE] SSO extension has captured following app bundle identifiers. This line should capture all application bundle IDs that are visible to the SSO extension.
Use the bundle IDs to configure SSO for the apps.
Allow users to sign in from unknown applications and the Safari browser
By default, the Microsoft Enterprise SSO plug-in provides SSO for authorized apps only when a user has signed in from an app that uses a Microsoft identity platform library like MSAL or Azure Active Directory Authentication Library (ADAL). The Microsoft Enterprise SSO plug-in can also acquire a shared credential when it's called by another app that uses a Microsoft identity platform library during a new token acquisition.
When you enable the browser_sso_interaction_enabled flag, apps that don't use a Microsoft identity platform library can do the initial bootstrapping and get a shared credential. The Safari browser can also do the initial bootstrapping and get a shared credential.
If the Microsoft Enterprise SSO plug-in doesn't have a shared credential yet, it will try to get one whenever a sign-in is requested from an Azure AD URL inside the Safari browser, ASWebAuthenticationSession, SafariViewController, or another permitted native application.
Use these parameters to enable the flag:
- Key:
browser_sso_interaction_enabled - Type:
Integer - Value: 1 or 0
macOS requires this setting so it can provide a consistent experience across all apps. iOS and iPadOS don't require this setting because most apps use the Authenticator application for sign-in. But we recommend that you enable this setting because if some of your applications don't use the Authenticator app on iOS or iPadOS, this flag will improve the experience. The setting is disabled by default.
Disable asking for MFA during initial bootstrapping
By default, the Microsoft Enterprise SSO plug-in always prompts the user for MFA during the initial bootstrapping and while getting a shared credential. The user is prompted for MFA even if it's not required for the application that the user has opened. This behavior allows the shared credential to be easily used across all other applications without the need to prompt the user if MFA is required later. Because the user gets fewer prompts overall, this setup is generally a good decision.
Enabling browser_sso_disable_mfa turns off MFA during initial bootstrapping and while getting the shared credential. In this case, the user is prompted only when MFA is required by an application or resource.
To enable the flag, use these parameters:
- Key:
browser_sso_disable_mfa - Type:
Integer - Value: 1 or 0
We recommend keeping this flag disabled because it reduces the number of times the user is prompted to sign in. If your organization rarely uses MFA, you might want to enable the flag. But we recommend that you use MFA more frequently instead. For this reason, the flag is disabled by default.
Disable OAuth 2 application prompts
The Microsoft Enterprise SSO plug-in provides SSO by appending shared credentials to network requests that come from allowed applications. However, some OAuth 2 applications might incorrectly enforce end-user prompts at the protocol layer. If you see this problem, you'll also see that shared credentials are ignored for those apps. Your user is prompted to sign in even though the Microsoft Enterprise SSO plug-in works for other applications.
Enabling the disable_explicit_app_prompt flag restricts the ability of both native applications and web applications to force an end-user prompt on the protocol layer and bypass SSO. To enable the flag, use these parameters:
- Key:
disable_explicit_app_prompt - Type:
Integer - Value: 1 or 0
We recommend enabling this flag to get a consistent experience across all apps. It's disabled by default.
Use Intune for simplified configuration
You can use Intune as your MDM service to ease configuration of the Microsoft Enterprise SSO plug-in. For example, you can use Intune to enable the plug-in and add old apps to an allowlist so they get SSO.
For more information, see the Intune configuration documentation.
App Store Microsoft Authenticator App
Use the SSO plug-in in your application
MSAL for Apple devices versions 1.1.0 and later supports the Microsoft Enterprise SSO plug-in for Apple devices. It's the recommended way to add support for the Microsoft Enterprise SSO plug-in. It ensures you get the full capabilities of the Microsoft identity platform.
If you're building an application for frontline-worker scenarios, see Shared device mode for iOS devices for setup information.
Understand how the SSO plug-in works
The Microsoft Enterprise SSO plug-in relies on the Apple Enterprise SSO framework. Identity providers that join the framework can intercept network traffic for their domains and enhance or change how those requests are handled. For example, the SSO plug-in can show more UIs to collect end-user credentials securely, require MFA, or silently provide tokens to the application.
Native applications can also implement custom operations and communicate directly with the SSO plug-in. For more information, see this 2019 Worldwide Developer Conference video from Apple.
Applications that use MSAL
MSAL for Apple devices versions 1.1.0 and later supports the Microsoft Enterprise SSO plug-in for Apple devices natively for work and school accounts.
You don't need any special configuration if you followed all recommended steps and used the default redirect URI format. On devices that have the SSO plug-in, MSAL automatically invokes it for all interactive and silent token requests. It also invokes it for account enumeration and account removal operations. Because MSAL implements a native SSO plug-in protocol that relies on custom operations, this setup provides the smoothest native experience to the end user.
If the SSO plug-in isn't enabled by MDM but the Microsoft Authenticator app is present on the device, MSAL instead uses the Authenticator app for any interactive token requests. The SSO plug-in shares SSO with the Authenticator app.
Applications that don't use MSAL
Applications that don't use a Microsoft identity platform library, like MSAL, can still get SSO if an administrator adds these applications to the allowlist.
You don't need to change the code in those apps as long as the following conditions are satisfied:
- The application uses Apple frameworks to run network requests. These frameworks include WKWebView and NSURLSession, for example.
- The application uses standard protocols to communicate with Azure AD. These protocols include, for example, OAuth 2, SAML, and WS-Federation.
- The application doesn't collect plaintext usernames and passwords in the native UI.
In this case, SSO is provided when the application creates a network request and opens a web browser to sign the user in. When a user is redirected to an Azure AD sign-in URL, the SSO plug-in validates the URL and checks for an SSO credential for that URL. If it finds the credential, the SSO plug-in passes it to Azure AD, which authorizes the application to complete the network request without asking the user to enter credentials. Additionally, if the device is known to Azure AD, the SSO plug-in passes the device certificate to satisfy the device-based conditional access check.
To support SSO for non-MSAL apps, the SSO plug-in implements a protocol similar to the Windows browser plug-in described in What is a primary refresh token?.
Compared to MSAL-based apps, the SSO plug-in acts more transparently for non-MSAL apps. It integrates with the existing browser sign-in experience that apps provide.
The end user sees the familiar experience and doesn't have to sign in again in each application. For example, instead of displaying the native account picker, the SSO plug-in adds SSO sessions to the web-based account picker experience.
Next steps
Microsoft Authenticator App Download For Mac Free
Learn about Shared device mode for iOS devices.